blogging

Wow! It's hard to find blogging time. I feel so convinced that the more you write, the better you get at doing it. But it's hard to actually discipline myself to sit down and get my thoughts in order.

When I did my Master's degree, I had to do a lot of journalling. Usually, it was in hard copy but I like blogging better - less for the teacher to have to carry around! In any case, I was required to talk about my reactions to what I was reading and I often found that this caused me to tell personal stories relating to the topic at hand. In fact, this helped me to see how the topics were relevant to me personally. It was also reassuring to know that even though the material in our textbooks seemed so new to me (new vocabulary etc) that I really already had some experience with these things.

I think that blogging for EAP students can be potentially very helpful. I don't thing it's just "busy work". Students are busy enough. There is not need to assign extra work for no reason. If blogging is done every week, a student will become a more fluent writer and become more confident in his or her ability to express themselves. I find that EAP students often write very slowly because they doubt their abilities. Now, I know that these students will make a lot of mistakes. That's why we don't mark blogs. We just read them and make comments on the content. We're interested in the communication of ideas. I'd like to see our students continue to keep a blog for the rest of their lives.

I hate being sick!

Oh, when will this ever end? This is my third day running a fever. I also have a runny nose and a bad cough. My voice sounds like a cement mixer. I sleep all the time! Well I hope my students are all keeping well. This is a nasty virus. I'll hope to be back on Friday.

I hate being sick!

Oh, when will this ever end? This is my third day running a fever. I also have a runny nose and a bad cough. My voice sounds like a cement mixer. I sleep all the time! Well I hope my students are all keeping well. This is a nasty virus. I'll hope to be back on Friday.

When Will Winter End?

I'm really sick of winter. Now, I admit that we've had it easy in Calgary this winter. It hasn't been cold and, until a few weeks ago, we didn't have much snow at all. But now that winter is really here I remember why I hate it.

I hate wearing a heavy winter coat. I hate always having to think about not losing my hat, scarf and gloves. I hate having to warm up my car so long in the morning. In particular, I hate how long it takes to drive to the university on mornings when we have fresh snow. One day it took me two hours!

Okay, enough complaining. I'm going to try and remember why winter is a good thing... thinking... thinking... thinking... uh, well, it kills the bugs. It seems that places where it is cold in the winter don't have so many huge bugs. At least, we don't have to worry about them for 8 months of the year!

I'm not much of a winter sports person. I don't tingle with anticipation when I see newly fallen snow. I don't even know if my ice skates still fit me. However, I do like how cozy my house feels in the winter when I'm writing my blog with a cup of steaming coffee beside me. I guess it's not all bad but... I'll be happy when spring comes.