Learning New Tricks: Linguistics

If I promised that I’d post at least once a week,would you believe me? No? I wouldn’t believe me either. Anyways, let’s get the excuses over with shall we? I was busy working, tutoring, studying, blah blah blah. There, now we can get on with today’s post. 🙂

It’s official. I’ve started my journey to obtain a Diploma of Applied Linguistics. You always have to start at the beginning though, so I completed LING 100A last month and it was quite the crash course.

I have never taken a summer course in my 5 years of university, so I was unprepared for the fast-paced intensity of summer learning. The class was 2 hours a day, Monday to Friday and you had to keep on your toes to survive. I had to study linguistics everyday in order to keep up with the class (and even then I still felt like I was just barely keeping up.) Also, I have little linguistic experience and, doing nothing but Japanese and English classes for the past 5 years, linguistics took me a little getting used to.

That being said, I have found myself starting to enjoy linguistics more and more. I find the scientific analysis of language a very useful and interesting subject. I mean, language is something we use everyday but something we rarely think about in great detail. It’s something that seems to come instinctually to us, so when we are asked why language works like it does, we rarely have an answer.

I am also starting to realize why understanding linguistics is essential in becoming an ESL teacher. When I first started researching what it takes to become an ESL teacher I was surprised to learn that the program I needed was called the “Diploma of Applied Linguistics”. “Linguistics?” I thought, “Why do I need to study linguistics to teach ESL?” But in order to teach languages, you need to know how languages work. This was evident to me even when I was learning the simple things of linguistics like the place of articulation of the sounds in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).  My linguistic guru (a friend of mine who majored in Linguistics and is paid in rice crispie squares) was teaching me how to sound out theta ( ɵ -the “th” sound in words like ‘thin’). She suggested that I put my tongue between my teeth to create this sound. When I asked why, she explained to me that theta’s point of articulation is interdental (between the teeth), she also pointed out that this could be a method to help ESL students pronounce this sound properly.

So, with lots of tutoring, studying, and drawing tons and tons of syntax (sentence) trees (the people in Starbucks must have thought I was mad) I have managed to survive my first course of my diploma with a solid “B”.  Even though linguistics is a little more science-y than my artsy mind is used to, I am intrigued by the subject and look forward to learning more in September. It’s nice to know that I’m still capable of learning new tricks.

Confessions of an iPad Addict

Hello, my name is Leah and I am addicted to my iPad.

Like any addiction, it started harmlessly enough. When my old mp3 player died a couple years ago, I got a vibrant pink iPod; when the same happened to my old PC, I replaced it with a Mac Mini. At this point, I was converted to the Apple ways, but felt like it was just a healthy appreciation for a line of reliable, simple, elegant products.  Then, last fall, I saw “The Ad”.

It looked so cool! I felt like a kid who wanted a toy… one way out of my price range. So I swept my iPad dreams aside. Sure, it would be cool, and maybe even useful for school, but I could do without one. No, it definitely wasn’t worth it. I really didn’t need it. Really.

Just after I had convinced myself that I really, really didn’t need one, though, my dad won one at a conference. Even better, my family (graciously) decided that I was the one in the family who would be able to use it most since I was in school. I was ecstatic. It was a beautiful, magical gadget and I spoiled it thoroughly. I named it (“Mononoke“), bought it a beautiful case to keep it safe, and bought a pricy Gelaskin to make it unique and even more beautiful.  Within a few weeks after getting my iPad, I didn’t know how I had ever gotten along without it. How could I have possibly lived without having access to the internet constantly at my fingers? How could I have ever gone without playing Angry Birds or Robot Unicorn Attack? And as a humanities student with tons of readings, I saved a ton of money by using my iPad instead of printing everything out. I had a wonderful year with Mononoke, but all things must come to an end.

