I completed the Spanish MOOC about two/three weeks ago - that was pretty good. I miss the daily discipline of working through Spanish, listening to videos and spoken content and building my vocabulary. For this reason alone I'm thinking of signing up for the next level, which started this week. Only $29.
The English writing course wasn't as intensive and this one wrapped up last week, while I was away. With little (very little, not even a stable EDGE connection) to no internet, I just gave up on trying to connect and missed the final submission deadline. This was a seriously large MOOC with pages and pages and pages of a 'discussion forum' - they lost me on this one. I did what was needed but didn't get too involved. Some of the content of the course was really good but overall it was quite dull.
My new course is Think101x: The Science of everyday thinking. It's on EdX and offered by the University of Queensland. Also not too intensive (1-2hrs/week) and it looks to be very interesting and with super guests, including those guys from Myth Busters and other. It runs over 12 weeks and you can still sign up if you're interested.
Thursday, 6 March 2014
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Fabulous Forest Run
Forest Run went very well on Saturday and we were blessed with superb weather - a light drizzle only came down after the runners were in (it did catch Sarah and Michael who were sweeping the last section of the course).
It was a small field with a total of 51 runners (eight people didn't make it on the day). You'll find my race report on the Forest Run website.
My days spent route tagging went very smoothly because of the grass cutting we did the week before. Nonetheless the days were long and I spent a good 11hrs on my feet on Wednesday and Thursday, putting in around another 6hrs on Tuesday and Friday out on the course.
I took my bike out on the Tuesday to mark the route but I definitely prefer being on foot, especially when I need to put out boards and droppers. I worked out too that I covered around 80-kilometres in marking the route. I do it in chunks and sometimes it takes me 5-6km to get back to where I've left my car after completing sections.
The photos from the run are magnificent. While I enjoy the ones of the runners, I'm besotted with the beautiful images of the forest.
I'd roped in Marcel Sigg and Margueriethe 'Maggi' van Rhyn to take photographs. And what a wonderful collection they have created.
Zelda Coetzee was a marshal last year, stepping in at the last minute to fill in for the booked photographer when he couldn't make it. This year she was determined to run but battling with ITB she had an op only a few weeks before Forest Run. As her husband, Johann, was marshalling, she too jumped in to assist - and take photographs at her spots.
You can find all of the photos in the albums on the Forest Run Facebook page.
I've pulled off a number of images by Marcel, Maggi and Zelda to show you. Goodness, I do indeed love this forest.
It was a small field with a total of 51 runners (eight people didn't make it on the day). You'll find my race report on the Forest Run website.
My days spent route tagging went very smoothly because of the grass cutting we did the week before. Nonetheless the days were long and I spent a good 11hrs on my feet on Wednesday and Thursday, putting in around another 6hrs on Tuesday and Friday out on the course.
I took my bike out on the Tuesday to mark the route but I definitely prefer being on foot, especially when I need to put out boards and droppers. I worked out too that I covered around 80-kilometres in marking the route. I do it in chunks and sometimes it takes me 5-6km to get back to where I've left my car after completing sections.
The photos from the run are magnificent. While I enjoy the ones of the runners, I'm besotted with the beautiful images of the forest.
I'd roped in Marcel Sigg and Margueriethe 'Maggi' van Rhyn to take photographs. And what a wonderful collection they have created.
Zelda Coetzee was a marshal last year, stepping in at the last minute to fill in for the booked photographer when he couldn't make it. This year she was determined to run but battling with ITB she had an op only a few weeks before Forest Run. As her husband, Johann, was marshalling, she too jumped in to assist - and take photographs at her spots.
You can find all of the photos in the albums on the Forest Run Facebook page.
I've pulled off a number of images by Marcel, Maggi and Zelda to show you. Goodness, I do indeed love this forest.
