I am... not the world's most prolific blogger!

Three posts.

Does that even qualify me as a blogger?

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"Tell me something good!"

That's one of my opening techniques when I teach. Very often it prompts a terrified look of panic from the student (as if they haven't had a week since I asked that question last!)

And I prompt gently further: " it could be something good that's happened to you, something good that you're looking forward to... or even something good that you've heard on the news..."

And what do I get? "The weather's good today." or "It's almost the weekend." Heheh.

I understand that not many people ask (or are asked) that question - and so people are not used to have to concentrate on the positive. Other teachers like to ask "What did you do at the weekend?" or "... since last week?" Not me. Let's have some positivity in the classroom right from the get-go.

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So, in answer to my own suggestion of coming out with something good...

I've done some job-seeking, looking for more teaching jobs and have found a couple of extra courses. One of which is at the HMKW in Cologne and the students are young, eager and enjoy speaking English. The pay is also good - which is a pleasant surprise. Although you may imagine that private universities have plenty of moola, not all of them like to share it and I know this from experience. This came up as a topic of conversation with one of the directors of the university at the semester-opening party and he told me that in comparison with some other private uni's here in the region (naming no names) the founders of the HMKW decided to do so because they enjoy what they do - not just for the lucrative profit possibilities. This is a great ethos in my opinion and I'm really looking forward to and hoping to be there a long time. I have good feedback from my students and it's great to be in that academic environment again. Hanging out with young people keeps me young.

And that's a good thing.

What else is good, is that I've published three T-shirts at Teepublic.com (https://www.teepublic.com/user/robgprice) and although three is not as many as I would like to have published so far this year, it is a good start and I have plenty more ideas. I just need to encourage myself to sit down, draw, scan and edit these ideas into the finished article. But as I mentioned, I have started and I do intend to carry on.

And maybe I'll think of writing another blog page sometime in the next four months so that at least I'll be consistent.