Teacher Diaries, Entry 3: Ten Hours of My Birthday Spent at Work
Mia Tarau
From standard ESL blog posts to real-life post-PhD tertiary experiences: welcome to a new series, from the mind of a young teacher with a true passion for what she does
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3 November 2022 – My birthday
Dear Diary,
Today is my birthday.
I will arrive on campus at 8am; I will start teaching at 9am, and finish at 6pm, with only one small break. Let’s see how it goes.
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4 November 2022 – The day after my birthday
What an absolute killer of a day yesterday was!
The day began with mock exams for my Academic English class and continued with consultations with my Humanities class. I then taught two different courses back-to-back, same student cohort – the second 2-hour teaching block was a cover for the Research teacher.
In all that madness, I had told no one about my birthday – however, some of the teachers knew and spread the news around the office; one of them came into my classroom during the break to give me a hug. So sweet! Some of my students also remembered and wished me ‘Happy Birthday’ before the mock exam. How lovely!
There was no other celebration on the day, however – too much to do, no time to stop!
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When I arrived at work today, though, everything was different! I found birthday presents on my desk; my students gifted me a birthday card with drawings of me as a princess, which they had filled with lovely messages; both my Friday classes sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me; and everyone around the office made my day an absolute delight!
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Things I am grateful for over this past year – Career-related edition:
· The return to campus after Covid
· Teaching in two departments at my university
· Teaching on so many different courses – from MA-level linguistics to Intercultural communication (undergrad), and Academic English and Humanities Foundation courses
· Working on curriculum development for both the Academic English and Humanities courses at my college
· Serving on the Teaching and Learning Committee in my faculty
· Serving on two other committees at my college
· FINISHING THE PHD, PASSING THE DEFENSE, AND SUBMITTING THE FINAL THESIS DRAFT
· Continuing my collaboration with Chasing Time English, with two exciting new series to write materials for, with funding from Education New Zealand
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Reflection:
I AM EXHAUSTED, BUT HAPPY.
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Dear Diary,
I am grateful for the help I have had along the way this past year, and for what that help has allowed me to accomplish. Excellent birthday score this year!
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Do you make time to stop and reflect on the past year on your birthday, even though you may have a hectic teaching day ahead of you on your birthday?