My first picture of the year is of a small party I put on New Years Day.  Here are all the people who came!

In just a few short hours 2008 will cease to exist and we, here in Europe, will have started a new adventure in 2009.  I have a lot of different plans for 2009, but have decided to first reflect on this blog about this past year.  The only word that can really express how this year was is the word:  WOW!  I had a wonderful year and am looking forward to the next year with anticipation although I'm also taking a huge risk at the same time.  Anyway, since I'm a person who prefers bullet points, here are some of the highlights:

• In January, I joined a course at LANCELOT school to become a certified live online language instructor.  This course exceeded my expectations in so many ways.  I have met people from all over the world who have fast become good friends/colleagues and I have learned a great way to teach live online!
• In June, I started working with the Managing Director of LANCELOT school on finding students for CWC Now, which was a great experience.
• I started acquiring students, live online opportunities which allowed me to achieve an ROI for the LANCELOT course.
• I joined Toastmasters, as planned, and have met a lot of great people.
• In September, the Managing Director of LANCELOT school came to Finland and offered me a job as the Director of Studies starting in January 2009.  I unofficially started in a training capacity as I finished off teaching for AAC Global.  I still have some classes that I will continue in 2009 for AAC, but not many.
• In the fall, I took a bowling course with a friend.  We have now joined a bowling league starting January 2009.
• In October, a good friend of mine from the states came and stayed for three weeks.  I really enjoyed having her here!
• In November, I traveled to Stockholm and met two of my classmates from the LANCELOT course.  It felt like we had known each other for years!
• Throughout the year, I started reconnecting with friends that I hadn't seen or heard from in years through the social site facebook.  The highlight was this week when some of my cousins have joined facebook.  I'm so excited about getting to know them, albeit in a virtual way...

Now on to next year:

• I will be expanding my business in various ways and I have a Finnish lady who will be working with me on marketing, which is exciting for me.
• I will start officially as the Director of Studies at LANCELOT School. 
• I will travel to Pisa, Italy in February for a project meeting related to my new job.
• I will travel to Denver, Colorado in March for the TESOL conference.
• I will travel to Idaho and work from there to reconnect with my family as it has now been 3 1/2 years since I have seen them.
• I will start a bowling league in January, which will allow me to meet more people...
• I might possibly travel to Spain for a conference and to Poland for a conference in the fall, but it will depend on things... like money... hehe 
• My blog will be more active!  Surprise, surprise!  I'm hoping to add a picture a day in 2009...  So, here is the first picture:  I have lived in Finland for ten years now and was telling some students about root beer as it is not sold here--I found it yesterday! YAY!

The least important word:  I
The most important word:  WE
The two most important words:  THANK YOU
The three most important words: ALL IS FORGIVEN.
The four most important words:  WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?
The five most important words:  YOU DID A GOOD JOB.
The six most important words:  I WANT TO UNDERSTAND YOU BETTER.

From the Book Becoming a Person of Influence by John Maxwell & Jim Dornan

Virtual Round Table Invitation

Since the end of the LANCELOT project, the newly developed LANCELOT course has been undertaken 5 times and to date has seen participants from Sweden, Finland, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, China, Japan, the USA, Mexico, Czech Republic, Lettland, Austria, Spain, Ukraine, Argentina, Romania, Egypt, Bulgaria, and Turkey.

This great global community of 'Lancelotters' is a very active community of language teaching professionals and we certainly enjoy each other's company on a unique 24x7 running Skype group chat.

May we invite you all to listen to what LANCELOT is all about?

We will meet for a virtual round table discussion and are looking forward to introducing the 'newbies' to an unusual business model and inform the Lancelotters of two new ways of earning money. We will discuss a career and will also interview some of the Lancelotters on how they find and keep students in cyberspace.

Our next Virtual Round Table Discussions will be:

Monday, 8 December 2008 at 5 PM GMT (German language)
Wednesday, 10 December 2008 at 6 PM GMT (English)
Wednesday, 17 December 2008 at 1:30 PM GMT & 6 PM GMT (English)

If you are interested, but can't make the above meetings--fill out a form and LANCELOT School will contact you.

