When being broody begs you to broaden your brood.

Im sick nd blogging from bed. It is absolutely the wrong way to have a day off work, needless to say thinking about the backlog is already increasing the dull thud in my face from my blocked sinuses to a banging force. I tried to study a little, given that I am not at work doing my job I thought the least I could do is a little study but my headache says no.

But enough about that. My head hurts and I just can't face a blog about education today I want to talk about pets. As I lye here with my baby beside me, i think to myself pets make even the cruddiest of days just a little bit mofe pleasant!
As those of you who know me already know, I am a mother to Paco, my 5 month Shih Tzu who is the light of my life( sorry Tiago). And after a strange dream where this little munchkin of mine morphed into two animals, himself and a little black cat named Picnic, I cant help but wonder if I am ready to take on a second pet. Coincidentally, whilst Tiago was at Paco's vet clinic on Saturday, there was a cat for adoption who fits Picnic's description exactly.
My immediate thought was, stop what you are doing, throw on a dress and get that cat! It was destiny, fate, a sign from God, that this cas was in YOUR dream, Hayley, it is your responsibility to adopt him. Think of how much less lonely Paco would be while you aren't there...

However there are questions to be raised. Is there room in your house for another animal? How will Tiago feel about having two babies at home? You live on the second floor, how do you avoid the cat from jumping out? And the biggest of all, where will the kitty litter and dinner bowls go?
You see I don't exactly live in an apartment the size of a mansion. I don't live in an apartment the size of small house. So I decided that some research was in order. I went to my biggest research tool(google)and researched two very important facts: Average apartment size Japan and Pets Japan.
I discovered that with land becoming so over valued in Japan, the average person has no way of acheiving the common dream of being a homeowner! So in order to reach their dreams the Japanese are buiding smaller and smaller homes which, they aptly call - Ultra-Small-Homes.
These homes are built for two people and they are built on a piece of land the size of a carparking space ( all be it that it is an American car parking space and they do usually drive big cars...). Now that is a small house, even if they do build two stories. After reading this information I thought that the last thing that the Japanese would want in their car space sized apartments would be a pet, how wrong I was. 52% of the population has a pet in Japan. Pets range from small dogs, cats and turtles to tropical fish, hamsters and surprisingly so-ferrets!
If the Japanese in their car space sized homes can have a dog, then I in my 7 cars space sized home can have a dog and a cat. 
Put on your dress Hayley, grab your boots. It is off to the vets we go. Picnic, mummy is coming to get you!

Get your best dress out, we be going to a ball!

Blog 31 july 2011

Today is my third sister, Rylee Kate's birthday. Happy birthday to you little sister who is not so little anymore.

I am writing today's blog from my couch. Not so extroadinary, interesting or even relevant really. However, as i am supposed to be at dinner with my darling friends at LIV Lounge, and I am not, I thought I had best start with a big hug and a kiss to each of them. I wish I wasn't feeling so ill from the extremely dry climate here. it is amazing to me how each year gets easier and easier to deal with climate wise, yet I still end up getting my big foreign butt kicked for a few days a year by the extremely dry days of winter.

I am at a loss as to what to write about today. So many things have been happening this week,  both good and bad but I think I am going to jump the bad and talk about the good.

This week was my second real week ( full week) at my new job. And I was happy to learn about future progress and plans for business and growth, plans for me! Hoorah, I made a great decision by jumping ship and starting again. It is after all, always a risk to change jobs.  One loses one's security and confort in knowing what is and is not expected to do. One knows where the good, the bad and the ugly lye and one knows what can and should be expected for the future.
I seemed to have avoided jumping out of the frypan and into the fat this time and my life is suddenly a much more pleasant place to be.
On another high note, business is booming this week, loads of enquiries and trial classes. Not as many sign ups as I would have liked but interest in PoGo means that people are hearing about us from somewhere or another and that does tickle me to the back teeth (makes me happy). So, for those of you spreading the word, liking the Facebook page and following this blog, I would personally like to send you a big hug and a kiss of thanks and ask you to keep doing what you do.

Another great thing was that my darling Cultura Inglesa students had their exams for CAE ( Certificate of Advanced English) this week and although I know everyone did their best, some people acheived outstanding results and then were kind enough to attribute that success to my teaching style and classes. I cannot tell you as a teacher how thrilling it is to be recognised and thanked for your work. I think that it is also important to recognise that the work of a student ( in and out of the classroom) is highly influencial in the level of results obtained in any professional measuremnt of skill level ( test). So thank you and congratulations to each and every one of you who participated in the test and/or the course. It has been a challenge but we have acheived some great results along the way and had a whole lot of fun too!

