November Adventures

Prior to the month of November I made two decisions that radically impacted my month. One was free and one cost me a pretty penny but both have kept me extremely busy. Oh and there was a holiday and family drama thrown in the mix. Lovely.

#1: I thought it would probably be a great idea to spend nine hours in class every Saturday & Sunday for three weeks. So I signed up for a TESOL class.

#2: I thought it would be an equally great idea to write a 50k word novel in 30 days. So I signed up for NaNoWriMo.

In case you were dying to know, here’s an update on how both those things went/are going.

TESOL
I’m done with my in-class work and I even have a shiny certificate to show it! Now I have to complete a 40-hour online component and then I get a new shiny certificate with a 100 hour badge. Fancy, right?

The number of organizations that help you earn this certificate are mind-boggling. Seriously, just google “teach English overseas.” I landed on Oxford Seminars. It wasn’t cheap, but I don’t think a good program should be. Otherwise in Joe Schmoe could open a classroom. Anyway, here’s my review of Oxford Seminars:

Basics: The class ran over 3 weekends. We met every Saturday & Sunday from 9am-6pm with a one hour lunch break (food not provided). We were given two textbooks: How To Teach English by Jeremy Harmer and Oxford Seminars' TESOL/TEFL Certification Course Training Manual. We were assessed by a written test and a 50 minute practicum (lesson demo).

Pros:
-Shiny new textbooks that I didn’t have to hunt down on Amazon or in a dusty bookstore
-Extensive discussion about: culture shock, lesson planning, grammar rules, effective vs. ineffective teaching, and classroom management.
-Multiple opportunities to practice what we had learned + hands on/practical ideas to use in the classroom
-Fantastic teacher with overseas experience (19+ years)
-We were done in 3 weeks!

Cons
-We were done in 3 weeks! Yes it was great to get my certificate so quickly, but three weeks is not sufficient time to fully train a teacher. I already have my teaching credential so a lot of stuff was review for me, but for someone with zero teaching knowledge, I think this class could a challenge.
-We went over a lot of information in a short amount of time, which could be overwhelming and difficult to retain.
-There is no real classroom experience. Although we demoed a lesson to our classmates, that is just not the same as teaching an actual class.
-A lot of information was not covered. It’s impossible to get to everything in three weeks time, especially when the last weekend was devoted to our lesson demo’s and exam.
-No food was provided. Okay this is a bit petty on my part, but for the money I paid, it would have been nice to get a muffin or something. We either had to bring our own lunch or buy it at the fast food locations across the street (which in my case were pricey and limited.)

A final pro is the money back guarantee that I will get a job in 6 months. Which means that sometime next year, I’m either get a chunk of change or I’m moving. Depending how these next 6 months go will determine if the class was worth it our not.

NaNoWriMo
In order to be successful and “win” NaNo, there are a few things one should or could do:
1) Outline/research potential plots prior to November 1st so you have an idea where your novel is going (you can’t start writing, but you can start planning)
2) Once November has started write 1600ish words every day.

What did I do?
For one, I did zero research. I had no idea what I wanted to write about and about 3:30am on November 1st I finally landed on a vague idea and made a rough outline.

In general, if you write 1,667 words EVERY DAY in November you will write 50k words in 30 days. Realistically no one writes every day. Here were some of my potential non-writing days: Oxford Seminar days (6 total), Thanksgiving (I would be too busy eating of course), and my mother’s birthday. So I calculated that I actually needed to write in the neighborhood of 2,272 words every day that I did write.

Prior to November first, my longest daily writings (such as my journal) barely scraped 1500 words. Anything longer than that was usually written over a period of a few days. My longest college paper was only 20 pages (approximately 6,500 words) and I worked on that for weeks!

I seriously doubted that I was going to pull this off and you know what? I totally surprised myself! I wrote 2,801 words on Day 1!! I even managed to keep pace for the first week and a half. Around the half-way point, I did hit some snags and had several days where I did not write anything. At all. But I also had days were I wrote upwards of 3,000 and even 4,000 words! In one day!

As of right now, 3 days before the challenge ends, my novel sits at a happy 46,259 words AND I am scheduled to finish on time. I’m actually really proud of myself for having made it this far and sticking with it.

Before anyone asks, no, you may not read my novel. It’s total crap. It is in need of MAJOR revision and editing and just a complete overhaul. BUT, it’s there. I wrote and I’m proud of it. I may never be a published author but I am a writer and I can tell a story and that’s pretty cool :)

To my fellow NaNoWriMo’s: press on and finish strong! Only 53ish hours remain in this crazy challenge.

Have a happy November and start drinking the eggnog (26 days till Christmas!)