Friday, 18. December 2009, 05:22:01
UDGVirtual, Interlingua
This week wouldn't be complete without a post about
school. I dedicated most of this semester to work and developed a not-so-efficient homework delivering system: this was to deliver all of my products upon deadline. That didn't seem to work well all of the times since I ended up not sending a couple of them (perhaps a little bit more than a couple).
But this week, I set to deliver everything I needed to before December 19th. As I write this post, I've only got one Math homework to do and send and I think that another one to correct so that's it. Apart form that, I sent everything I needed to and now I just have to wait for grades to see what needs to be corrected.
This weekend is my last at work before vacation too, so I just have to do a couple of review units and apply all of my exams, meaning that I can switch back to
"take it easy" mode, like someone very smartly called my way of life.
But hey! I haven't received complains about my JOB, I think I'm doing it pretty well
Tuesday, 24. November 2009, 04:31:34
Interlingua
Polanco is a "nice" neighborhood in MX City, a lot of rich people live there and there a lot of corporate offices. In fact, where I work there's a large concentration of such offices and of course, people go to work wearing a suit and tie.
But Mexicanism always gets in the way of glamuor. To the sides of the corporate buildings you can see some tacos and tortas stands, where office people crowd at their respective lunch breaks. The tacos and tortas, though, are bad and expensive (I even got sick with a 1 USD taco {when there are way better tacos for half the price outside some subway stations}).
But the worst thing is to ride the bus (not even the micro, but the "nice" bus) where drivers play cumbia and reggeaton in their sound systems, making you lose the little glamour you've got left.
Wait a minute, I just remembered... being an Interlingua teacher is a very relaxed job, but not glamorous in any sense!
Thursday, 19. November 2009, 04:58:18
Interlingua
INTERLINGUA is a Mexican company with 40 years of experience in the teaching of the English language. Since 1969, the company has worked on developing a teaching method which combines conversation with grammar, listening, and
visual support in all levels to enable learning of the English language. INTERLINGUA has formed 500 thousand bilingual students and has certified close to 30 thousand students with the TOEIC International Certification, the
international parameter for English language abilities.
It doesn't give any benefits to its teachers and even some personnel is quiting due to the change in contract. BTW, they recently restructured the company behind in order to avoid paying certain taxes.
Well, as long as they continue to pay me
Sunday, 15. November 2009, 01:58:39
Interlingua
At counseling I'm learning how to become a lazy teacher. The best thing of Interlingua method is to apply it so students get the most possible practice (and as such, one as teacher gets to work the least possible). Since yesterday, I did some drills that allow me to sit down and correct the students while they talk and talk and talk.
It's specially nice when it's the last class of the day and those drills really make it seem that I actually know what I'm doing, I'll
upload them to my teaching portfolio site 
Thursday, 12. November 2009, 09:51:34
Interlingua
The schedule for this month at work really seems to suck, I've only got 1 class a day plus Saturdays, so my paycheck will be really thin. Or will it not?
So far this week I've substituted for 3 classes and I still have a couple more programmed, so instead of 5 hours, that's 10 (that means double pay if my math is right), so next paycheck will be saved by substitutions and programmed classes that aren't actually taught instead of actual classes.
That's a nice way to pay off for the classes I hadn't given because of my tardiness, although sometimes I need an 'extra motivation'. No wonder why so many people actually love working here!
Wednesday, 4. November 2009, 01:42:00
Interlingua
Tuesday, 20. October 2009, 03:21:51
Interlingua
You're going to love to work at Interlingua.
That's what they told us at the recruiting meeting and I thought "yeah, why not?".
For starters, I didn't get on any of the three branches I chose, instead, they sent me to the ugliest and most 70's place in Polanco, the so called Plaza (mall) only has 2 banks (of which I don't use any) and a 7-eleven and just the other day, I sort of needed an internet café to send a report to the UAM and I actually found one there, but they charge like 3 times what they would charge at a regular café.
In fact, the mall looks like any cheap mall of a small town anywhere in MX.
And I'm not loving to work at Interlingua because there's nowhere to park my car and the other day it got towed away, costing me the whole paycheck I'm expecting to get (yeah, I don't think they'll pay me more than 60 USD after taxes if you were wondering).
But today, I found something really amazing about Plaza Polanco, something that made me truly think that working there is worth it, and I swear it's true: This tree has a free wi-fi hotspot. Really!!! I couldn't connect my MacBook anywhere else in the mall!
Footnote: I DON'T love to work at Interlingua and I don't think I ever will, and the picture has my finger on it because I took it on a hurry, since it's illegal to take pics inside the mall.
Thursday, 8. October 2009, 00:51:13
Interlingua
As one of the final parts of Method, I had to watch two Essential level English classes. I got to know yet another Interlingua branch (which wasn't that encouraging at all) and since the groups were very very small, I had to take part in the classes.
That wasn't a bad thing at all, taking low level classes helped me remember some things about the language that I took for granted and I even got to practice some basic drills that made me feel back at elementary school.
Tomorrow I'm signing my contract and on Friday I'll start working. It's a good thing since I hadn't been in a real job for a couple of months.
Saturday, 19. September 2009, 22:24:32
Interlingua
Since September 10 I've been reciving training to teach at Interlingua, one of the most famous and biggest growing English schools in MX.
Since I stopped teaching at IPN, I hadn't had to wake up early on a Saturday after staying up late on a Friday, but today I had to go to training course.
I think I'm out of condition since I was really drowsy and almost fell asleep for a couple of times. Besides, the course is pretty boring. However I had a nice breakfast. For a long time I had craved some hotcakes and I finally got them.
Thursday, 3. September 2009, 02:45:24
Interlingua
My UAM contract expired on August 31, making that 6 months of working for them. So yesterday I was totally unemployed, but today I was selected to take payed training at Interlingua, a famous English school in MX, so starting next week I'll be taking some courses and you'll get to see me wearing a tie. I'll ask Manatito for one of his SEAT ties, just to have some variety and something to talk about.
The only problem I see is that I'll probably won't be able to take my drum workshop, since I'll be teaching classes on Saturday, but well, what that tells me is that if I'm not able to take the workshop I'm not made to play the drums at all.
When hired, I'll be commited to a one year contract, just like a cellphone plan, so I can probably say that now I know what I'll be doing for the next year.
WIDGETIZE