Finally, I was invited to my very first graduation ceremony in which I received personal thanks for my support on the actual graduation invitation that every guest will receive. I feel very honoured and think that in fairness I came in on the easier part of the course where my support and understanding were of course required by this person but somehow not quite so intensely as those who were being supportive and understanding from the first year onward, andI still get a mention! 
Of course the signature end of course ceremony, graduation paper exchange and being in formal receipt of your very own transcripts is a moving event and to be invited to such a grand celebration is quite an honour. We all know that these events always have limited tickets, someone is always left off the invite list and eternally disgruntled, unforgiving. It can be expected that the food will be in abundance that the music will start out classy and develop into a series of similar sounding songs of a sexual nature ( as will the dancing, the hair and the make up all deteriorate by the end of the night) and that many a mother and father will experience that knot of pride well up their stomachs as they see their son or daughter move on to another level of social independence, personal evolution and for some people, they will finally know that feeling of always having something to fall back on or better still, something to jump forward from.
I feel that there is no better example than Brazil of the importance of a good education. We here love to further our personal development and growth until the day we die, not only as a symbol of status and validity of position within the workforce but so as to ensure that the grey matter stays grey indeed and not a mushy-pea or duck egg green colour instead. If there is a saying for " use it or lose it" in Portuguese, i do not know it. However, society here is always so encouraging of furthering your education that I cannot see why it would even be necessary.

So folks, be Brazilian and keep motivating  yourself to go on studying, learning and trying new things. Gosh, review old things if it takes your fancy but dont, for the love of Christ stay stagnate! Nothing good can come of that.

Enjoying my education I am, keep enjoying yours

Beijos

Miss Hayley
PoGo Communications

Three splendid dinners and a dog of a day...

Today was one incredible day. I am in the super advantageous position at the moment of having more time ( in theory), more money ( once again in theory) and Great people to spend it with. 
My darling Tiago is on holiday (well deserved might I add) and is about to graduate in an area of public safety and police science. Impressive hey! I am unfortunately not on holiday, however, I have been in the most fortunate position of having a personal assistant to request all of those favours ( including our new and amazing business cards thanks to EDRO Comunicação, check them out for all of your graphic design needs) that just can't be done when you work a 9-5 along with a 7-10 and study. 
It probably wasn't his first thought of a vacation but it has certainly helped me out enormously and having a lunch buddy everyday has been great too!

Today though, was one of those amazing days where the planets align and you feel like the Earth is giving you a "me day" just to say thank you for all that you do day in, day out.
I woke up to a glorious morning, before my alarm sounded the gentle awakening falsetto of Robin Thicke's voice, feeling rested and ready to face the day. I had a lovely cuddle with each of my two boys and went and had a shower. The water didn't go cold on me once, nor did it go excruciatingly hot and when I got out of the shower and came into my room the bed was made ( hospital corners, just the way my grade 5 teacher Mr. Leahy taught me) and then as I stepped into the lounge room I saw before me breakfast ready and a gorgeous pot of steaming tea, ahhhh she cried! I knew today would be great at that very moment! Breakfast was stunning and the company perfect.
Then it came to lunch, and my usually lonely lunches at the new job (usually because I am resolving problems at the school or organising demo classes) was poignantly turned as I went to toss my salad-good-girl-gone-bad style, I paused to chat, which then became stopped to chat, with two new colleagues which turned out be such a lovely discussion of culture, circular breathing and the spiritual side of having a baby. 
The post work rush took me from office to brief passing in mi casa, puppy time and a quick change act to go on to classes. Final class with one of the babies I teach. A classic class if the friends of the letter 'H' ( them being letters P,S,C and T). These cheeky letters always change their sound when they hang out with their friend H. We practiced the sounds of the aforementioned in the words top and think, song and shop, cat and chocolate and pink and photograph. Such trickers are this bunch that you always need to see who they are sitting next to in the word to know how you are going to say them. Ai, que falsidade!
Post lesson took me to Cafe Savannah at the veeeeery end of Asa Norte, for a business meeting with the PoGo Partners. Always a good laugh in that I tell ye! Dinner was delicious and the company fantastic but by gosh the service was below standard. However, when a meeting is both productive and relaxed it makes you a little less concerned about things like the service ( not the hygiene though!).