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| The start - from outside Lakenvlei Forest Lodge. |
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| Runners at the start heading out from Lakenvlei. 7am. |
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| There are horses at Lakenvlei that roam around when they're not taking people for rides. |
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| There are a few places on the route with these beautiful forested 'avenues'. They're my favourite sections and seem to have been loved by the runners. |
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| Photographer fairy - Maggi |
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| Colourful flag bunting at Waterpoint #2 - the halfway feed station. |
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| What a spread! Treats at the 24km Waterpoint #2. Eggie mayo sandwiches won hands-down again. |
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| This is a lovely section with forest on the runners' right and Bass Dam on their left. |
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| Bass Dam. |
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| My plastic duck - keeping watch. |
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| The only place on the course where you get your feet wet - at around 25km. It's a low-level bridge. |
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| Fabulous helper Staci walking back with the chair and umbrella from the route split section. Staci assisted with catering and manned Waterpoint #2 and she swept the last few kilometres of the 35km course with Sue. |
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| Colourful ball decorations hanging in the trees at Waterpoint #3 (only on 62km course) |
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| Windmills for decorations at Waterpoint #4 (only 62km course) |
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| Windmills on the approach to Waterpoint #3 (only 62km course) |
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| No medals or dust-collecting trophies at Forest Run. Plants instead. This year, a sun-or-shade forest grass. It gets pretty little white flowers. |
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| Michael and Sarah at Waterpoint #1. They were also at Waterpoint #4 and they swept the route from #4 to the end. I'm very fortunate to have a wonderful team of on-the-day helpers. |
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| With Sue (sweeper on the route from start to end of 35km route) and Liz, my mom (catering and waterpoint #2) |
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| Dress-up is another fun part of Forest Run. I'm the green Forest Fairy; Zelda is the pink fairy ;) |
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| At Waterpoint #2 - Johann (Zelda's husband) and Zelda. Staci is watching their antics. |
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| Photographer Marcel (blue wig) with Sarah B. and Duncan at Waterpoint #3. |
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| A section named by Marcel and Maggi as 'The Enchanted Forest' - they're so right. One of the runners, Hein Koch from Middelburg, said that he'd email me with some names for the hills on the route... I think Marcel and Maggi have got a jump on the naming process with this one. |
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| Wild, colourful dahlias, little yellow flowers... this place is beautiful. |
Sunday, 23 February 2014
Forest Run - grass cutting and tractor riding
I had an excellent two days out at Lakenvlei on Wednesday and Thursday last week for one part of the big preparations for this coming weekend's Forest Run (Sat, 1 March). It's a forested ultra with 35km and 62km routes.
Komatiland Forests, owners of the plantation, have been absolutely awesome this year and they have slashe the grass on many of the tracks that I use for the race. Between my scouting visits in November and the event in March, the grass grows from ankle height to eyeball height - it's really crazy in places. And because the grass gets so long you can't see your feet - nor the track below. Now it is all beautiful and race-ready.
Together with Amos, driving the tractor, we slashed more than half of the route on Thursday; he completed the rest on Friday.
I've got Orienteering Schools League tomorrow (Monday) and then I'm off early on Tuesday morning to begin tagging the route. It's a lengthy - but enjoyable - manual process that takes a few days. I hope to be done with the tagging on Thursday morning so that I can focus on droppers and sign boards the same day and then have Friday for prepping the waterpoints. My helpful team (catering, medics, photographers, marshals, sweepers) come through on Friday evening and we'll be ready to roll on Saturday morning.
Some pics from my grass cutting adventure...
Komatiland Forests, owners of the plantation, have been absolutely awesome this year and they have slashe the grass on many of the tracks that I use for the race. Between my scouting visits in November and the event in March, the grass grows from ankle height to eyeball height - it's really crazy in places. And because the grass gets so long you can't see your feet - nor the track below. Now it is all beautiful and race-ready.
Together with Amos, driving the tractor, we slashed more than half of the route on Thursday; he completed the rest on Friday.
I've got Orienteering Schools League tomorrow (Monday) and then I'm off early on Tuesday morning to begin tagging the route. It's a lengthy - but enjoyable - manual process that takes a few days. I hope to be done with the tagging on Thursday morning so that I can focus on droppers and sign boards the same day and then have Friday for prepping the waterpoints. My helpful team (catering, medics, photographers, marshals, sweepers) come through on Friday evening and we'll be ready to roll on Saturday morning.
Some pics from my grass cutting adventure...
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| Before... looking ahead in the direction of running (the faint tracks you can see in the grass - that's where we drove through in a bakkie that morning). After... turning around to look back. Amazing! |
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| Although I mostly walked ahead of the tractor, I did get in a few rides on sections that we were not cutting. Tractors are super cool. |
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Spanish MOOC - done!
