The Interac Experience Part Four – Lesson Planning

Second and third weeks of my first year teaching at a Japanese High School, and it was time to get real. As easy as it was to create an introductory lesson, once it’s time to get down to teaching grammar, vocab and topics, suddenly BANG you are in a different world. In Georgia I had …

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Gateway Countries – Jordan (Middle East)

Welcome to the Middle East! Land of fairy tales and deserts, castles, history, the birth place of a bunch of religions and more. You want to taste the Middle East, but you’re not sure where to start. Egypt seems to be in chaos most of the time these days, Iran can be tricky with visas, …

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Train Journeys – The Ghan (Darwin to Alice Springs)

  Let me tell you folks, there are some amazing train journeys in the world today, but right here in Australia we have a few that rate up there with the best of them. Today I’m talking ‘The Ghan’, a train that runs down the middle of Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. I took it …

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The Interac Experience Part Three- School Begins!

After all was set up for life in Ichinoseki, I had to get ready for school. Except, as I said, there were nearly three weeks before I started, and three weeks before I’d be earning regular money. Coupled with the fact that Interac pays the end of the following month (i.e. march pay comes on …

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Gateway Countries – Sri Lanka

Welcome to a new series of Friday articles which will tide us over for the next four or five weeks until the podcast resumes called ‘Gateway Countries’. People often talk about ‘gateway cities’, a good place to start if you’re going to a new country, one with plenty of transport in and out etc, but …

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Train Journeys – Kolkata to Varanasi

Taking a train in India is an unforgettable and without a doubt, cultural, experience. The stations are bustling places full of life, and you know what? So are the trains themselves. Whilst taking the train in India, I have usually taken second class sleeper where overnight journeys have been concerned. And that has been most …

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A Night Out in Northcote

Last week it was time to hit the town and head out into Melbourne for dinner and a show. Nothing’s better than dinner and a show, right? I was lucky enough to have won two tickets to see ‘Behind the Seams’ at the Wesley Ann in Northcote, featuring two musical acts interspersed with some improvisation. …

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Sunday Spotlight: Lahore

During the week someone lay down the challenge to me to write about Lahore, so here I am responding to the challenge. Now, Pakistan is probably not right at the top of anyone’s travel itinerary right now. It’s not really the safest of countries and hasn’t been for a few years. I went ten years …

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