A lot of laughter

Last night we (my sister, brother, nieces, boyfriends) were celebrating my sister's daughter, she turned 25 the other day. It was a real fun party, at least I thought so but I am not sure that everyone enjoyed everything. Every time we get together crazy things happen. We just can't behave, something strange is happening when we associate. We laugh a lot about absolutely nothing, and that is quite alright but I think people around us don't appreciate our behavior all times. Sounds strange, I know, but it is so very funny, most of the time, that is.

We were discussing whether my brother was limber or not and I didn't think so because he is very stiff in a way. Of course he didn't agree, he told all of us that he usually bites his toe nails because he hasn't got any scissors. You can't say that, even if it is a joke, among people round the dinnertable, but he did and we simply burst out into laughter. My niece's mother- and father-in-law didn't look to happy about it. I was ashame afterwards, because this was just one crazy laughter among others. Then just a few minutes later my brother sharpens his eyes and turns to the host (our niece's boyfriend) and says in a very serious voice: "Such a lovely house you've got here." It wasn't appropriate to say that right then so once again we began to laugh. Very childish indeed.

Anyway, when we were leaving the boyfriend's relatives (mother, father and brother) didn't seem to sad about it. They nodded and tried to make me feel totally normal. If they succeeded, nja, don't think so...

Dark, dark, dark

Soon the darkness will be less dark. I am one of those who really have hard time accepting the darkness all day long during a couple of months every year. I am feeling tired and bored.


I haven't seen the sun for ages. I guess it is somewhere above the clouds and then all I can see is grey, dark days. I find it very difficult to accept the grey dull. Now I am hoping for some snow because that is really nice! It lightens everything up even my mood. Let us hope for some snow! Please.

Not that naughty anymore!

The other day I was on my last course with my dog. My monster has become a less monsterous dog. I am surprised indeed. When we came to the club they told us to leave our dogs in the cars because they wanted to talk to us. We went indoors and they said that we were supposed to compete this evening in obedience. I have to admit that I went very nervous, thinking that I would make a joke of myself... Well, it is the dog that is the problem...or is it? ;)

Ok, we began the competition and I was surprised that my monster listened to what I had to say. You never know... She behaved real nice and I was kind of proud of her. We came on third place so we've recieved a nice price. My husband was surprised, at least that's what I think... He is not so very fond of pets, so you never know his thoughts.

What would you do?

How do you know what's wrong when your child doesn't want to go to school? Is it the stomach ache that she is complaining about or are there any other problems?

This morning my daughter didn't want to go to school. She said that she had stomach ache and that she wanted to stay at home. What is the best thing to do? Is it to tell her to go there and phone me if it gets worse or is it to stay home with her? I stayed home and she felt much better as soon as we came home. She said: Mom, I feel better !


Let's say that we had a real nice day at home!

We have moved!

Here is the story:

We have moved from the most wonderful house to a little flat in the centre of.... We are used to lot of space, our house was 255 square metres. Now we are trying to adjust to 84 square metres. It isn´t easy, that´s for sure! We´ve got big heavy old furniture(I would like to have an -s in the end but furniture is an uncountable noun-right? That is what an English course does to you...makes you think, or what ever!) that need space. I would say that we are overcrowded indeed. The first days here our dog and cat weren´t here and I remember that I was thinking:

"-Gosh, there are going to live a dog and a cat here too!!!!!!!!"

I can assure you that it went well. Even the cat is satisfied and if you ask me why´s that, I surely cannot answer... He is used to be outdoors all days but now he is indoors - and seems to like it too!! Amazing cat!

The other night when I was washing up after dinner I looked at my husband sitting in our sofa in the living room just two metres away. He was sitting there looking up the ceiling and asked me:

-What am I supposed to do now?

He has always billions of things to do but in this compact living there isn´t much to do. Of course, he can run in a circle: kitchen, living room, hall, kitchen living room, hall. If he wants to, he can go the other way around just to do something different. Isn´t life like a merry-go-round?

You may wonder why we moved from that lovely house? Well, we are going to build a new house - another house of our dreams... It takes about a year before we can move in but as we say - if you are waiting for something nice to happen, time isn´t a problem. Hehehe...

