Where has the term gone?

It only seems five minutes since I came home from France, yet in just 2 weeks time we will be saying goodbye to our current year 6 and preparing for September and a new class. Time has whizzed by and yet I haven't written anything! This is probably more to do with the fact I have been trying to keep up with my OU courses than anything else. In hindsight, trying to study 120 credits in 9 months while working and being a single parent to 4 children during the week while hubby works away was rather foolish, but I only have 3 months to go and am hopeful I will survive! Results in French haven't been what I would have liked - whilst I can communicate perfectly well in French I am finding the rigid academic style far more difficult. Thankfully the lovely Mandy has been helping me with my German, otherwise I fear I would be failing that as well! Just 1 course assessment to go in each course, then an end of course written and spoken assessment for each and I'm done! Looking forward to only having 60 credits to contend with from October till June 2012, then hopefully my degree will be finished.

In preparation for my PGCE application, I recently spent a morning in a local Junior school. It was interesting to see the difference between a single age class and my current mixed age class. The same problems with differentiation still exist, yet they were all expected to work at a very similar lesson. I have also made arrangements to spend a couple of days in a local Secondary school which specialises in languages, in September, just to reassure myself that Primary is the way for me. I really can't see myself teaching at Secondary level - I love working with the year 5/6 class and see that as my future.

I have also had the opportunity to lead my class over the last couple of weeks, either while the teacher was out or when he had assessments to complete. And I loved it! I thought I might be really nervous in front of the class, yet while I was a bit self concious I really enjoyed the opportunity to test how I could engage the class and direct their work.

I do feel very nervous about the PGCE application, but can only do my best! Whether I have the skills that the university is looking for remains to be seen, but I will be doing my best over the summer to ensure that I am as prepared as I can be (as well as finishing off my current OU courses!) And for now, I can concentrate on helping my class as they prepare for their leaver's play, as well as making sure I am ready for the Year 6 v. staff rounders match on the last day of term!

All change!

Since I started my OU studying back in September 2008, I have always wanted to gain my degree in Modern Language Studies - I thought it would be better to have a named degree and would give me more flexibility for future career moves. However, that meant studying through until October 2012 so that my application for PGCE would be to start in 2013 (which seems a long way off!) However, having attended the Primary PGCE open day at my local university recently, I have now changed my mind! I came back from the day feeling really invigorated to get on with my training and, having looked at the options, have now decided to go for a BSc Open degree. This means that I can actually finish my studying in June 2012, so can apply this autumn for a PGCE place starting September 2012.

Changing to an Open degree also means that I have more flexibility for my final level 3 course, as (providing I pass all this years courses!) I will only need 60 credits at level 3 to complete my total of 360 credits for an Honours degree. The English course that I was going to take was part of the named degree, but having searched the OU prospectus I have found a level 3 Children's Literature course which starts in October and which would complete my degree. It looks like a really interesting course and I have already been on Amazon looking for the set books, although I haven't yet ordered them as I know I will want to start reading as soon as they arrive and I have 3 other courses to get through first! I also think that a children's literature course will be useful for a prospective Primary school teacher!

I have spoken to the university and to my current Headteacher about my change of plans and both said that an Open degree wouldn't have an adverse affect on my application for the PGCE or on future job applications. My Head is also going to get in touch with people she knows at other schools so that I can arrange to do some observations in different types of schools - it will all help with my application!

So, it's down to me now to get a good degree result, organise some more school observations and put together a personal statement that will impress the university! I'm pleased that I have decided to change courses and am looking forward to the challenges ahead.

A very French experience

Just back from 10 days in France so need to write about the experience while it is still fresh! I received funding from Comenius (a European lifelong learning programme) to spend 10 days in France as part of a job shadowing programme. My school have been corresponding with their French friends since the New Year and the French teacher came to our school for a week in February, so we have been building good links.

