Showing posts with label ESL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ESL. Show all posts

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Oct 4 - Photo a Day - What I Read

WordPress Website Templates

www dot WhoAmI? dot com


One of the most creatively gifted people I know has offered to help design a website for my budding tutoring business... for practice, promo, and payment in pasta!

That means, of course, that not only do I have to get cookin', but it's also time to make solid decisions about who I want to be on the www. To that end, I've spent most of this afternoon perusing hundreds of templates and reading about gorilla social-media blitz techniques.

My niche market -- women with English as their second (or other) language -- narrows my options, which is good. I'm looking for a balance of beauty and practicality. The feminine connection part comes naturally, but learning a language is also extremely logical. In addition to keeping the website wording intelligible, we will need to find organic, left-brained ways of showing potential tutees that I provide a safe and fun place to learn.

How can a few pages on the Internet depict a person's nature? Can ones and zeros, arranged just so portray the joy I feel in providing this patient service, and in celebrating the students' successes? Will WordPress, the right provider, search engine optimization, and keywords attract the precise new people with whom I am meant to learn? The next few weeks will tell, as ideas are clarified and plug-ins and widgets are organized. Wish me luck in this grand, new, electronic adventure!

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Oct 3 - Photo a Day - This Happened Today

Shared Diversity


Tonight's library drop-in Adult English Conversation class was small but lively -- just five returning students, plus my fellow facilitator and I; however, we represented a huge span of the globe.

After playing a silly warm-up game of fill in the blanks ("I have a snowball in my wallet because... I couldn't find anywhere else to keep it!"), we focused on hobbies and favourites.

Our group could have formed a band with singers from Poland, Korea, and France, a guitarist from Mexico, a French percussionist, and a Korean flautist. Two -- a librarian and a catering chef -- have transformed their hobbies into businesses. Two, myself from the U.S. included, are teachers. Three are runners/athletes, and we had scientists from Mexico and China.

As diverse as this group was, with its unique cultures, life experiences, and beautiful accents, the thing that struck me tonight was how many things, including our passion to learn, we had in common.