Nicke, the rabbit

Something very sad happened last night... Our beloved rabbit Nicke disappeared!! And I am so very sad!!!

When I came out this morning for a chat with Nicke, he wasn´t there. I didn´t see the hole in the cage at first, but when I called for him and he didn´t show up I understood something was wrong. It has been a struggle in the cage so I guess a wild animal has been there taking him. It is awful!

A couple of years ago I said to my husband that our daughter really wanted a little rabbit. He didn´t know that I used her to get one of my own ...hehe... Of course the little girl liked the idea, but she hadn´t come up with it herself. The first rabbit that we had was a naughty one, it didn´t want us to come near her. We sold her after a year and then we found Nicke, the most wonderful little rabbit in the world. So very friendly. The funny thing is that my husband isn´t too keen on pets but he really, really liked Nicke. When I rang my husband to tell him that Nicke was gone, he went sad.

I haven´t told our daughter yet and I have been wondering how to tell her. My husband thought that we should say that he had run away, but I don´t agree. Then she is going to wonder and worry about him. I think the best is to tell her the truth even if it is hard. That´s what I´ll do!

I´ve got a monster

Yes, that´s right! I´ve got a monster, not under my bed but a dog as in D-O-G. She is a real beast, nice and understanding when we are all alone and like an evil when we meet people and other dogs. I am not fair when I call her a beast because she is so very friendly and loves everybody. The problem is that she almost turns me around every time she gets that happy and that makes me mad. It is so embarrassing having a dog that behaves like that. It isn´t my first one so I can´t put the blame on that... :)

Well, well, today I have been on my first course with my dog since she was a puppy. I have decided that she is going to be a nice little dog so that I can feel happy about being a dog owner. I was a little bit ashamed at first but I noticed that others were having the same problems like me and then I really felt relieved!

One of the exercises that we did tonight was to walk past a sausage that was lying in the grass. My godness, I shouted before she even thought of eating it... Well, I thought I´d better do, otherwise the others wouldn´t be able to do that excersis, and wouldn´t that have been a shame?

English all around you

English all around you. That is what our teacher call one of our tasks. She is so right... I have English everywhere. I am going to make myself perfectly clear:


Sometimes I am thinking in English just to practise it. I talk English in my car to my 5 years old daughter, just to practise it. She doesn´t understand what her crazy mother is doing. Not very often, but sometimes, I find something on youtube to listen to, of course in English. When my husband is sitting by the telly I sit there too, reading the golden bible, in English. I am starting to wonder if this is quite normal or maybe I should do something about it before it goes way over normality. So what do you suggest?


Beside of this, I also got a friend in the Us that I correnspond quite often, at least twice a week. I like to have this contact because it is exciting having a friend so far away and that you only meet on the webb. We are saying that we some day will meet over a nice glass of red wine and I can promise that we would have a jolly good time. Something is telling me that both of us talk a lot - maybe she could try speak Swedish while I speak English. A funny thought!! :) Then I should have plenty of time expressing me...hehe...

Finally!

Finally I understand what it´s all about! I have to admit that I felt a little bit stupid not knowing what I was reading. Today I have also read a mail from our teacher saying that we should not bother so much if we don´t understand, we will later on. That sounds great if the situation occurs again. It will, believe me... :)

I have continued reading the Golden Bible and it is good reading, it reminds me of the knowledge I have hidden way back in my head. The word classes and the clause elements. I needed to update that, that´s for sure!

We are working in peergroups and I must say that mine is working just fine. I think that we have a good communication about the course but also about our lives. That´s nice!

I am waiting for my other books so that I know what I have to do later on. It is exciting and I am looking forward reading them. Crazy, I know...

No one seems to know!

I still have a small problem trying to understand what that grammatical phrases is and especially the noun phrases. Kind of funny because when I am asking people around me no one knows. Well, they have heard about it but can not remember enough to explain it. I will manage, I am sure.

Yesterday I ordered rest of the books that I will need for this course. It feels good ordering them knowing that I do not pay for them.

Tomorrow I will go on reading the golden bible. Day off from school so I suppose that I will have some time for reading.

In English, please!

