Category: Uncategorized
-
Living the Dream, the Covid Dream!
“Wow, you’re living the dream!”, I exclaimed. “My student shot back wryly, “Yeah! The Covid Dream!” The exchange took place in a class this morning. I had just seen her husband walk by in the background getting a loaf of bread out of the freezer. My student explained that they were going to have French […]
-
Shut up and just listen: taming the problem-solving teacher
Here it is Friday afternoon, and I find myself feeling out of sorts, wandering around the house, somewhat aimlessly. The reason? I’m obsessing over a class I had this week. Why? Well, I’m not proud of how I reacted and in fact, I’m tired of reacting this way. Here’s the deal: at the start of […]
-
One Crisis, Three Questions
Going into Week 8 of confinement, how’s the morale? I don’t know for you, but for me it’s been such a roller-coaster of emotions! Sometimes, I feel short-tempered and irritable (especially when watching the news or reading other people’s reactions to government decisions). Then I swing to frustration at not being able to go running […]
-
An ESL Teacher in Quarantine
I didn’t see it coming. But then again, did anyone? The topic of the Covid19 came up in class. Or rather, the topic of how the company would react, preparing an emergency plan of action if an employee was found to be infected. We all thought it was perhaps exaggerated. We logged onto the WorldMeter […]
-
The Call of the Open Road
“No, I don’t know what I am going to do next, but that doesn’t bother me. It’s time [to go].” A friend and I were discussing her recent discussion to leave her job. She talked about the subsequent reactions from friends and colleagues: surprise, consternation and wonder, bordering on envy. She told me she was […]
-
When saying good-bye is hard to do
‘There must be around ten people who have left the company lately‘, complained one of my students this week, as he went on to admit that he found it hard. As I asked questions, his colleague joined the conversation and I could feel the turmoil, questioning and well, sadness at the state of affairs. […]
-
Teachers, you lead your students, but do you lead yourself, too?
Brené Brown defines a leader as one who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes and has the courage to develop that potential (Dare to Lead, Random House, NY, 2018, p. 4). That is what you, as a teacher, do every day. In and out of the classroom, during school hours and […]
-
ESL Mixologist: What’s the deal?
I am never just teaching an English class! I am on the lookout for new insights or epiphanies I may have while talking about vocab, grammar or functional language. ESL Mixologist is all about my journey as an ESL teacher who just can’t get over the serendipitous glimpses into the parallel universe of philosophy while […]
-
Have you connected today?
People matter. With those two words, American psychologist, Chris Peterson, summarized his life research on how to enable people to go from surviving to thriving, discovering and pursuing what really what makes life worth living for them. In the Huffington Post Canadian edition today, publishes a video with the astounding title: The most connected generation […]
-
When you’re aiming for the moon…
Beresheet may have crashed, but for a moment we raised our eyes to the heavens. The headline of the Times of Israel article (first in links below) couldn’t help but grab my attention. I wondered what the article would say about ‘raising our eyes to the heavens’ and began to read. I was so glad […]
CLAIRE MARIA FORD 