A group of 10 teachers form Norfolk (plus me - the only non-teacher in the group!) made the trip out to Toulouse in the early hours of Wednesday morning. We had 2 1/2 days of language training in Toulouse before travelling to stay with our host teachers. Once we had arrived and dropped our bags at the hotel (small and rather dated, but clean and friendly) we were off to the Place du Capitole to meet one of the French organisers and have the first of many excellent meals! Wednesday was a long day - after lunch we had a welcome meeting and an introduction to the French school system. While it was interesting, after having been up since 3 in the morning we were all starting to flag by then! Some of the French teachers then came to meet us for a meal in the evening.

Thursday and Friday were spent at l'IUFM - the French equivalent of a teacher training college. We were split into 2 groups for the course, beginners and confident. Our confident group was taken by the lovely Pierre who seemed to know everything about French history and spoke Occitan and Spanish as well as French. It was all very interesting although I do wish we had more opportunity to practise speaking - we did seem to listen to Pierre rather a lot! We did learn lots of lovely French songs though. Lunches at the college were 3 courses - eating lots featured rather heavily. After the course we had the opportunity to go shopping - I have bought rather a lot of books - and evenings involved more food.

Saturday morning was supposed to be at college, but as a group we decided we would prefer an outdoor lesson, so Pierre took us to a lovely museum. As some people were moving out to their hosts that afternoon, we all split up after the morning and I went off to a large covered market with one of the teachers. After more food and more shopping, we decided to embrace French culture and went to the cinema to watch Gerard Depardieu in 'Je n'ai rien oublié'.

I had arranged for Cécile (my host teacher) to pick me up on Sunday morning. She was also picking up another teacher, Sarah, as Sarah's host wasn't available until later in the day. We went to a market to buy food for lunch, then met up with some of Cécile's friends for a coffee, before going back to their house for lunch, which went on all afternoon! We then took Sarah to meet her host and, finally, got back to Cécile's house.

Monday was my first day in school - I was slightly nervous as Cécile wasn't going to be there (she works as an English teacher in lots of different schools), but the staff were all very welcoming and the children were all very curious! School started at 8.30am, so after a quick tour I went into CM1/CM2 - the equivalent of our year 5/6 - the class that we had been corresponding with. I had brought over letters and small gifts from my class so handed those out, which was useful to try and get to know the children's names! I observed a French grammar lesson and then a maths lesson after break. After a 2 hour lunch break, I visited CE1/CE2 (year 3/4) and observed comprehension and more maths. One of the teachers took me back to Cécile's house after school (4.30) and we then went to the cinema (les femmes du 6iéme étage - lovely film) before coming home to Toulouse sausage for supper - delicious!

Back to school on Tuesday and helping out Cécile in English lessons in the morning. The teachers took me out for lunch then I was in Maternelle (reception/year 1) for the afternoon where I helped make Easter bunnies for presents and we did lots of singing. After almost losing my phone on the way home (it fell out of my bag onto the pavement but luckily I checked my bag about 5 minutes later, realised it was gone and it was still on the pavement when I went back to look!), Cécile took me for a quick shopping trip round Montauban. Supper was Bréton gallettes and more wine!

French schools don't work on Wednesday's, so it was a day of sight-seeing. We started off by going to a museum in Montauban, then met up with the directrice for lunch. She then took us on a sight-seeing tour round the area - lots of lovely old villages and beautiful scenery.

Back to school on Thursday and started off in CP/GS (year 1/2). French children don't seem to really start reading and writing until they are around 6, so it was interesting to see what the younger children do in class to start on letter and word recognition. As well as French, there was some maths and a short PE lesson. After lunch I was back with Cécile for English lessons - the CM1/CM2 children started writing letters for me to bring back to England. With CE1/CE2, we went outside for songs and activities. In the evening, Cécile took me to a dance spectacle in Toulouse - it was modern ballet and although I found the first half a bit strange, the second half was fabulous!

