I don’t know where the weeks are going this year…but apparently it’s now over a month since I updated my blog, which is very bad! It’s not that I don’t have any news, but I seem to have been doing a lot of projects for competitions and future magazine issues that I can’t share with anyone just yet…secrets! On the plus side, this does suggest that I will have plenty to share with you all in a few months’ time!
I have, though, just achieved a bit of a personal goal. Last week I completed a City and Guilds course learning how to teach adults. I had two reasons for taking this course: I wanted to improve my teaching skills and gain the confidence that I am doing the right thing, but the course also required me to commit to attending weekly classes, which is a commitment I haven’t been able to make since I was diagnosed with the ME. I thought I was feeling strong enough and had sufficient control of the illness to make that commitment, but it’s always a risk until I try it. I have surprised myself with how well I did manage to cope. It has been an interesting experience going ‘back to school’ as an adult: I met some very lovely people, all teaching a huge range of different subjects. That made it a very different experience from school first time around: everyone was there because they wanted to learn and not because they had to be. It was also a huge challenge – I haven’t written an essay for over twelve years and there has been a whole new set of acronyms and jargon to learn. Thankfully everyone else was in the same position, so we soon developed a sense of working as a group and helping one another. This also has been a great experience for me as I have felt the ME can be rather isolating and it has felt good to become part of a group again. I didn’t expect to feel so sad that the course had ended, but hopefully we will all stay in touch and continue to support one another as we all move forward in our different teaching experiences. I’m proud to have achieved a useful qualification and I would definitely recommend adult learning, whatever the course, to anyone – it’s not just about gaining a new skill and some confidence, but it can also be a great social experience.
Speaking of teaching experiences, I had a wonderful time last weekend teaching seven lovely ladies how to make some French Beaded Flowers. The photo on this blog shows you some of their achievements. We all had a great time and I’m looking forward to sharing this craft with more people at the Big Bead Show in April and again at GJ Beads in June.
So, time for the celebration…Saturday 23rd March I will be taking part in a special craft event. Saturday Sequins is organising an online book promotion for self-published books across all crafts. This set me to thinking about how much the internet has changed the world for individuals with a craft or skill they want to share. Just two decades ago, this would have been impossible, now there is a whole world of possibility open to anyone who wants to use it. The media may focus on the abuse that the internet can allow, but it is also a place where we can share and learn about things that would never normally enter our lives and it is those benefits that make the internet worthwhile and keeps it growing. So do please check out the promotion on Saturday, not only for my own Sweet Treats, but for a whole range of wonderful books across all crafts…and please share this with your ‘crafty’ friends! Thank you.
