Sliema

I called my previous post Living in Malta because I was going to write something about how my view of the world has shifted since I made the decision to base myself here.   But writing about the San Gwann area lead me in a different direction.  We'll see what happens in this post.

Most of the things I am doing just now are related to my return to Malta in 2010.  Both the conference at Dragonara and the workshop in Sliema that I'll write about here are associated with finding some part-time work when I come to live in my flat in Valletta.

Malta Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language advertised a seminar/workshop to be held at IELS in Sliema.  There are many English language schools in Malta and they each identify themselves with a series of letters like this.  I found it was quite confusing when people at the workshop introduced themselves and said where they worked with a string of letters.  Maybe I have just got out of the ways of the paid workforce!

The seminar was offering several different workshops from which we all chose two.  I put my name down for a session lead by Daniel Xerri called 'Using Literature in the EFL Classroom' and another by Jean Sciberras titled 'Using songs in the classroom.'

The literature class was theoretical with some activities thrown in and I found it very useful.  I used a short story by a Greek author writing about Alexandria when I was there studying for my TEFL qualification.  The class had worked well but I felt I could have linked it more strongly to language acquisition  and this is what the workshop offered.

I expected the song workshop to be about singing but found it focussed on using popular song lyrics to help with language acquisition.  The session was run as though it was a TEFL class.

The seminar was a very good way of starting to feel my way into the sector.  When it concluded at lunchtime, I had arranged to meet my cousin in a popular Sliema cafe just around the corner on the front.  This is the regular Saturday morning haunt for Doris and at first I couldn't spot her in the crowd.  She was squashed in around a tiny circular table with several other women friends.  When I squeezed in to join them, it became clear that this was the place to be to catch up with Sliema gossip.  As I tucked into my fruit tart for lunch, Doris was greeted by several other women as they strolled through the pavement cafe and everyone stopped for a chat.

The party broke up around 2.30 (Doris had been there since 11.00am) and I walked across the road to wait for the ferry across the harbour to Valletta.  It was another lovely day and I sat up on the bow for the short trip across Marsamxetto.  Walking up from the landing, I felt that the Valletta streets were starting to feel like home territory.

The photo that heads the post was taken from the Sliema promenade when I walked around from Spinola the previous day.