Friday was my last day in school - I spent the morning in Maternelle again with more singing and stories. I was also given a lot of pictures to bring home! Back to CM2/CM1 in the afternoon to finish off letters to England. Everyone came to say goodbye at the end of the day and I had lots of hugs from the younger children (plus a box of chocolates from someone in CM1). I was sad to say goodbye - it was a lovely week and everyone was very welcoming and friendly.

Cécile's partner, Seb, cooked a lovely meal on Friday night and I managed to cram everything into my suitcase somehow. Thankfully my flight on Saturday wasn't too early!

So, what have I gained from my trip? The main thing is the confidence that my French is sufficient to manage by myself in France - once Cécile picked me up I spoke nothing but French for the whole week and people seemed to understand me! I also understood most of what was said to me - I may not have understood every word, but I could understand the gist of conversations and reply appropriately! I also have lots of ideas to bring back and share with my class to hopefully help the French lessons. I had a great trip and hope to continue my correspondence with the school and Cécile as it can only be a positive thing to have these contacts in France. The trip has been a really positive experience for me; while I was there I wasn't someone's mum or someone's wife, I was just me and I think it did me good to focus on myself for a short while.

Back to the grindstone...

Halfway through January and the household is back to the usual routine. Hubby travels to Worcestor Monday evenings and comes home on Thursday evenings leaving me as a single parent for most of the working week. Now that tutorials have started up again I am having to rely on babysitters to enable me to get out of the house - while I don't mind leaving my 14 year old in charge if I am at a school meeting 5 minutes away, it is a different matter if I am at a tutorial over 2 hours drive away!

Once again, the OU has decided that Norfolk is an unknown county when it comes to tutorials...my German tutorials were originally due to be in Cambridge (although thankfully the tutor has agreed to run some in Norwich - as she lives in the county she would rather do them here as well!) and, of course, the tutorials for my next French course are in Cambridge as well. Only this time they are 3 hours long, meaning each evening will be at least 7 hours including travel! Thank goodness there are only 3 of them. I have no doubt that the tutorials for my other German course will be in Cambridge as well.

I am doing my best to get ahead on my current German course before the other course start in a couple of weeks. I know the French is going to be a big step up from last year and it is really important that I get a good result for that course as it will have a big impact on my overall degree result. So as long as I pass the two German courses the marks aren't hugely important - I just need to pass!

So, most of my non-work time is now taken up with studying. 120 points of study is supposed to be equvalent to a full-time uni course - not sure where 4 chidlren, work and an absent husband are supposed to fit in!

Work is going well - we are doing lots of French in class and writing to our partner class in Toulouse. We received letters from the French children and our class seem to have really enjoyed trying to translate them. It has given them a new outlook on French - having something tangible they can learn from is bringing it to life. I have booked my flights to Toulouse (yay!) and the French teacher is coming over here at the end of February, so it will be good to meet her. I'm really enjoying being in the year 5/6 classroom and think this the place for me in the future. Looking forward to the University Primary PGCE open day in May so that I can discuss my options with the tutors and find out more about the course. Only another 2 years until I can apply!

Joyeux Noël / Fröhe Weihnachten / Happy Christmas!

And yet again another month has passed without finding time to update on here - really must try harder! It has been a busy month with birthdays and moving.

In amongst the chaos has been some good news - I passed my French module! Results came out last week and I gained a level 2 pass which I'm pleased with. Slightly disappointed in the result for my written exam which was lower than I would have liked, but thankfully it was enough to keep me in the same level. Very surprisingly the result for my disastrous spoken exam was much better - whether allowances were made for the technical nightmares I don't know, but I am relieved it didn't affect my grade.

The other good news is that I have received funding for a job shadowing trip to Toulouse next year. I have already started exchanging emails with the school and the children are going to start writing in the New Year. However, just to confuse me I have received a package of letters from another school in the Tolouse area - not sure what's going on there but will have to wait until I can speak to the Languages co-ordinator once we are back at school! Maybe we've been twinned with 2 schools for some reason!