My parents live out in the boonies, you see, so their internet service sucks. Their connection is so inconsistent that I’ve gotten accustomed to thinking that they don’t have any access at all when I visit. That’s frustrating for me, but even more frustrating for my mother who has to live with it! So when I last visited them in Kamloops, we had the brilliant idea of testing my iPad’s 3G connection to see if it would work more consistently. The experiment was a success; the iPad’s connection actually worked, which was a step up from what they had before. So it was decided that my mom would keep my 3G-capable iPad and I would get a new iPad 2 (without 3G, saving a bunch of money since I’m always near free Wi-Fi). This plan was win-win: I would get a brand spanking new iPad 2 and my mom would have access to good internet. But I didn’t realize that getting a new iPad wouldn’t be as simple as going up to Future Shop and getting one the next day. They’re so in demand that nobody has any in stock; I would have to order one, and suffer two to three weeks of iPad deprivation.

I thought I was prepared for this until I left Kamloops. I felt something missing on the trip back to Victoria, and by the next morning I was thoroughly disgruntled that I couldn’t check Facebook while watching TV (as is my usual routine). I was angry that I couldn’t play Angry Birds. In a couple short weeks, my Facebook and Google Reader checking has been cut drastically, and I still find myself looking for my iPad. It didn’t take me too long to again realize the obvious: I have an addiction. Now does this mean I have realized how dependent I am on technology so I am going to cut back? Hell no! I already ordered a new pink cover and adorable Gelaskin for my iPad 2, have already named it (“Mononoke II”), and am tracking its progress online from the factory in China to my door. If it gets here tomorrow (like it’s supposed to) I am going to jump up and down hysterically like a child who’s been given an espresso shot.

My month of R&R

Hello all and welcome to my triumphant return to blogging! Why was I not blogging the past month? Well, it was a mixture of final exams, laziness, and some fun travel time.

I decided to take the month of April off to relax and get a little “summer” vacation in before I started working at my various summer jobs. As a reward for making it through my undergraduate degree (and waiting patiently since my last big trip three years ago) my fiancé Ross and I went to Tofino and Long Beach just before Easter weekend. It’s been a dream of mine to walk along that beautiful beach ever since I moved to the island, so I was very excited to go!

As soon as exams were out of the way, we got ourselves packed and braced ourselves for the six-hour bus ride. The first four hours weren’t so bad, actually, but in the final stretch between Port Alberni and Tofino the highway became a roller coaster. I’m usually really good in vehicles and don’t get any kind of motion sickness, but I started getting pretty nauseous with an hour still to go. Getting sick in front of a busload of people is not my idea of a good time, so I thought I should go to the washroom so I could be sick in peace. Bad idea. If there’s one place you don’t want to be with motion sickness, it’s a bus washroom: a windowless, foul-smelling broom cupboard being thrown unpredictably from side to side. On the bright side, my regular seat felt a lot more comfortable after I made it back.

Once we arrived in Tofino, we walked a couple blocks to the Cable Cove Inn. Our room made me forget all about the bumpy bus ride:

Our room at the Cable Cove Inn.

The next couple days were a fabulous mix of enjoying bubble baths, watching the sun set from our private deck, watching movies in bed on my iPad, and enjoying a heavenly hot stone massage. It was amazing just to be able to do whatever I felt like doing that day. There were no schedules to stick to, nothing that had to get done. A nice refreshing break from the usual hectic pace of my life.

Me enjoying the sunshine on our private deck.

Long Beach was also a magnificent treat. The beach itself is hidden from the road by trees, so it was a big surprise when I finally stepped out onto the beach. Unfortunately, Ross didn’t get a picture of my reaction to seeing it for the first time; he said I looked like “a child seeing the ocean for the first time.”  I couldn’t get enough of looking at the sun sparkling on the water and the waves rolling in and out.

Long beach.

We walked for two hours on Long Beach (they weren’t kidding when they named it!) and finally went back to the inn for one last night of rest. But when we got to our room, there was a surprise waiting for me: one of the inn’s managers had discovered that it was my birthday that week and baked me a raspberry lemon cake!

My yummy lemon raspberry birthday cake.

