Close Your Eyes, Stick A Pin In A Map

It might not even be Christmas yet but, if you're looking for work at an International School next summer (as I am), then it's time to get on it. Next year could be a real crossroads for me, with a girlfriend and life of my own in Korea, but a niggling feeling that I'd love to try something new. There will be jobs available in Korea (and probably at Ji's school), but there's no denying the excitement of looking through the job postings in Bali, Kenya, Poland (among many, many others) and wondering, 'why not?' I don't know about you, but the place where I do my best thinking and decision-making is at home. I'm going to enjoy fourteen sweet days back in the land of my birth (beyond fourteen is generally the point where I slowly start wanting to leave again) and come back ready to face 2011 with a firm goal in mind. There'll be lists of pros and cons, chats with my nearest and dearest, beer-inspired claims that I am going to 100% definitely do x or y, only to think the exact opposite the very next morning. Words of wisdom are welcome, but with my MA finishing in the summer, my patience running out with TEFL, my desire to start really putting my training into practice by teaching something I am passionate about, and the looming job crisis for teachers best exemplified by this Scottish example, I know 2011 is the year to get on to the IS circuit. I can recommend a fairly good blog about IS teaching here, but any further links are more than welcome.

I was in Asia-Pacific International School today covering English and AP history with some forensics thrown in at the end of the day for good measure. Every day I spend there is great for my dissertation, which will focus on (as yet unselected) international schools in the research section, which I aim to begin in January. Ji is pretty keen for me to apply for the social studies position opening in the summer, but working with my girlfriend is an idea I'm just not comfortable with at the minute. She rightly pointed out earlier (girlfriends tend to be right, don't they?) that, as I'm looking for my first IS position, I'm not really in a position to be choosy. Still, I'd like to throw my hat in the ring at a few other locations first, and see what comes of that. I don't know, but sharing a workplace and a private life with something must be tough. Or maybe I just need to grow up.

I have been receiving calls and emails throughout the day from students querying their grades or asking for clarification in specific areas. As I've told them, I'm happy to answer their questions, but it is a little frustrating that I have already given them all the information in their course syllabus at the beginning of each term and as I assigned each piece of assessment. Still, it's only natural that they would pay more attention now even though, in reality, it's a bit too late. The student grades effect who gets full/partial/no bursaries for the course, so I made pretty damn sure that I put a lot of thought into finding a fair and clear evaluation method that I could justify if I had to. I'm confident that the majority of my colleagues did the same, but there was one teacher boasting about how he just made all the grades up, so you can't blame the students for questioning us in a way. Although almost all the people I work with are professional, creative and talented, the odd lost soul teaching English because they can't find anything else they can do (like the person mentioned above), does really hit the morale of those of us who think what we're doing might actually matter.

I spent like what seemed forever sorting out the final marks for my general English classes during free periods today. There was a bit of confusion when a student's paper who I've never taught showed up in one of my piles, but we soon located where it should have been so minor panic over. Once I have met my boss to go over a few things, handed in my final grades and tied up a couple of loose ends with two of my students tomorrow, I'll be officially done for the semester. Then starts the process of getting ready for home, Christmas and making sure I don't leave anything important behind. Now, where did I leave my passport...?