05 August 2008

Know of any good correspondence courses??

It has come to my attention that even when classes are in full-swing, the teachers in the Centro de Idiomas have plenty of down-time. We have to be here 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, but the most that anyone teaches is usually 4 or 5 hours a day. There is a certain amount of time needed for meeting with co-workers teaching the same level, to coordinate the curriculum and develop exams, etc. But there is always time to go to the cafeteria for "breakfast," and apparently plenty of time for online activities... One of the teachers has been pursing his Master´s in Applied Linguistics online, and another has been taking Spanish courses.

That´s the scenario when classes are up and running. The semester officialy begins at the beginning of October, but usually there are preparatory classes that are held in August and September, for new students to get some basic English skills, and also to determine which level they should be in (there are 7 class levels overall).

Right now, however, the Centro de Idiomas is in an unusual position. The previous Director of the department left unexpectedly, and the woman they originally hired to take her place had to decline because of health problems.

(let the record show that as of the moment I am typing this update, I am receiving e-mails from the Director of Academics saying he wants to speak with me this afternoon, I am positive that he is going to offer me the job. And I am 90% sure I am going to decline, for many many reasons. To be continued...)

So we are now without a boss, and so it appears that the prep classes have been cancelled, at least for our department. So what that means is that I have 2 months of coming to work everyday, but no actual tasks to do. At least that´s what it looks like right now.

So one of my co-workers asked me this morning if I had considered looking into correspondence courses online... I laughed, thinking she was kidding... But now I see that she was not. Now I really am thinking about some sort of course or certification that I can do online. I had been thinking about becoming a certified court interpreter-translator, maybe now´s the time...

Any other suggestions??