One Week

You know those weeks when it feels like all the heavy hitter items are happening at once? Well, this was one of those weeks.

I’ll go in order of what happened.

Firstly, as of last Tuesday…I’m a homeowner! Well- condo owner, but you get the idea. My partner and I were beyond lucky in getting the second place we put an offer on. Especially with the way the market is. I mean, our house hunt only lasted maybe two weeks? Now as someone who LOVES House Hunters (yes, I know how they actually do it and don’t care because I’m here for entertainment) my biggest concern was being “house poor”. When we initially started our search, we budgeted our monthly payment to be about what we pay in rent. When all was said done though, it turned out our payment is actually less!

Next, I am officially halfway done with my course and that much closer to getting certified! My system of completing this course is definitely erratic, but at this point I’ve come to terms with it. By erratic, I mean: spending days where I do nothing except the course followed by periods of not even looking at it. I’m still ahead of schedule though, so it’s A-OK in my book.

Now on to the last heavy hitter…

Today I booked the venue for my wedding next year which means IT. IS. HAPPENING.

SIDE NOTE: I don’t think I ever made a post about it, but my partner proposed to me last month.

Artist: oshtu

***this post’s title is inspired by a What We Do in the Shadows episode***

TEFL/TESOL: The Final Showdown

You know that feeling you get after you graduate? The one where you’re looking forward to that nice, long or indefinite break? That was me after getting my Bachelor’s last May. My plan was to work for two years, stack up some experience, and save for grad school. Everything was going fine across the board until I got the inspiration to teach English abroad.

Now I’m back on the study wheel.

Let me start by saying; I really do find the material interesting. Maybe it’s linked to having served as a mini translator for friends in the past or maybe it’s something else entirely, but I managed to blow through the material and take the midterm in two weeks!

I’m getting certified with Asian College of Teachers, so my midterm was split in two segments: an exam & two part assignment where I created a lesson plan and answered short-answer questions. So far I’ve received my grade on the exam, but I’m still waiting for feedback on the written stuff.

Since I managed to do pretty well on the exam I thought I’d share my system in case anyone out there’s trying to get certified on a time crunch or just looking for some tips: *results may vary*

  1. I read one module a night (if a module was particularly long I split it between two nights)
  2. While reading each module I typed notes (because I’m not fast when writing by hand & you can’t print the course PDF files)
  3. Once I finished all the modules I read through my notes w/ pen and highlighter
  4. I watched all the corresponding videos and added notes to the relevant module note packet
  5. I read the note packets one more time
  6. I took the exam

Now as the for the assignment…it was really about applying everything you just learned, so having the note packets really came in handy to flip through. I’d like to say I did well and even though I’m confident…we’ll see when the results roll in!

P.S. It takes 24-48 hours to get results back which is honestly the kind of efficiency I live for.

Artist: oshtu