Guest Post

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

The news just broadcast more cuts in salaries and the buzz word is crisis. Besides all this, the loads of paper work and the hours spent at school seem to burn all the necessary strength to face our misbehaved students and manage to involve them in learning. 
This past academic year I felt my job seemed to be dreadful routine. I needed to get some new motivation and that’s why I applied for “ Language and Methodology Refresher (Secondary /Adult)”. I asked APPI to advise me about the best colleges and courses, they suggested BELL in Cambridge. In April my application was approved and on 14th July I left my home at 3 am. Leaving my kids, being the only Portuguese teacher in the campus was a great challenge for me. I must confess I felt a bit anxious although I love travelling and making new friends. 
At 4 pm I was at Homerton College, in my bedroom. As my students would say: “Oh my God”! everything was new, the place, the people... at 7 o’clock the welcome event - the first person I met was a Brazilian teacher and we immediately started to speak English. It seems so strange, our mother tongue is Portuguese and we were speaking English, but why were we there? To improve our English, so? Let’s speak English! Since that moment, that was the only language I used. During this event we met many teachers form different countries not only in Europe but in Asia and South America. 
This was just the beginning of two great weeks of work as well as exchange of ideas, culture and knowledge. 
On Monday morning the first breakfast was in the “Harry Potter” hall. It seemed that I was a character of the film, I was a student in an English college. My dream as a kid (studying in England) had come true. 
At 9 am we met our tutor and the 12 teachers of the Methodology and – refresher- During the mornings, we were with the tutor learning new words, doing activities concerning the four skills and the different intelligences, developing new ideas for our future lessons. In the afternoon, we attended a variety of workshops either on cultural issues or practical ideas for classes. There were also plenary sessions and cultural events. In all these moments we could meet other teachers of other courses and share some more ideas.
In the evenings, after all the cultural events I had time to read my new books and the tutors’ suggestions. 
In the weekend we could visit London and Oxford, visit museums, colleges and do some shopping, of course. 
However, the days flew and on Saturday, 27th July, I had to come back. OMG... I felt I didn’t want to come back to reality. These two weeks were incredibly inspiring and motivating. I still feel a desire to read more, search more about new ideas for my lessons. 
This course was really important to change my way of seeing my job and to change the way I was working. I felt like a machine doing things automatically just because they had to be done, without much motivation. Now I feel the strength to face a new school year with a different attitude. My imagination has woken up. 
All I must say is: My dear friends, don’t deny yourselves the chance to do such a course, your students deserve it. Do it for yourselves and for your students. A course of this kind can be the turning point in your job now! So do it!

Isabel Breda

Agrupamento Escolas da Guia

My Cambridge Experience, August 2012

In August 2012, a group of Portuguese teachers of English spent two weeks in beautiful Cambridge / UK in a teacher training course. Besides the updates I published then - starting here -, below is my report of that wonderful experience just published by APPI in its newsletter:

CAMBRIDGE, day 12

Now posting from home!!!

Trinity College

I'm back, but couldn't skip posting about my last day in Cambridge, could I?
After a busy morning with classes, activities as well as the emotional farewell ceremony, I headed into town for my last visits and shots:

Trinity College

Trinity College








Pembroke College

Pembroke College

Pembroke College

King's College

King's College

And here is my last dinner at Homerton:

»»Roasted Cod Fillets with leeks and pancetta cream sauce+ sides: chips, peas and courgette. As usual, salad and fresh fruit.



Well, this was it...a fabulous 2-week experience which included colleagues from 16 different nationalities in a gorgeous place with a rich and intense programme with classes, afternoon workshops, sports activities, cultural programme... plenty to choose from and noone can complain of boredom! Even the staff and weather contributed for such a positive and stimulating environment, both professionally and individually. Not everything was perfect, but much certainly depends on each one of us...I prefer to stick to what was really great: the tutor, the group, the place, the visits, the food...
I wouldn't like to finish though without posting one last picture of Homerton as well as a poem by Jim Scrivener that so well reflect life at the campus and the way, I guess, we all felt and feel:

Might you remember this?

Might you remember this?

The old stone colleges? Damp dawns?