Last night (strictly speaking 1am would be 'this morning') I completed the Spanish MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) that I've been doing for the past few weeks. Although the course was spaced over four weeks, we had an additional week (just less) to complete all the content - I got a bit behind in the last week and a bit so this was really needed.
The teaching methodology applied was quite different to what I've experienced before, which is why I wanted to do it.
Our teacher, Scott Rapp (American), uses mostly music videos - Shakira, Enrique, other Spanish artists and - my favourite - children's songs - to improve listening skills, reading and word recognition. Activities based around the video include clicking on the correct word when it is said/sung (while reading the lyrics with words missing) and variations on the gap-fill type of activities (text, no video) plus some verb conjugation and practice of pronoun (including reflexive, possessive as well as direct and indirect object) use. These can be challenging to use in practice even if you know them in theory.
Even though this was a beginner course and I've had some Spanish experience, I still most definitely benefited from the repetition of words (improved familiarity and recall), learning new words (expanding vocab), putting into practice grammatical things that I know in theory but have not applied much and also the discipline of working on my lessons almost every day. I also enjoyed the Google Hangout sessions, where you talk to other people on the course and use your Spanish on them - and they on you.
I dropped Scott a note last night thanking him for the course and directing him to some super music videos he may like to use - from my favourite group "No te van gustar". He responded promptly. I've also been curious as to how a person with absolutely no experience would fare as their learning curve would have been far steeper than mine. He says that total beginners score above 93% on the questions presented - so they're recognising and selecting the correct options.
This course has been free and there are other levels that can be done for a really minimal fee (I think about $29). I'm not up for it at the moment as I've got the other MOOC course starting next month; but I may consider it for later. There's never enough opportunity for practice and this course keeps me working away to expanding my vocabulary, spoken abilities and experience.
If you have any interest in learning Spanish, it's well worth a try. The course is called Spanish Basics I and it is on instreamia.com.
This is my favourite of the music videos... It's about a snake from a hot place and people think he's crazy because he likes to eat bananas with hot water. One day he goes to a cold place. When he smiles you can see his teeth. He wants to get a hairstyle so he goes to a hair salon but he doesn't have a hair on his head so a hairstyle is not possible. Then then he goes to a shoe shop to buy shoes... but he doesn't have any feet so he ends up not buying anything. Totally silly, but very sweet.
The teaching methodology applied was quite different to what I've experienced before, which is why I wanted to do it.
Our teacher, Scott Rapp (American), uses mostly music videos - Shakira, Enrique, other Spanish artists and - my favourite - children's songs - to improve listening skills, reading and word recognition. Activities based around the video include clicking on the correct word when it is said/sung (while reading the lyrics with words missing) and variations on the gap-fill type of activities (text, no video) plus some verb conjugation and practice of pronoun (including reflexive, possessive as well as direct and indirect object) use. These can be challenging to use in practice even if you know them in theory.
Even though this was a beginner course and I've had some Spanish experience, I still most definitely benefited from the repetition of words (improved familiarity and recall), learning new words (expanding vocab), putting into practice grammatical things that I know in theory but have not applied much and also the discipline of working on my lessons almost every day. I also enjoyed the Google Hangout sessions, where you talk to other people on the course and use your Spanish on them - and they on you.
I dropped Scott a note last night thanking him for the course and directing him to some super music videos he may like to use - from my favourite group "No te van gustar". He responded promptly. I've also been curious as to how a person with absolutely no experience would fare as their learning curve would have been far steeper than mine. He says that total beginners score above 93% on the questions presented - so they're recognising and selecting the correct options.
This course has been free and there are other levels that can be done for a really minimal fee (I think about $29). I'm not up for it at the moment as I've got the other MOOC course starting next month; but I may consider it for later. There's never enough opportunity for practice and this course keeps me working away to expanding my vocabulary, spoken abilities and experience.
If you have any interest in learning Spanish, it's well worth a try. The course is called Spanish Basics I and it is on instreamia.com.
This is my favourite of the music videos... It's about a snake from a hot place and people think he's crazy because he likes to eat bananas with hot water. One day he goes to a cold place. When he smiles you can see his teeth. He wants to get a hairstyle so he goes to a hair salon but he doesn't have a hair on his head so a hairstyle is not possible. Then then he goes to a shoe shop to buy shoes... but he doesn't have any feet so he ends up not buying anything. Totally silly, but very sweet.
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