I have finally arrived at home, my lessons planned for the weekend, my studies done for my impending return to university on Friday, my tea piping hot next to me as write this rather longwinded entry. And just when you think that everything is OK you see that when you thought that instead of mending your pup's play toy/girlfriend that it would be cleaner to throw it out (their relationship was rather spicy!) you see that you dog is not going to simply let that one pass and wait until Saturday when you have a minute to go and arrange him a new wife, he is going to make you pay for tearing him away from the love of his life. And when I say make you pay, I mean to say he is going to make your arm his substitute. Poor little Paco, desperate for a little bit of lovin' was really having a dog of a day, it was written all of over his tiny little puppy dog face, "How could you do this to me?". 
So seeing as I have had not only  wonderful day but a productive and enjoyable week, I decided to donate the smallest decorative pillow that generalliy resides on my bed to Paco as an acknowledgement of the gross error committed on my behaUlf. 

I guess I will have to add a trip to Casa Park for a new decorative pillow to my to do list for the weekend.

As far as my learning curve is going with my new job, so far so very good is what I hear from the head honchos. A little smile did creep on to my face when I was told, I do love a bit of praise! The learning experience is a bit daunting at times, and it is never fun to be out of control and have to ask questions all of the time. Yet it is so important to never forget just how it is to be a student and a good student at that. It is nice being the teacher and controlling what is in the lesson, keeping it safe s that you are always in a comfort zone. Remember the importance of development and continued evolution though as it is what keeps us from being a monkey, and it validates our existence. Why settle for mediocre when we have so much out there that can make our live and the lives of those around us great?

Keep learning and enjoy your education.

Miss Hayley
PoGo Communications

 

Keeping focus while having fun. Learning shouldn't be synonymous with boring.

Drawing a line in the sand. Marking your territory as teacher and demonstrating your student's as pupil. This can be one of the toughest battles for a teacher.
I tonight had to balance carefully, with a delicate little kidlet, the act of friend and teacher.

I don't teach in a classroom and I don't sit in a teacher's special chair and this, at times, makes my job a little bit harder.

Being a freelancer I have the freedom to create my own classes, write my own syllibus and even create my own children's learning method but I also have to; create the image of a classroom that isn't there, the sense of focus and structure that that in itself brings (all very important for a condusive learning environment) and constantly engage children in places of distraction and general relaxation, usually at a time where the little one is tired and not really interested.
So, how do I do it you ask? Well, yes, sometimes it involves me acting like a clown, or an elephant or a seal in tonight's case. Sometimes it is by bringing serious matters to the table such as no TV, only a white paper and pencil to eliminate distraction and other times it is by sitting that little person down and saying enough is enough - playtime is over or Miss Hayley is going home if the bad behaviour doesn't stop (obviously a last resort).

Keeping classes dynamic and interactive is the key part in making education fun and the learning process a bi-product of the laughing and roleplays etc. Planning and knowing your student helps to support this, and facilitate the dual process of education and positive experience/memory association.

Remember that as a teacher you are not there soley to entertain, nor are you there soley to sprout information. Your role as teacher is to find a way to move information from you to the student in the best and most enjoyable way possible.

Learning is sometimes necessary and always important, why shouldn't it be fun too?

Playing games and learning the past tense- Is it too good to be true?

Tonight I was full of energy and scouring (searching) the internet for new material for the kiddies that I teach.

To my surprise, I realized that there is so much material out there that I didnt realize was available to me!

I found after an exhausting conversation as to why we say ´t´ ´id´or ´d´ to pronounce éd´correctly according to the word written when reading, a wonderful site that has a basketball game for the kids to play as practice (almost playing, nothing like actual study) where the words are all pronounced by a native speaker as options before being selected. If the student gets the answer to the question right then he/she gets 2 points for an easier shot and 3 points for a more difficult shot. Fantastic!

http://www.marks-english-school.com/games/b_past.html

This is the link. Check it out and show it to your children who are in the early learning phases of the English language.

Have fun with your education and your child's education too. Be a participant and a parent.

Miss Hayley
PoGo Communications

Teacher: Egocentric Performer or Kind Informer ?

After a little break due to an ill tummy I am back in the land of blog!

Today I taught a great class to a wonderful little miss who amazingly is a Brazilian who at the age of 6 has developed a second language with minimal formal training but foramlly attending an American school for the past year to year and a half.
She has a wonderfully supportive family who has provided many wonderful resources, yet she is always apologising when she makes a mistake.
She reminded me that we are all in need of reasurrance. We all need a careful explanation at times and to be respectfully informed rather than spoken to as if being no more than a moron.