Well, now I have to write this in English and that is a challenge indeed. I like writing so it is kind of fun.

I came home from my course in Växjö the other day and I started to read our golden bible as our teacher calls it. It is all about the grammar of English. I like to read it and I think I understand the most of it, but remember, I have just started reading it! :) There is a problem though, I do not quite understand the grammatical phrases especially the noun phrases. I have tried to read about it twice but maybe it takes several readings before understanding. There are lots of terminology to learn and understand.

Slutuppgiften

Inledningsvis
Alldeles i början av mitt lärarliv blev jag erbjuden ett vikariat på ett "högstadium" som undervisande lärare i engelska i år 7 och 9. Det var våghalsigt av mig att tacka ja till vikariatet med tanke på att jag var utbildad 1-7 SV/SO med bild som inriktning, men vad gör man när inget annat bjuds? Jag tycker det gick bra trots att jag ingen behörighet hade, men det är viktigt att tillägga att jag skulle ha gjort lite annorlunda idag. Inte själva valet, men däremot hade undervisningen bjudit på mer varierande arbetssätt. Efter året gått fick jag möjlighet att arbeta på mellanstadiet där jag också undervisade bl a i engelska. Jag tycker att det gick riktigt bra och det berodde säkert på att engelska är ett av de ämnen som jag verkligen tycker är roligt. Med tiden har jag ändå känt att jag gärna skulle vilja få behörighet att undervisa i ämnet och det var på så sätt jag kom på idén att söka den här kursen!

Mina tankar och förväntningar inför kursen
När jag sökte in till den här engelskkursen kände jag mig redo för att utveckla dels mitt eget språk dels att få stöd rent didaktiskt. Jag kände mig väldigt bunden till läromedlena även om jag gjorde en del utsvävningar då och då. Jag tyckte det var tryggt att ha ett rejält läromedel så att jag var "säker" på att eleverna fick sig till livs det som förväntades inför högre årskurser. I och med denna kurs hoppades jag att jag skulle bli stärkt i min roll som undervisande lärare i engelska genom att få tips och idéer till hur jag skulle kunna arbeta med ämnet på ett mer varierat och inspirerande sätt samt att få utveckla mitt eget språk.

Hur har jag förändrats i min roll som lärare i engelska?
Jag tycker jag har förändrats mycket! Mycket mer än jag trodde att jag skulle göra. Jag misstänker att om eleverna skulle få frågan skulle de nog uttrycka att engelskan blev roligare eftersom det hände många olika saker efter jag påbörjat denna kurs. Jag tycker också det blev roligare, trots att det ibland också har varit mer arbetsamt. Belöningen har varit att se elevernas utveckling och arbetsglädje, det har gjort mödan värt! Frågan var visst hur jag har förändrats… Jag har blivit mer påhittig och nyfiken på att finna nya uppslag till hur vi skulle kunna arbeta. I och med kursen har jag blivit säkrare i min pedagogroll, inte för att jag har gått runt och känt mig osäker hela tiden för det har jag absolut inte gjort, men jag märker ändå en stor skillnad på något märkligt sätt! Det är väl det utbildning gör med en? Stärker ens självkänsla i olika sammanhang. Jag märker också att jag pratar mycket med mina kollegor om vad vi gör i försök att få en del av dem att se fördelarna med t ex Internet som hjälpmedel i engelskundervisningen.

Det viktigaste jag tar med mig från kursen
Det allra viktigaste jag tar med mig från kursen är att jag är ännu mer inställd på att satsa på engelskan d v s jag vill fortsätta utbilda mig i ämnet. Undervisningsmässigt är det många viktiga delar jag kommer att ta med mig. Jag tänker då på ITK och dess alla möjligheter att göra undervisningen mer varierad och inspirerande. Boken "Engelska för livet" är ett fantastiskt stöd i hur man skulle kunna förändra engelskundervisningen till ett mer elevstyrt sätt att arbeta. Överhuvudtaget tycker jag att alla delar har givit något som förändrat mig positivt i min roll som pedagog! Eftersom jag är väldigt nöjd med vad jag har fått med mig under kursens gång ser jag ingen större anledning att förändra något inför nästa omgång!