How are you spending this time when all the stores close and things are quiet and still? Do you have snow where you are? I would love to hear what you are up to.
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Take a Break!
I'm drinking hot chocolate by the window. Kelly's Cafe is hopping. The juncoes, cardinals, tree sparrows, house sparrows, and even the odd song sparrow are enjoying my smorgasbord of finch seed mix, peanut splits, black-oil sunflower seed, suet, and the heated birdbath that never freezes over.
How are you spending this time when all the stores close and things are quiet and still? Do you have snow where you are? I would love to hear what you are up to.
How are you spending this time when all the stores close and things are quiet and still? Do you have snow where you are? I would love to hear what you are up to.
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I celebrated the school break by coming down with the cold I'd been fighting for a couple of weeks. The enforced stillness is welcome. I'm really happy to be surrounded by family and to resist thinking about school, though it continues to creep into my dreams at night.
ReplyDeleteMy new year's resolution is to strive for a better work-life balance.
Have a well-deserved holiday, Kelly! And all the best for a happy 2018
Christine,
ReplyDeleteIsn’t that typical? As soon as you relax, whatever you’ve been fighting takes hold. I’m sorry you’re sick but glad you’re resting. Good self-care and work-life balance are excellent topics for my first blog post of 2018.
Have a wonderful holiday. —K
Hi Kelly, it is very cold today here in Winnipeg. There is snow everywhere and it seems to me I am still in a movie even though it is my 4th winter here. :-) I am enjoying my break enjoying every second of it with my family. I will enjoy it even more when my sister comes here in the first week of January!
ReplyDeleteI also felt a lot of sadness because my mother is not here anymore... I remembered all the Christmas parties she prepared for us and I missed these moments there in Brazil with her.... :-(
Cintia,
ReplyDeleteWinnipeg must be quite cold and snowy. Your sister is brave. I’m so sorry to hear your mom is not with you anymore. I wish you a warm holiday and wonderful time with your family. What does your sister do? —K
Thanks, Kelly! My sister has a degree in business, marketing and administration. I consider she is my first daughter because she was born when I was 13 years old. She spent 6 months here and liked the experience so much! Now she is getting ready to get married in August. I am so happy I will be able to be there in Brazil with her. :-)
DeleteBy the way, I am so excited writing a list of materials to be purchased by my school! I am getting wild! LOL! I am taking a look in your posts to get more ideas. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, my! It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of making out a shopping list for my classes. Lucky you! Enjoy. That's cool that your sister likes Canada. --K
DeleteIt has been quite a few days since school broke for the holidays, but PBLA had broken me as a person, and professional many months beforehand. Going to work, day after day, without hope or reprieve is very difficult. It is so ingrained into my brain that I can't turn it off even though on holiday. I am impossibly trying to figure out the impossible. Do Joanne Pettis and Tara Holmes know that their baby has turned into a Frankenstein monster that is terrorising instructors all across Canada? Some SPOs are better than others; a couple are tormenting their staff as the funder has allowed for them to "tweak" PBLA in their programs. Worker Unions are hamstrung, and the employers are shredding employees. Remember when ESL ran in church basements, and immigrant needs were met in a healthy safe environment by people who reached out to them with love for them...coffee and friendship first, then language followed. A former student from those days is now my mechanic, and another my accountant...it worked. PBLA teaches students how to file paper. That is it. Formulaic garbage.
ReplyDeleteHow do we fight against this? A good friend has quit. Won't be coming back after the holidays. I don't know how I will manage without them.
Come on already, 2018. Let's break the back of PBLA before it breaks more people. Come on everyone, sign the petition. Call your MP and MPP. Contact the press. PBLA is abusive to instructors and the students they serve.
Broken Anonymous,
DeleteI would like to shout your words from the rooftops. May 2018 be the year when sanity prevails. Let us make it so. --K
Broken Anonymous - I search your words for clues as to whether I know you or not. No matter. I want to put my arms around you and tell you how wrong and reprehensible those who conceived this insane ill-begotten project (policy analysts and Integration managers in CIC and IRCC) were. AND yes, Joanne and Tara (and others at CCLB and IRCC and in the Boards and the SPOs know all about the flaws of the invalid broken project and the pain it has inflicted. They are at a point where they hope to make it "less painful" by convincing government to spend more precious taxpayer dollars on the creation of "resources"! For heaven's sake! More unscrupulous unethical writers scrambling to get another piece of the pie under the pretence of "helping their colleagues". I'm disgusted by the greed. Disgusted by the sycophants. . Saddened that organizations that used to advocate for newcomers, for workers have drunk the KoolAid and mundlessly mumble "The funders want it". Code for "We want to keep our jobs." Yes, in better times I respected (and loved!) many of the the people that later had a hand in creating PBLA . Now all I say to them is - be on the right side of history, redeem what selfrespect you can by acknowledging how awful this wasteful government mandated policy experiment is, call for a moratorium and review efficacy and ROI. (I'm thinking auditor general, ethics commissioner, the Opposition, the Press) . The public have a right to know how their tax dollars are being wasted.(binders? $$$? Regional Coaches and Leads $$$? Massive amounts of managers and government officials meeting? $$$$ Time and resources stolen from the learners?$$$$
DeleteExploitation of teachers/instructors? Oh, wait,that's where the government SAVED money. Instead of paying for experts to create reliable, consistent,valid assessment Instruments they created a bogus "training" program to try to turn instructors into
"assessment creators" and institute a pan Canadin standardised assessment methodoligy. No way Jose. If it were half way successful you would NOT have had the spontaneous grassroots
creation of a petition signed by (at last check) close to 600 signatories. I looked at some of the names. Well respected expert teachers. PM Trudeau,take note. ( As a teacher this issue should interest you). So Broken Anon - and all the other Anons...and open PBLA Warriors. Take heart. Truth will out.