Wednesday, July 12, 2006

It's over, BH

I'm glad that my ETAI, English Teachers' Association of Israel, Annual Jerusalem Convention presentation is over. This is the first time I was neither confident nor enthusiastic about what I took on. I've presented at least three times before.

My problem is never presenting; I'm good with an audience. It was that this time I committed to present something I thought was needed and not something I knew a lot about. My topic was supposed to be "The Lingo, Hebrew Grammar Terms." I needed to really research it, and I didn't do it well. Also, it's boring, just a list.

I barely slept last night and woke up miserable not my usual hyped up before going "on." Finally, it hit me. I should just announce a change in topic, which I got up the guts to do.

I compared it to the amount of times I rip out sections of hats I'm crocheting. Sometimes if you don't, the hat will be unwearable and that's a bigger waste than unraveling what was already crocheted. That's also a new thing for me. Yes you can teach an old dog new tricks, at least this old dog.

The new topic was: ETAI, Blogging and the Internet Challenge. I wrote an article on the topic for the ETAI Forum, the professional journal of the organization. No false modesty here. It did go over well, and people also took my handouts about the grammar terms.

Everyone was happy, including myself, though I understand that some of the ETAI organizers were a bit nervous.

2 comments:

Wormie said...

Congratulations!!!! Isn't it a wonderful feeling when you trust yourself enough to take a risk and come out on top!!! :-)

Batya said...

Thanks. It is a good feeling. a growth experience