Grateful

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I sit here preparing for the presentations that I will be giving next week in Ukraine, having just returned from a week long mountain biking trip to Moab, and upon receiving an invitation to conduct two workshops and a plenary talk in Costa Rica in August, how can I not feel grateful.

This life is filled with opportunity and beauty. When we recognize that, the more that both will come into our lives. Grace us with their presence.

It's the beginning of a new term. Again this term, I will have a balance of face to face and online instruction. I will be leading and teaching Oral Skills 2 again in the Intensive English Program at the American English Institute, University of Oregon. I will also be teaching Practical Applications of Listening and Speaking Skills (PALSS), which is an online course that focuses on simultaneously building participants' speaking and listening skills and also their pedagogical knowledge of teaching these skills. In addition, I am mentoring a colleague in teaching a Project Based Learning (PBL) elective. I take on each of these duties with great pleasure.

The PALSS course has already begun, and I am fortunate to have a diverse group of participants from countries including Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Latvia, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Spain, Ecuador, Bahrain, Bolivia, Argentina, Croatia, and Uruguay. I've already begun building our online learning community and have high hopes for a productive term.

My face to face classes begin on Monday, but I will not be there because I will be in Sevastopol presenting at the Ukraine National TESOL conference. This is an opportunity that came to me through one of my online participants in the Webskills course last term. I am fortunate to have two wonderful substitutes filling in for me while I am overseas.

I met with my colleague yesterday regarding the PBL elective, and we had a positive and fruitful meeting. Through my guidance and our collaboration, I feel confident that we will build a strong course.

I work hard and reward myself by playing hard. I recently returned from a mountain biking trip in Moab where I challenged and pushed my physical limits on my bike. It felt so good.

 

Grateful is not strong enough a word to describe how I feel. Fortunate, lucky, blessed. Grateful. I am grateful. This world is good to me.