Meet Sonja
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Hi Vance
I'm an ESL teacher from Darwin in the tropical far
north of Australia and was born in Holland. I like to teach Academic English or
IELTS preparation classes but at the moment I'm finishing a fully online
Masters of Applied Linguistics using Webct. I'd really like to teach online in
the future. I
have 4 great kids from 5 to 15 years of age and I enjoy
bike riding and Asian cooking.I also used to be an Indonesian teacher and am
deeply interested in cross cultural studies.
I'm not sure if I should
be posting this to you here as I'm not a student. I've applied to be a
volunteer teacher -once I learn a few tricks of the trade-
Regards from
Sonja |
Sonja has made a kind offer to Writing for Webheads students:
If there are any students in the group who are preparing to sit the
IELTS exam and would like me to look at their Task 1 or Task 2 writing practice
I would be very happy to help. As I've mentioned I'm an IELTS examiner and have
taught Academic English and IELTS preparation classes, particularly writing
classes. All students have to do is send me their writing and I promise I will
give them some feedback.
regards from Sonja
On Nov 27 Sonja writes ...
I would love to have the opportunity to meet with different classes as
you describe as I'm intrigued how an experienced online teacher manages a class
online.I would very much like to learn about online community building too
though at the moment I feel somewhat overwhelmed by taking the first few steps.
... Do you know I am a grandmother too? I have a granddaughter who is 4 years
old and a grandson who is 3, both adorable. I am a 'second wife' so apart from
my own 4 children I am priviledged to have 2 wonderful grown up step sons about
the same age as your children. We have had an interesting journey over the
years growing together as a 'blended family', it hasn't always been easy but
the rewards have been great. ... I'd love to post some of my family photos on
my web site too.
My advice on being a step mum is just be patient and don't give up. It
takes a long time to build trust especially because kids sometimes feel they
are betraying their 'real' mum' by being too friendly with the step mum. My
experience was like that as my kids 'real' mum didn't want them to have a
relationship with me at all. As they grow older, kids sort things out for
themselves. I think the most important thing is never ever say bad things
against their mum no matter how crazy she is because the kids will hate you for
it. Another thing is always welcome them but expect nothing. For years my step
sons treated me like I was a piece of furniture in the house, something that
was always there but not worth worrying about too much! Now finally they are
showing interest and caring too. Its been a long hard road but I always tried
to remember that my kids are their half-brothers and sisters-that's their
family and you can't ever take that away. Its especially hard in our family
because my husand's first wife-was a Darwin Aboriginal lady and their kids are
very dark skinned while mine are blonde and fair. Even so they share so many
similarities, the older they get the more in common they have. The funny thing
is they can see it too.
Sonja writes about her travels in
response to Gloria, Nov 28, 2002
From Sonja's email Nov 29, 2002
Yes I agree its frustrating when you don't have time to go on with your
studies but being a member of this community will surely help you too. There
are so many opportunities for practising English. Today I went to 'tapped in'
and met Sus there, we were hoping you'd come and join us but decided it must
have been too early in the morning for you! I felt much better about visiting
'tapped in' this time even though there's still so much i don't understand. i
was very pleased to learn how to put a photo icon up. Sus showed me first and
then BJ gave me a few more hints. It also enjoyed chatting to Dafne. I met Tony
Ry there too and he invited us to visit his office. It was fun to try moving
around the place and look at things in the office. I was hoping to meet some
more webheads but no luck this time. Maybe on Sunday.
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 17:37:54 +0700
From: ykresno
Subject:
Hi Gloria and other Webheads
Hi Gloria and Sonja
It is nice to enjoy your conversation. I am a webhead student, and I
live in Indonesia. Some parts of your conversation mention Indonesia as your
second language.
Another webheads who want to know the situation in Indonesia recently,
feel free to ask me.
Yos Kresno
Department of Emergency Medicine
RSUEL Hospital
Sonja's travels in December 2002 - Jan 2003
This is where I am going on my family camping trip:- the first stop will
be Mataranka Hot Springs to say goobye to the pandanus palms and billabongs of
the Northern Territory
http://www.peter.com.au/photos/day/2000-11-20-Mataranka.html.
Then its a long long drive through Tennant Creek, Mt Isa and Charters Towers to
Townsville. The best thing about this part of the drive is the wondeful
emptiness and stillness of the land, very relaxing after the busyness of city
life. Then its up the north Queensland coast to visit friends in Mission Beach
famous for its Cassowary birds and tropical rainforest
http://www2.eis.net.au/~nqtds/fnq/2ptb22.html.
Vance would love this area because its a part of the Great barrier Reef, famous
for its wonderful diving and snorkelling opportunites.After that we will start
headng down the coast, stopping over in Mackay to go fishing with my Godson and
his grandmother who is an Indonesian fisherwoman from Sabu Island. Then its a
Brisane Xmas with....
After that we head down to Corindi/ RedRock area in Northern NSW for a
one week big family reunion. Coriindi is on the edge of the Yuraygiir national
Park http://www.tropicalnsw.com.au/nationalparks/yuraygir.html
and is a wonderful natural estuarine enviornment with a wild surfiing and
fishing beach and a strong indigeneonous heritage. From there we go to Broken
Head reserve http://www.tropicalnsw.com.au/byronvanparks/broken.html
near the famous Bryron bay. Bryon Bay has great surfing waves and is also one
of the centres of the alternative 'new age'culture in Australia. There will be
a few side trips into the mountains and waterfalls of the hinterland to go
bushwalking and then we do the long drive back to Darwin again where hopefully
the rainy season will have arrived. And that will be our camping trip-
I can't wait until Monday comes. I love the feeling of leaving all my
worries and cares behind even if it is only temporarily!
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Last updated: December 20, 2002