The word-full classrooms that you met in?

Comparing notes on wide green lawns?

The grand half-chapeled hall that we ate in?

Did you find how English flowed in you

With just a little more ease?

And unexpected learnings grew

Soaked in the Cambridge breeze?

The buses, river, ancient walls.

The bread. The fish. The chips. The peas.

Showers with sunny intervals

Spanish, Czech, Polish, Japanese.

The pull of ancient histories.

The climbing flowers and the bees.

Quaint medieval sanctuaries.

One slice of ham. One slice of cheese.

And those three, tall, gorgeous trees.

Memory’s an edit.

Whole frames go rotten.

I’ve been around a while;

Trust me, much gets forgotten.

Who knows if these days will stay with you.

Framed. Embossed.

Or if it’s just another something

Soon enough lost.

Back in that other place, your land,

You’ll re-find routines soon enough

And this, no longer close at hand,

Just photo-album story stuff.

Some memories are made of feather.

Some are made of stone.

A hundred ways to get here.

And one hundred ways home.

So…will you remember this?

The old stone colleges? Damp dawns?

The word-full classrooms that you met in?

Comparing notes on wide green lawns?

The grand half-chapeled hall that we ate in?

Did you find how English flowed in you

With just a little more ease?

And unexpected learnings grew

Soaked in the Cambridge breeze?

The buses, river, ancient walls.

The bread. The fish. The chips. The peas.

Showers with sunny intervals

Russian, Italian, Portuguese.

The pull of ancient histories.

The climbing flowers and the bees.

Quaint medieval sanctuaries.

One slice of ham. One slice of cheese.

And the trees.

Jim Scrivener

(With Mr. Scrivener’s kind permission)

I'm sure I will remember all this. Who won't? Who wouldn't?

Thank you all at the campus and again and again to APPI and PROALV for this unique experience.

CAMBRIDGE, days 10+11

After the morning classes, at 2pm there was a most interesting plenary talk by Jim Scrivener, renowned author and Bell’s academic director, on “The Underknown Skills of Classroom Management”. As soon as it finished, I went straight to a museum: The Fitzwilliam Museum.

The Fitzwilliam Museum is one of Europe’s great art museums really worth visiting not only because of the exhibitions it hosts but also for the building itself. This imposing neoclassical building was built in 1848 to house Viscount Fitzwilliam’s art collections and nowadays, besides the permanent collections (Antiquities, Applied Arts, Coins, Paintings, and Manuscripts), it hosts temporary exhibits of international and English art. Admission is free, yes, as in many other British museums, but do go with time and long before 5pm, when they close doors and usher you out!

The main entrance to The Fitzwilliam Museum facing Trumpington Street

I went back to the campus at about 6pm for my dinner

>>The main meal consisted of confit duck leg with plum sauce + sides: rice, sugar snaps, roast butternut and sweet potatoes. The main meals are always served with salad and there is always fresh fruit for dessert.

For the evening, there was another enjoyable musical event: Jazzy Tunes with tutors Chaz Pugliese (guitar) and David A. Hill (piano and harmonica). There was also poetry with David A. Hill and Jim Scrivener! Have a look at our multi-talented tutors:

David A Hill

David A Hill (piano) and Chaz Pugliese (guitar)

David A Hill (harmonica)

On Thursday, from 9am to12.30pm classes with our experienced tutor, Anna Young, and at 2pm a practical session on “What motivates our students” by Chaz Pugliese. After that, well, I confess…I shot up for town to go shopping! My time here is almost up and I want to take some pressies home at least for my kids. Isn’t that fair? They do deserve them.

Anyway, there’s not much I can add right now. I had a great dinner in the dining hall at the campus followed by a relaxed and entertaining Karaoke.

>>Pasta with prawns and courgette linguine + green beans and cauliflower. For dessert I chose an orange.

Friday is my last course day at Bell Teacher Training Campus. Goodbyes are always hard, especially when the working environment has been professionally stimulating yet relaxed and led by a brilliant tutor. Though I love it here, I miss my children terribly and look forward to going home. Nothing lasts forever, but good memories will prevail and technology will definitely play its role in maintaining these new friendships and contacts.