It tasted as good as it looked.

It seemed like all too soon we had to head back to our humble home in Victoria. But I wasn’t able to settle down for too long, because a couple days later I was on my way to Kamloops to visit my family. I had a great visit — not to mention two birthday cakes — with them, despite being out of commission for a few days with a cold.

Now I am back to the grind in Victoria and have 3 jobs (don’t ask me how THAT happened!). But, considering how spoiled I was in April, I have no complaints. ^_^

My favourite picture of the trip.

Back to Basics

Now that I am almost done my undergraduate degree (only a few weeks left!) I have been thinking more of the Diploma of Applied Linguistics I’ll be taking next year. It’s exciting to realize that I’ll soon be learning how to be a successful ESL teacher, but I am a little nervous. Do I really know English well enough to teach it?

It might seem like a strange question. I can hear you thinking “Are you nuts? English is your first language! You’ve already mastered it!” But in order to teach a language, I feel you have to know it inside-out and backwards — and in a way you don’t get automatically when you learn your first language. I know I can speak the language fluently, and I know I’ll learn some in my Diploma next year, but I’m kinda dense in two areas that really matter: spelling and grammar.

Back when I was in elementary school, I was a master speller. My grade 6 teacher rewarded our class with slushes if we all got good marks on a spelling test, so I studies my little heart out for that cold, liquid sugar. It paid off, and I’d always do well. So why is it that now I can barely spell “lettuce” right on the grocery list? In fact, I initially typed it wrong in the last sentence, and had to be saved by my computer’s spell checker! But therein lies the problem. Grade 6 was the last time I really had to think about my spelling: ever since, I’ve been able to type my essays and school work, so I’ve just had to watch out for red underlines. I don’t feel too badly, as I’m not alone in this — in China and Japan, people are starting to rely on their phones and computers to remember how to write kanji characters — but it’s still something I need to improve. I have the feeling that a company isn’t going to want to hire an ESL teacher that can’t spell lettuce!

I’m also ashamed to admit that my grammar skills aren’t what you’d expect from an English minor. This is even worse for my future ESL career, because I will need to be a grammar master to explain it in a way my students can understand! I never really got any grammar training in high school English, so I always get my fiancé to look over my essays and fix my comma splices and blatant misuse of colons and semicolons. So, my solution to this problem (as is my solution to every problem in my life) is to study, study, study! I’m going to start from the beginning and learn grammar the way my students will. I bought a beginner’s grammar book for ESL students, so hopefully I’ll improve my skills and learn about teaching ESL at the same time. So once I’m finished hitting the books, I’ll be hitting the books…. again. *Sigh* It never ends does it?

Food guarding and fire starting

Since I have been so shamefully neglectful of my blog the past few weeks, I thought I should make it up with an extra post this week! Luckily, my work day today was a bit of an adventure so I have something to share.

My shift today consisted of taking some ESL students to Goldstream Park for a nature walk and hot dog roast. Normally this is a relatively easy shift to do, but today a few things seemed to be a bit more challenging than usual. My first job today was to help a fellow co-worker load all the supplies we would need (chips, juice, wood, etc.) into the buses. This was a bit odd — we usually send the supplies up in a CA-driven van — but we figured it would be no big deal. Boy, were we wrong! The difference between a van (which can park right next to the building) and a bus (which can’t) is a lot of trips with a cart which steers as well as a cart that doesn’t steer very well. And when you are trying to feed over 100 people there is a LOT of food to move!

After some sweat spent (and a little help from the bus drivers) we finally got all the supplies loaded up. But then I decided to take a look through the supplies to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. Condiments, check. Hot dog buns, check. Hot dogs… “Oh no, we forgot the hot dogs!” After yet another trip to load up the hot dogs, we loaded up the students, got everyone signed in, and were good to go. But then my co-worker poked her head in the door: “Leah, did we bring the sticks to cook the hot dogs on?” After one last journey for more supplies we were on the road.

