A little Update: TV and all that Jazz

The last month or so I have been popping over to English Club T.V. studios to film a pilot program for a possible new series they have come up with. Yesterday we finally actually recorded the pilot and with the exception of a quick sound check on my voice I just have to wait to see it finally come out.

It has been really interesting to see behind the scenes of a TV studio and how they go about making a program. Having make up put on was also quite interesting, although my hair did it's up most to resist the affect of even professional hair products being put in it.

The actually filming for the 3 minute program took 5 hours! Although this was longer than normal due to it being my first time making a program. My first time working with this director, the language barrier and a few slight technical hitches.

As soon as I can I will try to put up a video clip for you to see.

Intervue questionnaire

So I've given this little website a go that I discovered thanks to Nick Peachey's technology learning blog. What you can do on Intervue is make an online video response questionnaire. Obviously there are some great options for teaching with this [especially for some speaking homework practice] but I thought I'd start with a nice simple introduction questionnaire that you can check out here.

Reflection number 2 from The Prodigal God

In case you missed my last post on the subject, I have been reading the wonderful Tim Keller book, The Prodigal God.

Obviously it brought up a lot of questions and reflections and so here is my second one.

Is it better to do something out of duty [but not really want to] that is ultimately good, or to not do something good because you don't want to?

Obviously it is absolutely best to do something good because you desire to but sometimes we don't desire that? How can we be changed to desire to do good things for their own sake more rather than so we can get a moral supriority rush or release the pressure valve on the guilt trip that has been building.

The only firm conclusion I have so far is pray.

[3rd quick reflection, the Prodigal Blog would be a great name for a Blog]

Older and Younger Brothers

Over the last few days I have been reading a lot of Tim Keller's Book "The Prodigal God" Which I whole heartedly recommend.
For those of you who don't know, as I didn't, prodigal originally meant "wasteful, reckless and careless" and yet due to it's association of with the incorrectly named "parable prodigal Son" with "wayward". As Keller points out there are two estranged Son's in the book and from what we read only one of them is reunited with the father. If you haven't read the story you can do so here. If you want to hear Tim Keller talk on it then you can check it out here [sorry it does cost] and if you want to buy the book you can do so here.

There are definitely a few things that I have been meditating on from this so here is my first one.

When the younger brother returns to the father he is setting up a negotiation to earn his way back...the father doesn't accept the negotiation and welcomes him back straight away.

When do I come to God trying to negotiate my way back into his good books?

Some exciting news: summer and next year

This week I have had been very busy making arrangement for the future. By that I am reffering to both the summer and next year.

On Wednesday evening I had an interview with a summer school and have now been offered a job for the summer working in Oxford. It will certainly be very busy during this time there [though what is new with that] and it isn't for the whole summer so I WILL return to sunny New Malden as well.

The other big news is that I have talked with the Director of the school about next year and So I am now planning on returning to the Ukraine next year. Obviously the downside of this means at least another year 2000+ miles away from Family and Friends. However I am glad to have some more clarity about what will happen in the future so I can pursue some longer term goals here.

Of course if you would like to visit the Ukraine [or Oxford whilst I am there] then please do leave a comment bellow.