A Blast from the Past...

I wrote the following entry last October in 2010, but never got it up on the wall. I just found it as I was cleaning up my computer. I'm currently back at NorQuest teaching LINC 4 and loving it. I hope to post many more experiences about the classroom!...

I have been meaning to blog for a long time about the work part of my summer - the part where I was thrown into the deep end of the pool - or, the part where I started teaching English as a second language. Last summer I worked at two locations: Grant MacEwan University two evenings a week, and NorQuest College during the days. It was a great opportunity to put into practice what I had been learning for a year, and to also learn that I have a lot to learn. But I loved it, even the bad days, I loved all of it. What a relief to discover that I actually do like the career that I'm working towards in school. At NorQuest College I taught a high-beginner course, LINC 3. It's a great level to teach because they know enough that you can converse and have class discussions, but not enough for them to ask scary grammar questions that I don't know the answer to. One of the many reasons I love teaching ESL is because it is pure comedy sometimes. One of my discussions in class:

Me: Okay everyone, today we're going to talk about small talk [I write “small talk” on the board]. What kinds of things do people talk about when they make small talk?
Male student: Uhh teacher?
Me: Yes?
Male student: I don't think women know small talk. Only long talk.

Classic. In another class, we were practicing language you use when someone calls you on the phone but you are busy and you can't talk. They had a series of pictures on a work sheet of some kind of scenario, like a person cooking dinner, and they had to come up with a sentence like, "I'm sorry, I can't talk right now, I'm cooking dinner." This was one of the prompts:


I'm circulating the room, listening to students:
Faz: Teacher, is this right? I can't talk on the phone right now, I'm melting the baby.
Me: HAHAHA sorry. [trying very hard not to laugh but it's too late] Uh no, haha, no sorry that's not right.
Faz: What did I say? What is funny?
Me: uhh you know the verb melt? To melt something? It is when you put something like butter in the microwave...
Faz: uhhh HAHA ohh no not melting baby.

Peter: Teacher, is this right? I cannot talk on the phone, the baby is swimming.
Me: uhhh not quite...

Now, before you think I'm horrible for laughing at my students, you need to know that they think laugh too. Because they know that making mistakes is inevitable, which is part of learning a language, and sometimes everyone just needs to laugh at themselves.

I've always depended on the kindness of strangers

I think this phrase never rings truer than when you are travelling. Really, think about all the times you have to ask some random person if they know when the next bus is coming, where is that cafe you read about in Lonely Planet that's supposed to be on this street, and do you know where I can get vegetarian food in this city? And if you didn't take English 30 in Alberta, then I'll let you know that the title is also fitting given that it comes from the play "A Street Car Named Desire," set in New Orleans. (See this for the line in the movie by Blanche, and if you hold out to the end you'll hear a good "Stella!" too.) Another title I thought of for this post was "Janna takes on NOLA!" Janna is a hybrid of Janice and Anna. NOLA is a hybrid of New Orleans, LouisiAna. Anna is my amazing friend I met last year in university, and we are often found together at school so some people in our program refer to us as Janna just to simplify things. We went to NOLA for the TESOL International conference March 16 -20. TESOL is a hybrid of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. The conference sessions we chose were informative and we got free dictionaries at the trade show. Okay. Now why we really went...



WE LOVE NEW ORLEANS. Love it. The weather was perfect. The people are friendly and service is great. The food is fantastic. The architecture and design are beautiful. Everyday we took the same walk from our B&B in Marigny to the French Quarter, and we noticed something different every time.
Our B&B was outside of the super touristy French Quarter, but I think it still had all the charm and some really great places to eat. Oh, eating! Heaven! The food is heaven! Consult me before you go to NOLA, because I know where you should go to stay and eat. Back to the B&B, called Lions Inn. The breakfast wasn't anything special, but the beds were super comfy and it had a nice big backyard with a pool, lounge chairs, and lots of greenery. Ed, the host, was so soft spoken but so helpful (hence the title of this blog). He was always available to answer our questions and gave us some really great tips about where to eat and bike. That's the other thing, this place had touring bikes we could borrow, and on our last day we just hopped on and toured around our neighborhood in the sun.
We really felt that while New Orleans seemed very friendly and happy and welcoming, it also seemed to have an edge to it as well. It's hard to describe, but it shows itself once in awhile, like in some of the graffiti art or how the iron work on homes is beautiful in the day but downright creepy at night in the light of gas lamps. Maybe it has something to do with the Mardi Gras culture or the fact that Voodoo was (is) big here. Either way, we always felt safe, but sometimes a little creeped out.