Once we got to Goldstream, the students were sent off on a nature hike while some of the CAs set up the camp site for lunch. Putting out the food was easy enough and we started on getting two roaring fires going for our hungry students. Or that was the idea. Now, most people who know me know that my parents live out in the boonies, and everyone who lives out in the boonies loves to have bonfires. Thanks to my father, I know how to start a pretty damn good fire! So I arranged the wood into a tent, stuck a good amount of kindling and paper underneath, and lit it up. The paper caught fire quite fantastically and I was congratulating myself on a job well done when I realized that the paper was the only thing that was burning. The wood would catch fire a little bit and would seem to get going, but soon enough it would pitter out leaving us only with a bunch of sad, puppy-dog-eyed, hungry students. And this is how the fire saga continued for the rest of the day. My co-workers and I did our best, and we managed to keep the fire going just enough for people to cook their hot dogs and marshmallows, but it involved a lot of smoke, and a lot of frustration, and a new “Y U NO” Guy made by my co-worker Liz and me.

I also had a rather unexpected and odd job today: guarding food from students. We actually had two different groups of students coming to Goldstream: one in the morning, one in the afternoon. So we had to make sure that the food was divided evenly to avoid starving students in the afternoon. But who would have thought a bunch of Japanese students would be so ravenous? We put the extra food to the side to save for the afternoon but the morning students still got into it. So I was the designated food protector for the rest of the trip. I hung around the table with the extra food and had to shoo a few people away but, after a while, I felt I could wander 5 feet away to warm myself by the little fire. No sooner had I left my post did students start getting into the chips! After that I realized the grave responsibility of my job and stuck to that post like glue! No further chip-related incidents occurred.

Coffee-free for an entire semester?

久しぶりですね？ (It’s been a long time, eh?) Like every other student at this time of year, I’ve been drowning in schoolwork lately and haven’t had a lot of brainpower left over for blog posts. But, despite all the work and stress, I realized something amazing today: I haven’t had a single drop of coffee since November!

Surprisingly enough, it took me a while to discover the ‘joy’ of coffee and I didn’t start drinking it heavily until last year. I actually used to hate the taste of coffee, but once I discovered you could get cavity-causing super-sweet coffee from Starbucks, I was hooked. I started drinking it every day. Any time I felt anxious over whether I could finish an essay or get through a study session, I ran to my nearest caffeine supplier and got myself a euphoric blast of energy in a cup. It was a magical relationship. Or so I thought…

Although coffee gives you a boost of energy, this isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes, it would allow me to be super focused and get a whole bunch of work done, but other times it just gave me the energy to freak out about all the work I needed to get done! My anxiety-prone brain would race around in a never-ending stress cycle like a dog chasing its own tail. Making matters worse, the coffee would occasionally make me sick to my stomach! And then there are the crashes — anybody who drinks coffee regularly knows what I’m talking about. One minute you’re Hercules, ready to conquer the world; the next, you’re looking for a nice hole to crawl into so you can die in peace. We won’t even mention the cash I was burning in order to feed my fancy coffee cravings.

By the end of last November, I had had enough. Between the anxiety and stomach problems, coffee was causing more trouble than it was fixing. I decided to make a change: no more coffee for Lee Lee! That’s when I found Hell. I felt like I had been hit by a cement mixer. I had a splitting headache for a week straight. Just getting to my bus stop — a five minute walk — was an epic journey. So many times that week I wanted to give in: maybe if I had just one cup I would be able to do the things I needed to do. Starbucks was right there. My friendly baristas were waiting for me. It would be so easy, and everything would be better!

I realized then that I was substituting coffee for confidence. Did I really believe that I was incapable of completing any task without a $3 cup of magical liquid? That’s when I put my foot down. I would endure this coffee-free lifestyle with the power of a positive attitude! I know it sounds corny, but it actually worked! Whenever I felt like I needed coffee, I said to myself “no you don’t, you can do it!” Once I realized that I could live my academic life successfully without coffee, I was home free. And I can say with all honesty that I don’t really miss it. When I visit a barista now, it’s for my tea latte.

