7 Things ...

It seems I was naive in thinking that I would squeeze out at least a couple of blog posts during the holidays. Term 1 is off & running ... But before we get too far into it, and having been tagged a while back by Jess McCulloch, I thought I could at least get one simple post in to start off the year. After all, it wasn't that long ago that I only associated the word 'tag' with schoolyard games (more specifically, being hit hard by a tennis ball).

Anyway, this first post is all about 'me'. 7 things you may not know about me & weren't really worried about in the first place. Mind you, I have enjoyed reading other blogs in this meme. As you build your Personal Learning Network (PLN) and discover the value of it, this kind of meme adds a little bit more to the connections being made. So, here goes ...

1. Despite being born in Wimbledon (England) I am far from a competent tennis player. In fact, the last time I attempted the game resulted in a prolonged back injury.
2. As a child, I lived for 6 years in Athens. An awesome place to live and go to Primary school. Although I don't remember the bits and pieces of Greek that I knew at the time, I think that it was here that I picked up my interest in languages. Many friends were from bilingual families and speaking more than one language was the norm.
3. Ever done something really silly ...??? Once, whilst at St Catherine's, as a result of being most concerned about receiving my dues from the tooth fairy, and after examining various 'safes' for it - I distinctly remember trying out every possible spot in my school desk ( one of the old sloping wooden desks complete with ink holder & groove for pencils) - I decided the best spot was in my ear. Sounds silly now but I thought it was the perfect plan. End result - surgery to remove it. Not sure if the tooth fairy came for that one or not.
4. 2nd year of University was not the best for me in terms of passing courses (more for not being there than anything else) but that was the year that I first went to Japan, on a Homestay program, and everything fell into place from there. Despite getting off at the wrong station and then having to wait several hours before eventually finding my Homestay family, I was fascinated by Japan from the very first moment - and still am.
5. In an attempt to save money and go back to Japan, I once worked at the airport in catering. This basically involved cleaning the scraps off the in-flight meal trays and putting them through the wash. During busy times things banked up a bit and some trays contained several science experiments worth of growth on the left-over food scraps. It's always good to gain a new perspective on things.
6. My wife claims that one of her first thoughts on seeing me was that she would "never marry that guy". It was at work (an English conversation school in Osaka, Japan) and allegedly my shirt was half hanging out at the time.
7. Down time for me is running, preferably along the bush tracks not far from our door, and cycling. This year I aim to ride to work more, to do my little bit for the environment - and because it's quite a nice ride.

So there you go ...

Time to tag a couple of others for this meme ...

Isabelle Jones

Lisa Stevens

Joe Dale

José Picardo

Meme: Passion Quilt

Well, I have been tagged by Isabelle Jones to carry on the Passion Quilt, started by Miguel Guhlin. The task is to find an image that captures what we are passionate about in our field of education; what do we want our students to learn at school?

Let's call the photo above - "Now & Then"

I took the photo above at Kiyomizu temple (Kyoto, Japan) whilst there in December last year with a school group. So, for me, it is not only the picture but also the circumstances of why I was there that contributes to the "passionate" theme. It was tiring work travelling around Japan with the school group, but well worth it. Seeing them respond to the places and the culture they were engaged with was, in their words, pretty cool. Watching them using the Japanese language to do this was even better. Seeing them passionate about Japan was very satisfying.

Now to the picture itself. My main teaching area is Japanese and this photograph encapsulates what drew me into Japan and subsequently the teaching of Japanese; that Japan is a modern nation but at the same time is so ancient / traditional. This is the original reason for choosing this photo. However, the photo represents more than simply Japan & Japanese. It represents my passion for teaching the students not only about language and culture but also about broadening their thinking, expanding their horizons. Despite the world having shrunk, there are still many students who do not see outside of their area, let alone their region or their country. Furthermore, expanding on this from my subject area (& thinking about some of what I've read over the past couple of months), this photo also represents the need to embrace the new directions and opportunities in ICT, whilst remembering that there are pieces of 'the old' culture that we still must learn from and use. My passion in this area continues to develop and grow - thanks to those in my expanding networks out here ...

So, now it is my turn to tag for the extension of the Passion Quilt ...

1. Jess McCulloch
2. Anne Baird
3. Lisa Stevens
4. Graham Hughes
5. Tom March

3 simple rules of the Passion Quilt meme are as follows:

• Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about and give your picture a short title.

• Title your blog post "Meme: Passion Quilt" and link back to Miguel Guhlin's original post.

• Include links to 5 people in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

This has been a most useful exercise!