The
last day of my CELTA course
It was the final day
of my CELTA course, which I took at the British Council in Amman. I
had enjoyed it a lot, despite the intensity of the course. I
especially enjoyed getting to know my fellow CELTA trainees, who were
mostly Arabs of Palestinian background. I got on well with one of
them in particular and I hope to keep in contact with him.
Challenging time
The previous week
had been a worrying time for us, as Kate had experienced bleeding during the 14th week of her pregnancy and there was a big risk of miscarriage
but, thanks to the prayers of all our family and friends, she and the baby have both recovered
from this. As a result she had to rest completely and this was a big
challenge for us, while I was so busy with the CELTA course. Our
friends in Amman were a great help to us during this time.
Complete loss of steering
The final day of
CELTA was mostly a formality, completing paperwork and saying goodbye
to our teachers and to the guinea pig students who had to endure all
of our teaching mistakes for four weeks. However, after dropping the
kids at school, there was a creaking noise in our car which was
followed by a complete loss of steering. Thankfully, I managed to
stop the car in a safe place and left it there as I took a taxi to
the British Council.
Sad goodbye
It was sad to say
goodbye to everybody. The students we taught were mostly refugees
from Syria and Iraq. I asked them what they would be doing next, but
they had no ideas or plans. Most people who have fled the problems in
Syria and Iraq have received some help from the UN, but are unable to
find any work and have nothing to do. I have been trying to organise
a continuation of some free lessons for them, but it has proved
difficult to find a good venue and a good time for this.
Phone a friend
We finished at 2pm
on the last day, and I phoned a friend of mine to get him to pick me
up and take me to the place where I had left the car. He was also a
great help in talking to the car recovery truck and then he guided
the recovery truck to his favourite mechanic. It took 2 hours for the
recovery truck to arrive and then it took a long time with many
heart-in-the-mouth moments to get the car onto the recovery truck
without any steering. Both steering rods had to be replaced, but car
repairs in Jordan are very cheap, and the mechanics only charged £15
for the labour.
Future opportunities
I later found out
that I passed the CELTA, with a B grade, which was the grade which I
needed to be able to join the mentoring programme for new teachers at
the British Council. Given the challenges which we had faced during
this time, this was a great blessing and we are very excited about
what opportunities it will bring for us in the future.
