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So, I can't even remember the last time I wrote one of these....

The last 18 months have been hectic to say the least. I've been studying for the Delta (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults). I didn't have to. But it was the right decision. It was my way of deciding that I'm in this teaching business for the long run. I've just finished the 3rd and final module, and now am waiting for the results, having passed the previous 2 modules.

Apart from studying work has been getting busier and busier. The school is also an IELTS centre, and has been steadily promoting the exam. Some of the teachers are examiners, testing the candidates on speaking and writing. Others, myself included, are clerical markers, which means we correct the listening and reading papers. On top of this, about 5 months back I trained to become a Clerical Marker Trainer, which means I get to train people to become clerical markers. Before, in order to become one involved a 3 hours conference call with IELTS HQ in Australia, which given the time difference, was a nightmare. On top of that I've also become a lot more involved in the Teacher Development program at the school. This was partly due to the fact that only me and one other colleague completed the whole Delta. This means that I give development sessions at school, but we also go to other schools and institutes around the area and further afield to give sessions. This led to us being invited to talk at a national conference, the Share Convention , that was held in Buenos Aires in the winter holidays. The last work related thing I've been doing is online. I've been promoted to "online support manager" at work. It actually happened over a year ago, but got more complicated this year. Apart from keeping the schools facebook page and account updated, and the twitter , I also developed a Teacher Development blog that we launched a few months back to quite a successful reaction in the ELT world.

So yeah, I've been kinda busy. On top of everything, I decided to move house. Having been in Argentina for 2 and a half years, I decided that if I was going to stay for longer, it made sense to have my own place. Plus I'd really fallen out with one of my housemates, to the extent that I couldn't be in the same room as him. So I moved (2 days after submitting my final Delta assignment!) I've been in the flat a week now and I'm loving it. I'm loving living alone, with my cat for company, and am having so much fun decorating! You can see from the fotos that it's a work in progress, but I've got almost everything that I "need". I just need to collect my dining table from my friend's sister (who I'm buying it off).

Anyway, enjoy the fotos!

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