Well, it was a quick three weeks. We learned and experienced a lot in such a short time, I’m afraid I might forget it all! Luckily I now have a binder full of notes and handouts on everything we covered, so I should be ok. It really did go by in a flash though, so I think it’s important to sum up the experience and share with you how I felt about it.
Everything at UVic was so well planned and executed, and the atmosphere so positive that it made learning a real pleasure. The morning courses were abounding with a balance of both theoretical and practical information. Concepts like personalizing and localizing, concept checking, eliciting, and the three learning types (Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic), were invaluable. Ideas like the vocabulary book, travel fair, book club and so on were of notable practical value; such activities were duly creative and well designed so that we could go back and put them to use right away. I’ve got so many ideas now.
In addition to the studying we did, we also had chances to put our ideas to work in micro-teaching. I enjoyed micro-teaching because it gave us a chance to try something new and get feedback from our classmates and teachers. Micro-teachings were also short (10min.) so if something went awry it wasn’t such a big deal. It was fun being someone else's student too.
Afternoons were also fun and educational. Not as intensive as the morning and not necessarily language-based, they were still extremely relevant and useful to my future as a teacher. With the afternoon programs we had a chance to either relate the BC system to that of Japan, or to see how a different discipline operates and think of its relevance to our own. Afternoon workshops gave us a glimpse of something new, and a taste of the life in Victoria.
The last factor that made this trip a particularly beneficial one was the participants. We had a nice mix of grad students, undergrads, and in-service teachers in our group. Everyone was respectful of one another and open to the advice that others had to give. It was a real pleasure getting to know everyone and learning together/from each other. I hope to continue this relationship as we continue to the online portion of the program.
To conclude, it was a well organized program, rich in content, with excellent teachers, staff, and participants. We enjoyed every day in the comfortable beauty of Victoria, BC where the environment was ripe for learning. I recommend anyone considering the program to not let the opportunity pass by.
We'll be sure to keep the momentum going in the online portion.
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