Studying is ongoing, albeit at a slightly reduced rate. I received a good score on my first German assignment so need to carry that on. With two new modules due to start in February I need to make the most of January to get ahead as much as I can. More good news is that the tutorials have been moved from Cambridge to Norwich for the next couple of months, so at least I should be able to get to those.

My other current project is my 40th birthday party! Having not had a party since I was 13, decided this was the time to push the boat out! Have booked a local hotel for the evening and a friend's band is going to play. I'm really looking forward to the evening and hope that friends that I haven't seen for a while will be able to come along. So January will also be a month of healthy eating and exercise as I would like to buy a new dress for the party!

Given my previous form, I am guessing that this will be my last post for the year! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year,

Some positive news for once...

I feel re-invigorated! I had been feeling as though my goal of becoming a teacher was doomed to failure, having been told by various people on the TES forum that my degree wouldn't be good enough to get me on a MFL PGCE course as I hadn't spent a year abroad refining my fluency. But last night I went to a secondary PGCE open evening at my local university (the one I would want to do my PGCE at) and spoke to the tutors. I was delighted to learn from the curriculum tutor that my lack of time abroad would not prevent me from getting an interview (unlike the poor girl next to me who had a linguistics degree and was told it probably wouldn't be good enough!). So now I need to ensure that I: a) get a good degree result, b) get as much classroom experience as I can in the next couple of years, and c) keep practising my languages as much as I can to ensure I am as fluent as I possibly can be.

a) is very much dependent on the grades I get for my modules, so I need to knuckle down and ensure I get the best results I can. Next year will be key - my first level 3 course and the results from that will make a big differene to my overall degree grade. Although I am taking some level 1 courses at the same time, I must make sure I give priority to the level 3. To help keep my French going during the break I am taking part in an OU project on collaboration with 3 other European universities which will ensure I keep speaking and writing French in between courses.

b) needs me to be more proactive - I need to get into some secondary schools to observe classes. I've signed up for a scheme via the university which helps to get into schools, but as yet haven't had the time to go on the induction course! Must do this before February when the level 3 course kicks in!

c) well, this is down to me. I am guilty of taking the easy route and only doing what I need to in order to get through assignments, but I know I need to take my language learning to another level so that my fluency improves - not just in speaking but in listening and writing as well. I have numerous French DVDs and books that I have bought and then not watched or read - well the time has come to unwrap them and learn from them! Moving to a new house with no Sky TV, plus an absent husband, should help as I will have the time to watch French films with no distractions.! Also, I should find out next week if my funding has been agreed to spend 10 days in a French school - that will be a huge help if it happens!

I'm still not 100% sure that I want to teach secondary as primary has its attractions, but I hope that once I have spent some time in a secondary I will be nearer to a decision. At least I know that the doors to secondary teaching are not closed and I will do all I can over the next 3 years to ensure I have as good a chance as possible fo getting the PGCE place I want.

All change in the madhouse

Not sure where the last month has gone! I had my written French exam a couple of weeks ago and I think it went ok. 450 words on the subject 'are virtual worlds useful?' - I think I followed the correct French essay structure and managed to shoehorn in the grammar I wanted to, so now I just have to wait until December to see whether I manage a pass or not! Although my German course doesn't officially start until next week, I have made a tentative start and to my dismay don't seem to have remembered as much as I had hoped...maybe as I get further into it more will come back to me.

As if I don't have enough to do, I have also signed up for a project that the OU is taking part in along with a couple of European universities. It will give me the opportunity to practise my French until my next course starts, as well as using some German. I'm looking forward to something a bit different.

Talking of different, it is all change at home. Hubby is now working away from home during the week, so I am a single parent from Monday to Thursday. Added to that, we are finally moving into our barn conversion next month, so we are frantically getting everything ready for that!

So lots of changes over the next few months - life is never dull!