You can enroll by clicking this link

Realized that I have two blogs and have not been keeping either of them up lately.  Really have no reason why I haven't been... So, for the last several months--I have been up to a lot or very little depending on one's opinion.  Here are some highlights in bullets:

• In September, I was offered and accepted a new job that officially starts in January although I have already started some of the duties.  I am/will be the Director of Studies for LANCELOT School.  LANCELOT School is a training center for language teachers in the use of virtual classroom technology.  I will be in charge of all the learning and teaching activities in the school.  In addition, I will have opportunities to go to conferences and participate in contributing to my discipline.  I am very excited about this new opportunity and the change.
• The next question people ask is:  are you moving?  LANCELOT School is headquartered in Germany, but I will remain in Finland indefinitely.
• One of the main reasons I have decided to stay in Finland is because of my four-legged friend, Alpo... I may leave Finland sometime in the future, but not anytime soon. (Although I was considering it a few weeks ago)
• In October, my friend C came to visit while she was on sabbatical.  It was really nice seeing her.  She was a huge help during a very busy time for me.  She walked Alpo and kept my kitchen clean, which I really appreciated.
• In November, C and I traveled to Stockholm for the weekend as she was flying back to the states on the following Tuesday.  Two of my colleagues and friends from LANCELOT School met us there.  It was really great to see them and to meet them in person.  K. from S. Sweden and V. from Bulgaria.  V. worked really hard to finance the trip to Scandinavia for her and her son and it was really wonderful to meet them.  I look forward to working with both K and V in the future. (see pictures below)
• For my ten year anniversary at AAC Global, I will be taking a weekend trip to a spa in southern Finland.  I'm really looking forward to the break and having the opportunity to spend time in the pools and the saunas.  I think I will even leave my computer at home!
• For my birthday this year, some good friends of mine P & L paid for a bowling course for L and I to take together.  I was eight weeks long and we were able to bowl together every week, which was nice.  This past Thursday, we joined a bowling league which we will start in January.  I'm quite excited about meeting new people through this hobby.
• I'm still involved in Toastmasters although I haven't been able to make it to the meetings as much as I would like. 
• The reason I haven't made it to Toastmasters is that LANCELOT School was asked by a virtual classroom company Elluminate.com to partner with them in some pilot teaching projects in China and in Burkina Faso.  Two LANCELOT trainees and myself have been working on the curriculum and teaching these people.  Both projects are very different and challenging, but quite fun.  Would love to show a screen shot of the Burkina Faso class, but can't for privacy reasons.
• Alpo needs a haircut and a shower--besides that all is fine with him.  I'm looking forward to working more from home so that I don't feel guilty about leaving him in the evening.
• In March, I will be traveling to Denver, Colorado to attend the TESOL conference, which I'm very excited about.  Then I will travel up to Idaho and spend a few weeks with my family.  It is about time since it has been 3 1/2 years...
  

   
C and I in front of the Palace in Stockholm

The three Lancelotters meet:  K who teaches English, Swedish & French and V. who teaches English & Bulgarian and then of course me who teaches just English

C, V's son, K & myself

This is us posing in front of the restaurant we went to twice.  First for lunch and then we stopped later for Swedish waffles.  The owner was just closing down, but let us come in because we had already been there that day.  He was really nice and came out and posed with us.  If you are ever in Stockholm, be sure to go to this restaurant--it is on the same island as many of the museums such as the Vasa museum.

The second year of the ICC certified LANCELOT course will start in January 2009 and we warmly invite you to consider getting certified. Four months, a total of 120 hours, of which we spend together 26h in groups sessions, 26 hours in peer-to-peer work, 72 hours creating teaching and learning material, slides, podcasts, surveys and reflective writing for the portfolio, then the 20min live online assessment, a lesson plan and in the end a certificate as a LANCELOT trainer.

The question is, what do I learn in 4 months? Why so long? How do I fit this into my busy daily schedule? How much do I need to learn each week? What prerequisites are there for the course? How much does it cost?

...and then....

Can I really work as a live online language trainer after wards? What does this certificate stand for? What can I do with it? Is there a demand on the market for live online language learning? Will I see a 'return on my investment'?

... we also ask these questions ...

What is so special about teaching live online? Can not everybody with a Skype account teach? Where is the future of live online language learning? Does this complement or replace 'classical' e-learning?

We would really like to answer these questions for you. We have regularly scheduled Virtual Round Tables. Would you be interested in attending? If so, register and we will contact you with further information.

REGISTRATION
To reserve a virtual seat for a Virtual Round Table and have these questions answered, please register at http://www.lancelot.at/registration.html

  I've always said that if I return to the states that I would move to Boston and when I took this test today and it said that the city that fits me is Boston that maybe it really is time... what do you think?