Sometimes, as we get used to being the centre of attention (as a teacher), the most important thing in the room, and we forget the importance and the level of the intellect of those we teach. Our tone changes and we sound egotistic, arrogant or superior. This is not what a good teacher does.
A true teacher is humble in his knowledge and willing to share it. They will recognize that educating is a two way street, that a person who is open to learning new aspects of any area of life is actully in a position of vunerability, and that in itself should be respected.

I took a class a week ago, a singing class. I felt so awkward. I didn´t like being told what to do,I wanted to excuse myself everytime the teacher explained something and I respeated it incorrectly. The funny thing was that the teacher was lovely. She did nothing wrong at all. I was made to feel comfortable and relaxed. The pressure and awkwardness I felt was completely me being unaccustomed to the hot seat. It was a very educational experience for me both in relation to the singing and the student experience (thank you GTR).

So next time you go to teach someone something, anything really, have patience and be respectful. Possessing knowledge does not make you superior or others inferior but it does give you a certain power that you can choose to use positively or negatively.

Enjoy education and be open to learning.

Miss Hayley
PoGo Communications

Homeland ahoy! The rattle and chill of a journey home.

As I start planning my trip back to Australia in November, I realise that I am not feeling so easy about the whole thing. Strange really, as I ahve cried, moaned, and pittied myself for the best part of the alst 3 years about poor me, no chance to see the people I have loved the longest. Why though? What makes me feel all stringy in the stomach? What provokes the feeling of hmmmm, perhaps I will just go when I have rights to take leave?

I flicked through my facebook pics last night and saw pictures of old friends with new loves, new cars, new children, new pets, new jobs - all of which I know nothing about. I am like a visitor who has never been before to a lot of people. I have the old times stories, I have the 'do you remember when....'lead in line with many of them, yet the 'now'stuff (see I know how to use quotation marks correctly being an English teacher) I am as foreign too as the old stuff of many of my friends here in Brazil. I am now seeming to be living in a halfway zone of new and old friend.

I ahve managed, thankfully, to keep myself in reasonable shape, so when I go back it wont be, "Wow that Hayley Gogeff got porky" I ahve managed to keep myself very educated and well travelled, which should facilitate conversation, depending on who I am talking to.
Everything here is so comfortable. I know where to geta  great bite to eat (Giu and Kate), I know where I get all my great imported things (Jess and la palma), I know where to get my party on (the couch girls who have numerous pics in Rachel`s album of VIP guests) and I know where to get my schooling from (too manyplaces to name here). yet, when I go back to good old cultural Melbourne, I will be like a tourist in my own city! I don't knwo where to eat, where to party, where to buy great books, where to pick up the best mushrooms. I don't know what the drink of choice of anyone is (although being Australian I gues that would be anything with alcohol in it). I do however, know what I like and don't like. I know that my tastes have changed in a major way since I left that little town and that big city that I oscilated between all those years ago. I know that my opinions, are even more open minded than they were back then, controvertial some may say.

I guess what I fear is not fitting in. It is almost like going back to school again, ang being the stranger whilst everyone else in in their comfortable little group.
I don´t want it to be difficult, or uncomfortable. I do hope that the subject matter is interesting and upbeat and a whole load of laughs.

I guess while I am here with my friends and family in Brasil, I have my work, my style, my girlfriends, my puppy and my darling Tiago that all represent the Hayley of today. And I love that. I love the comfort of it, the natural way of it all.
I dread the fact that I am going to be listening to native English speakers making crass grammatical errors all the time, just the thought of the classic Australian interchange of me and my makes me cringe. Imagine when a 'yous' comes out or an 'I seen the uver (other to the rest of us) day...' comment. It pains me to the back teeth to think that all the work I do here with PoGo Communications teaching, reviewing text, translating etc is all but gone to waste when I see my students off to the homeland only to have them e-mail me upon arrival to ask "Miss Hayley why did you teach me X when everyone says Y...?" in a muddle because I have taught them how to speak correctly.

So, nerves and all I will be visiting the homeland for the first time in 4 years in November of 2011. Quite an achievement for a girl who didn't even own a bed this time last year (thank you Aunty Hilde for you help and guidance).

So, I am going to do some research, educate myself on the psyche of the human who must readjust to one's natural habitat over a short duration of time. Study, it seems to me, along with the exchange of personal experience, to be the key factor in dealing with most of lifes prickles. Find out the lastest, greatest and unique (Marcos) about anything and with the power of knowledge, you can conquer.

Any tips, email me please!

For the meantime however, keep studying, keep finding out new information to make yourself a more interesting person and a more useful tool to both yourself and others.

Miss Hayley
PoGo Communications - Brazil