My CAMBRIDGE Experience, August 2012 “Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense, but the past perfect!” Owens Lee Pomeroy Ever felt so overwhelmed by an unforgettable experience that you don’t even know where to begin??? Well, my summer course in Cambridge was exactly one of those occasions! After months waiting for the application results, I was approved to enroll “Language and Methodology Refresher (Secondary)” teacher training course in Cambridge between 12 th and 25th August. What a relief! What joy! After having completed a 15-page application form, having felt tempted to give up with a million other things to do at the same time, after so many goose bumps, it was really worthwhile! I was mesmerized by the number of colleagues who had simply been left out and felt my effort had been even more rewarded. So, having been granted a Socrates scholarship to engage on a 2-week course, the day finally came and in a hot summer morning a whole female group met at the airport in Porto; some of us had never met before but we had at least two things in common: we were all Portuguese teachers of English and happy APPI members! Believe it or not, our bonding started right there, with shared plans, ideas and hopes for the upcoming fortnight. Already in Cambridge, more exactly in front of Homerton College, we were welcomed by BELL staff who opened the doors for us and invited us in with “This way ladies. Welcome to Homerton College!” Keys in hand, and still dumbfounded by the surroundings, we headed for our rooms, single en-suite bedrooms. We hardly had time to rest after such a long day (home / airport / Cambridge, but who was there to rest???) and soon enough we were at Nusha’s bar in the leisure centre nearby for a most welcoming reception. Regardless of our origins, we would finish the way we were about to start: improving our English language skills and socializing. On Monday morning, after breakfast in a beautiful Harry Potter-style dining hall, all participants from the 16 nationalities represented at the campus gathered in the auditorium, where we were greeted by Jim Scrivener, the Academic Director, for a brief overview of the course. From then on, we were split into groups, headed to our classrooms and met our tutors; with our new classmates, we shared knowledge, experiences and contacts. From 9 am to 12.30 pm and then from 2 pm to 3.30 pm we had classes to brush up our English, a real “in loco” chance to refresh and improve our language skills, methodologies, and all. This eclectic approach will certainly suit not only the diversity of our classes but also ourselves since we felt tremendously rewarded, both at a personal and professional level. This intense and valuable course included a panoply of development activities and personal interest sessions which ranged from workshops, cultural talks on pubs, music, teen talk…, to sports activities and games, films, karaoke, the Great British Pub Quiz... Indeed, I admit that I sometimes felt somewhat anxious about the busy timetable at the campus, but please don’t misunderstand me: no one there can complain of boredom. No way. There were always plenty of activities to choose from but the problem was that I simply didn’t want to miss a single bit! Besides, taking into account that, when we could, we would leave the campus at around 3.30/3.45 pm, and all museums (and shops, of course) close at 5pm, we didn’t have much time either for tourist visits or shopping! http://www.clubeinglesoure.blogspot.pt
Alexandra Duarte