Intro: Ok, how bad am I? I just came across this blog post see below that I wrote in August just before I went overseas. To maintain some sort of logical I'm going to post that one now and then compose a post overseas round up after that.

So here it is:

It’s almost August and I’m getting excited. Its Tuesday today and on Saturday I am off to Vietnam. I’ll be spending 2 week sight seeing, shopping; sipping cocktails by the pool, learning about a new culture then 2 weeks delivering train the trainer type sessions to university librarians in Saigon. I’ve spend the last weeks thinking about student engagement, motivation and active learning (plus scaffolding, learning outcomes, blended delivery methods) for one session and factors involved with 'Staying current with information literacy' for another session.

Aside from the tasks I need to complete I am also looking forward to gaining a better understanding of the culture and any associated cultural issues. Normally working in a different country would present problems of language (I only speak English) but this campus is English speaking which is great for me but may be quite difficult for the students from all over Asia who’s first language will not generally be English. Overall this will be an excellent opportunity to carry forward some of the knowledge I have gained so far from the teaching and learning certificate I am half way through.

Unfortunately I haven’t yet completed the course ‘Internationalizing the curriculum’. That's happening next February. This experience may provide me with some useful insights to consider.