The Year in Review (Part Two)

As mentioned in my previous post, tonight and tomorrow mark one of the high points of the year, and something that has become an annual Christmas tradition for me - CAROLS IN THE CATHEDRAL! Based on the traditional English Christmas service with carols and readings, this year's festive spectacular will feature Siobhan Stagg as our soprano soloist.
Besides the cultural significance, audiences also enjoy the concert because they are able to sing along for the carols. There are annual standard ones such as Once in Royal David's City, O Come All Ye Faithful, Joy To the World, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Last year a long-lost Australian carol Christmas Day was brought back to the repertoire, and will be repeated again this year.

Then on Christmas Eve, I will be taking part in my first Midnight Mass at St George Anglican Church in Malvern. Over the last few years, I have learned that a simple Christmas is the way to go; we don't even put up the Christmas tree anymore! For me, it stems back to four important things:

• Jesus Christ (without whom the celebration would just be another mass (we get the word Christmas from a combination of 'Christ' and 'mass'!); 
• food (whether it be the big meal, or snacking on Stollen and Lebkuchen);
• family (catching up with relatives); and of course, 
• music (the above-mentioned concerts). 

If there is one present I would like, it is a copy of Alan Furst's latest book Mission to Paris. This year I discovered, almost by accident, the work of Alan Furst, an American author who specializes in a specific genre of spy fiction - the period leading up to and the early years of World War II. The main characters in his series Night Soldiers include a French film producer, a Russian journalist, a Polish army captain, a Greek police officer, and a Dutch cargo freighter captain, all of whom are drawn into the struggle against the Nazis. This series began back in 1988 with Night Soldiers, and so far I've read through quite a few of them. To find out more about Alan Furst, read an interview of him here.

So far, this is what I know will be happening for me next year. I will start back at my old school, Donvale Christian College, as a casual relief teacher. At the same time, I will go straight on to the final 50 credit points to obtain the full Master of Teaching qualification by the end of next year. I have enrolled for four subjects, two per semester, and this is what they are:

• EDUC90048 - Second Language Teaching Methodology (Semester 1);
• EDUC90587 - Grammar for Language Teachers (Semester 1);
• EDUC90481 - Content Language Integrated Pedagogy (Semester 2); and 
• EDUC90482 - Linguistics and Sociolinguistics of CLIL (Semester 2)

I want to thank all my readers for putting up with my long, sporadic (and hopefully not boring!) postings this year. I wish you all a safe and joyful festive season with friends and family, and all the best for 2013. Cheers and God bless.