NOLA is also famous for its above-ground cemeteries. The land is too boggy, so they keep their dead above ground.



One of my favorite things about travelling with Anna was her ability to slow down and appreciate really subtle things like the smell of blossoms on jasmine trees only open in the evenings. This is us at the St. Patrick's Day parade, sorry for the lame photo quality.


Food time! It looks gross but I swear it tasted delicious; a grilled shrimp po'boy from a hole-in-the-wall joint.

Good southern food: sweet potato fries and the best crab cakes you ever ate.


These are yummy little deep-fried beignets covered in icing sugar from Cafe Du Monde. Famous AND tasty...


No wonder this place flooded, it's surrounded by water. Here's a few teens on what we think was their grad trip, taking in the ol' Mississippi.

This is just quirky, and it's just for Bethany. Someone decorated their entire truck in a "redheads" theme.


We came across this haunting 'x' more than once. After Katrina hit, rescue crews travelled from house to house and left their mark by spray painting a big x at about the water level of the building. In the top section they left the date, on the left was the initials of the state the crew was from, the bottom was the number of animals found dead and the right side was for humans. Fortunately, this house was empty when it was found.

This was tiled into a sidewalk:

Who's Mahalo?

Love love love love Hawaii. I get it now. I get the obsession, why people who go need to go again and again. It's beautiful, it's friendly, and it's American. There is something for everyone; beaches for beach lovers, adventures for adventure lovers, Obamas for Obama lovers.
It's easy to catch the aloha spirit in Hawaii, partially because people really say "aloha" and other Hawaiian phrases all the time. The title of this blog is a bit of a joke. One night we decided to go to a movie. Right before the show begins, a screen flashes up which reads, "No smoking permitted in the theater. - Fire Marshall". I probably made some lame remark to my aunt Yvonne about why is that even necessary anymore, blah blah blah. The next screen flashes up and it says "Please do not talk during the show. Mahalo". I turn to Yvonne and say, "Who's Mahalo?" "Uhhh...Mahalo means "Thank you" in Hawaiian." But I don't speak Hawaiian, so you can understand why I was confused, right? I was picturing some large Hawaiian man who works at the theater and occasionally checks up on audiences to make sure people aren't chatting. Or, maybe Mahalo is the Polynesian god of communication who frowns upon disruptive conversation. Anyways, the point is... I don't know what the point is but I won't forget what mahalo means and I was more inclined to use that than the English version for a week after I got home.

We stayed at Hau'ula, which is about half way between Honolulu and Waimea Valley on the north shore. An ideal location in my opinion; while it was usually overcast where we were staying, a 20-30 minute drive north or south usually brought sun. The waves are the biggest at this time of year on the north shore, so we enjoyed avoiding getting crushed in the surf or watching others do the same. At Sunset Beach and Pipeline Beach, we didn't even bother swimming, since signage on the beach indicated it was unsafe to do so. I love bumming it on the beach, so this is my number one highlight.


Other highlights include...

Eating prawns at a shrimp shack. Yummy!


Going on a "Hole in the Wall" Food Tour of Honolulu. Our guides were hilarious and they showed us some great eats in the city that we never would have found on our own. If you're going to Oahu, I recommend it. This is a photo of me at the "Look Funn Factory" in China Town.

The Polynesian Cultural Centre. Who doesn't love traditional song and dance? It was very entertaining and exceeded my expectations.



Turtles!


Hiking in the Waimea Valley.


Perhaps the best part of the holiday was spending quality time with my family. I'm glad we took this opportunity to take a long trip together when everyone was in a position to do so. Thanks for the fun times!