If you want to quit the caffeine craze too, here’s what I found helpful.

• Replace coffee with whole-leaf teas. My favourites are the green teas from Silk Road (try Moonlight on the Grove or Japanese Sour Cherry!)
• If you are tired, rest! I know that we are all busy in this crazy world, but your body is trying to tell you something when you are tired. I found that even a half-hour nap works wonders!
• Try meditation. It helps you relax, so you feel refreshed and energized after a good meditation session. The “mindful meditation” taught by Jon Kabat-Zinn has been very helpful to me lately.
• Have a positive attitude! Having started turning myself from a pessimist to an optimist, I can say that a positive attitude gives you a lot more energy than a negative one.

A Little Piece of the World

It’s funny how casual conversations can suddenly take a profound turn. This happened to me at the beginning of January during one of our downtown tours.

It had been rainy that week so we had only a handful of students instead of the usual dozen. After a nice walk around downtown Victoria (thankfully it didn’t rain!) we settled down in a Starbucks and started chatting about various things. There was a lot of the typical chatter about girlfriends/boyfriends, what you study, what your family is like, etc. but then I was asked a simple question that caused me to stop and think. “Why are you a CA?” I could have given a generic answer: “It’s fun.” “I love people.” But instead my thoughts went back to the English Language Centre’s open house house last semester…

Every room of the Continuing Studies Building wore the decorations of a different country, and inside people were busy participating in all sorts of cultural activities. As I welcomed people with “passports” at the front, I caught glimpses of Chinese students with sombreros on their heads and students from Saudi Arabia getting their names written in Japanese. It was like the whole world was brought together in one building. I wondered how this was possible, to have so many people with completely different beliefs and cultural backgrounds all working in harmony. Then I realized the answer: everyone here was connected by their common goal to learn English. And it was English — the one language that everybody in the program knew — that made all this cross-cultural communication possible. That night, I went home glowing because I had had a brief glimpse of a world where we all have the same goal, and differences are not to be feared but are an opportunity to grow and learn…

Back in the Starbucks, I knew what my answer had to be. “Every time I work, I see a piece of the world I want to see.” The student who asked the question smiled. “Wow, that is a very serious answer.” “I guess it is,” I replied, and the conversation continued on.

Love is all you need

*Note* I realize that Valentine’s day is over, but I have been sick the past couple days and didn’t get a chance to post it earlier! Enjoy!

It occurs to me that, no matter what cultural background you are from, everyone loves arts and crafts. It’s great to every once in a while let your creative juices flow and just feel like a kid again.

Last Friday’s coffee social activity was to make homemade Valentine’s day cards. We had two tables set up with assorted paper, paper flowers, stick-on sparkly felt hearts, markers, glue, etc., and everyone was allowed to do whatever artistically floated their boat. I have to admit, I was a little doubtful when I first learned that this was the activity of the day. I thought that some people would object to participating in such a “childish” activity, and I did not think the guys would not be inclined to play around with various pink and red sparkly objects. But to my surprise, the first people who started making cards were men! Soon, everyone was crowded around the tables, cutting, pasting and “ooh”-ing and “aah”-ing over their friends’ creative accomplishments. I thought I was doing a pretty impressive job with my cards, but I had nothing on their creativity!

My lovely homemade cards ^_^

Of course the most asked question of the day was “who are you going to give your Valentine to?” And I got a lot of different answers. The most popular answer was “I don’t know,” but I did get some definite answers. One was for a friend “because I love him” (said teasingly), another was for a boyfriend left behind in Mexico, another was for a husband who got two made for him “because he is my husband” (SO adorable!).

This got me thinking: even though Valentine’s day is one of the most shamelessly commercial holidays ever, it does remind you that love is a universal concept. The love of a friend, a family member, or a life partner is something that transcends the language barrier, something we all can relate to. Sometimes it just takes a “childish” activity like this to remind you.

