Due South: Hi Ho Hi Ho, it's off to work we go!

This week has seen me start a small part time job, only a couple of hours a week, but it provides me with some pocket money.

When I first arrived I sent out my resume to all the local private schools asking if they had any vacancies or cover teaching opportunities. (To teach in the state schools here, I would need to become certified with the Ontario College of Teachers, which is a faff, and even then there is a surplus of teachers.) The only response that I received was an offer from a Montessori primary school to start up a Science club as part of their after school program. I'm seeing two groups a week up till Christmas and there might be a chance of me doing some extra work with their older kids in normal school time, as the class teacher doesn't know much about science.

For those who don't know, Montessori schools are based on an educational method developed by Maria Montessori which emphasises student choice and freedom (within limits!) and a constructivist approach to learning. Many of these principles work particularly well in the frame-work of a science club, in particular having the opportunity to investigate and explore a particular experiment or phenomena. I find myself in agreement with the core principles, and in fact would suggest that many of these principles are in common practise across the British education system. Before I started, people warned me that the pupils would be un-disciplined and badly behaved, in reality I have found them no different (so far) from any other kids I've taught. The biggest challenge for me, is to be teaching 6 year olds up to 10 year olds. I hadn't quite realised how young some of them would be! I don't know how primary teachers manage. They're all so needy and energetic. Give me listless, bored 16 year olds any day. (I did like how one of them introduced himself and said how much he liked my French accent.)

Having worked for nearly 2 whole hours on the Thursday, I thought I deserved a day off on Friday and so decided to walk into the City to collect my photos from the Camera shop. (Last weekend I went out on a camera workshop/walking tour. I'm still experimenting with my Lubitel and so it was great to meet some people and explore together whilst wandering through Kensington Market).

So, instead of taking the subway, I walked all the way in and was able to see some of the different neighbourhoods on the way. I've put some photos of the walk below along with some of the shots from the workshop. (As you can see, I'm going through my "graffiti and urban decay" phase. Forgive me, big cities are still new and exciting to me)