Now that state testing season is over and summer is just around the corner, things have calmed down a lot at work. We have a big end-of-year meeting for LPAC (the language proficiency assessment committee, which involves a lot more than the acronym would make you think), district final exams, and then nothing to do but pack up our things and go home. I signed a contract renewal, which means I've committed to coming back next year. I've never worked at a job for more than one full year, so this is kind of a big deal for me. And I'm really excited about starting fresh next year with all the things I've learned, especially if the changes to the program I've been advocating for are realized.
Less time at work has meant more time to pursue my foreign service goals. I started taking a free Coursera course called "The Changing Global Order" after realizing that my knowledge of things like the UN Security Council and other important international organizations is deficient. The course is much more challenging than I expected it to be, so I'm learning a lot. I'm also reading a few articles from the Economist each week, and I bought an introductory textbook on international relations that I plan to start this summer.
I also finished Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty last night. It was a great read and on the suggested reading list. I immediately started Postwar: Europe after 1945 as an audiobook during my commutes, and I'm about 40% through that 1000-ish page monster. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to listen to the 30+ hours before the book was up for renewal, and two people were in line for it. I put an immediate hold on it after surrendering the files, but I'm going to have to wait a while before it's up again. I'm not sure I'll even remember where I left off at that point.
On the language front, I finished my DuoLingo French skills tree, which I'm very happy about. It took around 6 or 7 months, and my progress in French has been pretty amazing considering I haven't been using much else to learn. Someone apparently did a study that showed DuoLingo is equivalent to about two semesters of a college language course, and since I've had two-plus semesters of Spanish and two of German, I feel like I'm qualified to say that's a pretty accurate assessment. I need to dive deeper and start doing extended reading, vocabulary work, and listening exercises, but I'm not sure I'll be able to fit that in since I'm shifting my focus to Spanish right now.
I booked my tickets to Guatemala a few weeks ago, and I'll be gone for the entire month of July. In the time leading up to that date, I'm planning to advance as much as possible in grammar and vocabulary. I want my studies in Guatemala to be focused heavily on conversation, since that's the only thing I can't practice alone. I need to build myself up to a passing language score for the foreign service, and I can't do that without improving my paltry speaking skills. As a bonus, I found out that I can get a $500/year stipend for passing a Spanish language proficiency exam at my current job, which is an added incentive to reach my goals. And being able to speak more comfortably with my Spanish speaking students' parents would also be a boon.
I think I'm headed down the right path. I've started to realize more and more how much I really want to make this foreign service dream a reality. I told my partner that I'm back in the game-- that I'm pursuing this for real again. But I'm also trying very hard to stay grounded in the present, to plan for a future where I stay here in Dallas, continuing to work as a teacher and build my home and life into something meaningful and enjoyable. At the very least, I'll have my summers off to travel and study (and this is year #1 of doing exactly that!).
No comments:
Post a Comment