CELTA fail

Well... still no internet. I’m starting to doubt I’ll get it back any time soon but I have something else to talk about today. A little aspect of life that I haven’t spoken about in a long while: my career progression.

One part of what I want to be in life is being an English teacher. As some of you may have known, I was spending some time applying to get on a course that would give me the necessary qualifications and now I have my answer. I didn’t get in because my English isn’t good enough. Yep, you heard that right. My English sucks. This is the first time anyone has ever told me that.

This was decided upon seeing my IELTS score of 7.5 out of 9. IELTS stands for International English Language Qualification. It’s a type of exam that was required of me to get into higher education. Four years ago, I needed to score 7 and I did that. I never had any problems with the Linguistics strand of my course and I believe I have a quite good understanding of the intricacies of English and know that not everything in grammar is clear cut. Alas, the CELTA course requires a score of 9. After four years I have serious doubts my English skills haven’t improved. So I’m quite confident in getting that score or at least 8.5 (you never know what someone else will judge as “good” English). Yet to take this exam again, I will need money.

This wouldn’t be so frustrating if it wasn’t for being told totally different things every time I went to that school. When I came in the first time, they told me I don’t even need to show my IELTS score since I’ve been through higher education. When I came in for an interview, I was asked what my score was and I said “about 8, I think”. I was told that was enough and to bring in the papers. When I brought the papers, I was told I need 9 to get on the course. Yeah... it just seems like the requirements change from week to week, annoyingly enough.

So now when I think of facing the anthropomorphic representation of that school, I am reminded of Zohan’s words:

“I will destroy you.”

Life Goes On

When I was finishing high school I had a Livejournal. At the time, the blog was my means of communication with all the people I knew and now that I don’t have internet at home, it can serve that purpose again.

It’s strange how without internet I am not really talking with anyone outside of work. On one hand that’s fairly normal. People are busy with work and life in general. It can be really hard finding a free slot in two schedules to meet up to chat. Getting more than two people together can be even harder. While instant messengers just let you do your own thing while talking to people. No internet pretty much means I’m not socialising when I’m filling in forms, going through notes or writing down ideas. I can’t say it bothers me that much. Life is actually quite good in general.

I’m quite happy I’ve got a job. Working at Burger King might not be all that noteworthy but it does make me feel better about myself than sitting at home 24/7 and just going through study notes. The simple change that I have income of my own has helped the relationship with my dad tremendously. We don’t get into arguments as often as usual. I don’t feel like I have to throw away everything I’m doing whenever he tells me to do something else and then get shouted and cursed at for approaching the task in a way he would not. It actually feels like he’s a lot more supportive as of late.

The room I’m staying at is expensive but it’s quiet and I have a desk. Just being able to sit down comfortably to work makes a huge difference. Writing is so much nicer that way. The best part, I think, is that I can focus on what’s going on in my life rather than feel like I’m expected to be a caretaker/wife to the benevolent landlord who graciously lets me stay at his home if I take care of it while he can drown his sorrows in alcohol.

Problems are ever present, as always, but right now they feel more like obstacles on a racecourse rather than the Goliath. I’m glad I can fall asleep without locking my door again and that life is moving with a much nicer pace than it used to.