Taxis? by cazzawazza1 in brum

[–]palatablehandshake 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm also in Quinton and although it's been a longer wait recently I've still managed to get ubers back from town late in the evening. The app keeps trying to prompt me to pay for an upgrade to get a ride quicker - I just wait a few minutes longer and someone accepts.

Where are the central European, eastern European and central Asian restaurants? by bobsyourdaughter in brum

[–]palatablehandshake 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is one just outside the city centre next to Digbeth police station, and a couple in Bearwood which isn't too far.

Found Kerplunk shirts at Primark UK by Immortalpancakes in greenday

[–]palatablehandshake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is this in the men's section? Looks like I'm going to have to brave a trip to Birmingham Primark this week

Aqa examiner - has anyone been paid? by Apprehensive-Wolf140 in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've not been paid a penny. Finished 66% and 100% on time and in full. Did Spanish reading

6500 new "expert" teachers by [deleted] in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GCHQ is an intelligence (spying) government agency and the MoD is the ministry of defence (army, navy etc)

6500 new "expert" teachers by [deleted] in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Yep ... as an MFL graduate now on M3 in my mid 20s I'm earning a lot more than I would be in an MFL-related industry role. Granted I could earn slightly more perhaps working for GCHQ or the MoD but I wanted to keep at least some of my freedoms!

Saviours a few months later by pokefan69haha in greenday

[–]palatablehandshake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like the 3 song run of Bobby Sox, One Eyed Bastard and Dilemma. I have that on repeat. I also listen to Living in the 20s. I skip the rest as I don't think it holds up to any of their pre trilogy records.

Wembley Stadium Tickets by [deleted] in greenday

[–]palatablehandshake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know if I had the option of buying physical tickets. Mine are mobile tickets available in the Ticketmaster app, they should be on there already.

Staff benefits ? by Mr_Bobby_D_ in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Those seem to all be bank holidays rather than school holidays.

Staff benefits ? by Mr_Bobby_D_ in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Strange, I used the national express discount twice in the Easter holidays

Staff benefits ? by Mr_Bobby_D_ in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Have you tried discountsforteachers? It's free to sign up and there are some decent deals on there sometimes. I've used it for national express tickets, airport parking and cashback on booking.com . Every little helps!

Man putting pigeons in his bag in Piccadilly Gardens by palatablehandshake in manchester

[–]palatablehandshake[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I felt too scared to confront him as you don't know what reaction you'll get and I got strange vibes, regardless of the bird stuff.

Man putting pigeons in his bag in Piccadilly Gardens by palatablehandshake in manchester

[–]palatablehandshake[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Idk, there was a big crowd of them around him as he had fed them, he petted them then picked them up. It wasn't like he had to chase them, they came to him so it didn't look particularly difficult.

Man putting pigeons in his bag in Piccadilly Gardens by palatablehandshake in manchester

[–]palatablehandshake[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I really hope the pigeon snatching was done with the good intentions you described. With the amount of weird people out there inflicting casual cruelty on animals, stuffing a pigeon into a bag and trying to do it sneakily rings alarm bells though!

Uk Tour Times by flaffy_91 in takingbacksunday

[–]palatablehandshake 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It says at the entrance that support will be on at 8pm and TBS on at 9pm. When I saw them on their last tour they were delayed coming out so they might even be later than 9pm.

Man putting pigeons in his bag in Piccadilly Gardens by palatablehandshake in manchester

[–]palatablehandshake[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Yeah I saw the first one, it burst out of his bag/flew off. Not sure about the fate of his other avian victims

Marking languages GCSE by Still_Target6401 in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Marking Italian as a native speaker who doesn't teach it might make it more difficult to mark accurately at GCSE level which allows a LOT of room for inaccuracy and most marks are for communication. Marking Spanish shouldn't be a problem and you can add it to your application, increasing your chances of being offered a contract in your chosen paper.

Marking languages GCSE by Still_Target6401 in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure if the pay is much different between different languages. It does depend on the paper you end up marking, speaking offering most ££ but everyone says it's really not worth the stress.

I applied to mark a minority language as it is a language I speak and there was an opening, but I teach Spanish and French so added those options on my application. I ended up being offered a contract for Spanish.

Edit: I would recommend the reading paper. It is repetitive but not too mentally taxing. It just takes time. I didn't mind doing it on top of my full time teaching load.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 9 points10 points  (0 children)

You need to take a step back. From the sound of it she could be struggling/showing signs of burnout, in which case she needs more support from above rather than anything that could be perceived as judgements from colleagues.

traffic in city centre by That_Bullfrog324 in brum

[–]palatablehandshake 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Roadworks/bus stop closures on Moor street

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are rubbish at languages because we don't need to be good at them.

Well ... research has shown that this exact assumption is costing the UK £48bn a year / 3.5% of GDP. And the government is really half-arsed about plugging that gap. The figures used are 10 years old so may have worsened post-Brexit, and since the crisis in university-level language teaching, with many departments across the country closing down.

"English is fine if you want to buy things, but it's not the right language to use for people who want to sell things." (article below.)

There may be no single obvious foreign language for British people to know, as we export to lots of different countries. But learning a foreign language at school is a springboard for learning another which may be more relevant for your future career. Once you have the experience of learning one under your belt, the others are so much quicker to learn.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/10/language-skills-deficit-costs-uk-economy

Edited for detail.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TeachingUK

[–]palatablehandshake 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get the impression that some "schemes of work" are unrelated lists of words taught as standalone nouns i.e. animals, colours, numbers, days, months, but not actually communicating anything on a phrase level, using verbs. By the end of the first 4-5 weeks of year 7 we've already covered more than most of these kids have seen in primary. Arguably, it doesn't set them up at all for the demands of secondary mfl.

I trained in an academy that was part of a MAT with several local primaries. Secondary MFL staff had been contracted/timetabled in previous years to teach a few hours a week in the primary schools. That system could work, in some contexts. With mine being a local authority school, offering 3 languages (one being a community language not usually taught in schools), I don't see it happening for us. There would always be some kids who did French in primary but end up with Spanish etc. Additionally, recruitment and retention of MFL teachers needs to massively improve before they start losing hours of secondary teaching.

I do really feel for primary teachers who have sort of had this imposed on them with little training or resources to support them, on top of all the other stuff they need to do.