My Life after CELTA

We decided to drive to Visegrád this morning. It was a sudden decision, but boy, was it a great spur of the moment. Of course, it was. The town is located along the Danube and is famous for the castle on the top of the hill, which used to be the residence of several Hungarian kings. There were hardly any tourists when we arrived, so we took a nice walk along the promenade and took some photos of the Danube Bend and the opposite side of the river. We didn't want to hike up to the castle or take a walk to the city centre, so we returned home for a delicious lunch. As for my English studies: I did a bit of revision before our journey to Visegrád, but apart from that short instance, I didn't do anything else. I'll continue with the sixth unit tomorrow and see how things pan out. We started to watch a Finnish series on Netflix, Deadwind. It's a thriller series, and the Finnish language sounds absolutely gorgeous. We have yet to discover any similarities with the Hungarian la...

I had my first teaching today after finishing the CELTA course. It was the first unit, a sixty-minute-long class from the CAE book, and the topic was 'Getting to know you'. I think it went well, and Ági and Roya responded to the challenges remarkably well, considering that our last session was in December last year. I followed the CELTA guidelines while creating the lesson, which paid off. The class was well structured and easy to follow; however, the topic and the reading task with pre-teaching vocabulary proved challenging. But we had time to finish the lesson in sixty minutes - although I planned it for 45 minutes - and even had time for some error correction. I wasn't nervous or anxious during teaching; on the contrary. But the CELTA method or approach to education has demonstrated its strengths, this time without the guinea pigs. I wish I could start the CELTA course again with a clearer head and without anxiety, which nearly ruined my progress. Anyway, let's not d...

I had an appointment with the dentist. They had to replace the filling in my lower left seventh tooth. It wasn't bad at all, and I didn't feel any pain during the procedure, which was interesting as the first filling of this tooth had been the most painful eight years ago. What is more, there was this banter we had that made us laugh throughout the whole process. This dentist is a genius. The fifth lesson was relatively easy compared to the previous units; however, I still need to catch up with the listening tasks, only today, I wasn't in the mood to finish them. I had to plan and create a lesson for tomorrow for Ági and Roya, who would like to continue their English studies with me. I devised a pretty good lesson plan, and now I need to finalize it. Since they are strong B2+ - C1 level speakers, I thought I would create a lesson using the CAE book I bought ten years ago. There is another change in the weather. The temperatures were high today; however, the wind picked up a...

My certificate arrived today. I can't believe it. I'm over the moon; I'll pop out for some cakes. This little piece of paper is the beginning of something new and the end of a challenging period. CELTA wasn't easy for various reasons, but with hindsight, I'd do it again.  I progressed today by almost finishing the fifth unit in the book and the workbook. The listening tasks are waiting for me to get over with them, but apart from that, I'm good. I'll finish them tomorrow, provided that the dentist won't cause any pain which could knock me out. The weather is improving, although the rain makes it grey and depressing. Next week will bring some cold days, which is not good news considering that the roof guys are planning to install the new shingles. Anyway, they will fix the roof, and this is what counts.

After quickly going through the fourth lesson, I decided to start the fifth. And I didn't regret it. For the first time in my life, I was successful with the open cloze and gapped tasks, as I didn't make any mistakes. I was proud of myself and patted myself on my shoulders. I was over the moon. I plan to take more and more promising steps to consider myself ready to sit either a CAE or CPE exam soon. Anyway, I'll finish the fifth lesson tomorrow and focus on the other mistakes I've discovered and identified during the last two weeks. These are the following: using commas, relative clauses, and other minor errors that shouldn't be mentioned. The weather was much better today than yesterday. It was still cold and windy, but the temperature was higher, and the sun was shining a lot. We might even have +20°C on Friday, which seems crazy.

The fourth lesson was relatively easy. Although some of the new idioms I learnt were rather interesting, for instance, why would "put someone's nose out of joint" mean to annoy someone, or "to find someone's feet" become familiar with and confident in a new situation? However, I shouldn't be surprised, as I know every language has oddities. I remember watching a video on YouTube in which they were asking people from different countries about their idioms, and a Turkish saying caught my attention. It goes like this: " Burnundan Kıl Aldırmamak ", which is in English, "Not letting someone take a hair from your nose.", and which means "To not take criticism." Why? Why would a hair from my nose mean that? Anyway, I need to do some revision tomorrow, but if things pan out, I can continue with lesson numero cinque. The weather was terrible today. It was cold and windy, and we even got snowstorms. I know it's the end of March wh...

As for my studies: I managed to stick to the plan, which was great. I almost finished the fourth lesson, but there are many new words and idioms to memorise, so there is a lot of work to do. I had a chat with chatGPT about the possible use of "recommend to do something", which, according to the Ready for Advanced book, is grammatically correct. Maybe, but maybe not. I couldn't find any reassuring source explaining how that worked, so I must rely on Charlette's expertise once she's back. Frankly, it is scary to chat with AI. Its response time and confidence are baffling. It could be an excellent tool for giving help and assistance to those who want to learn. However, and there is always a "however", I'm sure no one knows its outcome and how it will manipulate and affect our lives. It wasn't long ago when the first mobile phone was available with suitcase-size batteries. Now the whole gadget fits in our hands, and one cannot only make phone calls b...

The weather was pleasant today, albeit windy and colder than yesterday. Nonetheless, the next few days will be freezing, the wind will pick up, and the temperature will drop significantly. Hopefully, this is winter's last unpleasant surprise. They've threatened us with snow and lots of rain, which is not something I'd expect after a long winter at this time of the year. Although I understand the whimsical nature of March and April entirely, so stiff upper lips. I made it, finally. I decided to go through the previous three lessons, and I did. It wasn't easy to start and keep the focus, but when I got the hang of it, I could hardly stop going through the units. I'm glad that I could finish what I had planned. Tomorrow I'll start a new lesson in the book, and I'll try to keep the schedule, although more relaxed than I'd done last week. This is my new rule of thumb.

I had to stay away from learning today. I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate, so I let this day slip. I did a bit of revision, but there was no other English studying activity in my schedule. It was just as well. Tomorrow I'll make up for today's inactivity and thoroughly review the previous lesson to memorise the new words and check the tasks where I'd made mistakes. Today the weather was changing. The air got colder, the wind picked up, and the sky was cloudy. Unfortunately, we even had some rain, so the weather forecast was correct the other day. Too bad that it will get even worse, so next Wednesday will bring freezing weather coming from the Arctic. What a whimsical month this is.

I took a day off today. I needed it. After breakfast, I popped in the car and off I drove. I returned to one of my previous homes in Mátyásföld, where I"d lived from 1984-1997. It was a sort of reminiscing of the good old days, but it was also a sort of waving goodbye to the past. It wasn't sentimental but rather pragmatic and symbolic. After driving by the old house and noticing how much it and the whole area had changed, I returned home. On the way home, I stopped off at the SPAR to shop. I had a few sandwiches for lunch and a delicious cup of coffee and took Abby for her afternoon walk, which was alright. The weather was beautiful today; the highest temperature was +20°C. Too bad that tomorrow will bring significant changes, and winter will take over again. Well, this is it for today, but tomorrow I'll start the weekend review when I go through the previous lessons and make some plans for the next week. There is a street lamp across the field in front of a long block of...