Fresh Start, Fresh Snow

Even though I have no classes on Fridays, I am happy to report that I am going to be busy tomorrow… working! Yes, that’s right. I finally won a last-minute shift thanks to some luck, my impeccable email-answering skills, and the fact that I have my iPad connected to me at all times! So I guess I will be gaining some more experience to write about. But for now, I thought I would write about my whirlwind week of shifts in January.

At the start of any new semester, we get a lot of new students. Lots of new students means a lot of people needed to show them around and get them feeling at home in Canada. Even though I know this, I was still shocked to see I had 4 shifts the first week of classes. I was excited, but a little wary because now I had to balance my new classes and a lot of early morning shifts.

And when I say early, I mean early. I’m not used to waking up at 5:30 in the morning in order to catch a 7:00 bus! But waking up at ungodly hours and snoozing through my first week of classes was worth it to be involved with start up week. It was the new students’ first week in a strange country, when their wonder and excitement outweighs their jet lag. I felt like a terrible student because I’ve never been as excited about going to school as they were!

A couple moments of that week really touched my heart. I was leading some students around the campus when some light flakes of snow started to fall from the sky. It never seriously snows in Victoria, so I barely noticed it. But it was a bigger deal for one of my students, who stopped abruptly and stared at the sky. He turned to me and asked, “Is this snow?” “Um, yeah, it’s not very much. But it’s snow,” I replied. He stared at the sky again and mumbled, “I’ve never seen snow before”. His face lit up like a child’s, and it made me pause and smile for a moment. Something I saw every year and took for granted was like a dream come true for him. It’s the same feeling I got when seeing the cherry blossoms in Japan for the first time.

Another rewarding moment happened when I was saying goodbye to the students at the end of the day. I asked them if they had any last minute questions or concerns before they went back home to their host families. One of them shyly said, “Well, I want to make sure I get on the right bus. I don’t want to get lost.” I helped him find his bus, and told him that I had also been really nervous about getting lost when I first moved to Victoria. He smiled at me and said, “Yes. When you are in a new place, you feel almost like a child in kindergarten.”

This job makes me realize that the smallest things in life can make a difference. You can find joy in them; like snow falling from the sky and flowers in full bloom on a tree. And they can bring comfort to someone who is starting a new life far away from all they’ve known.

Seniority Struggles

In jobs, seniority is great, when you have it. When you don’t, it feels like you’re some stray dog: when someone throws you a hunk of meat you madly leap on it due to your starvation. And at this point in my life, I’m the stray dog more often than not.

Since I have only been working at my current job since last August, I am pretty low on the totem pole, but I hadn’t given it much though until now. Even though shifts are assigned by seniority, I’ve been getting fairly steady work. It was the perfect balance, because I had enough hours to make some extra money and get some experience with ESL students without negatively affecting my schoolwork. However, I got a pretty sad work schedule this month: no work at all. It was pretty disappointing not only because of the money, but also because I really enjoy my job. I see my shifts as highlights in the otherwise ho-hum student existence. This is ill-timed for this blog, too — how are you supposed to write about “the experiences of a would-be ESL teacher” if you don’t have any?

Then again, this struggle to the top is probably a good experience for me. I am pretty sure that I am not going to be able to waltz into any private ESL institution in Vancouver, wave my diploma in their faces, and suddenly become top dog. Just like everything else in life, you have to struggle and claw your way up to the top. But the throne will be comfy when I get there!

And please don’t get me wrong, I support having a seniority system in a workplace: it’s fair. People who have been there longer than me deserve more hours. That doesn’t stop it from being disappointing, but I am going to keep a positive attitude and keep trying my best. Hopefully next month this dog will be thrown a bone.

T.T.T.

Put up in a place
where it’s easy to see
the cryptic admonishment
T.T.T.

When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it’s well to remember that
Things Take Time.
~Piet Hein

(This poem always makes me feel better when I feel like things are going nowhere. I hope it can do the same for all of you because we all have roadblocks in our lives.)