York Language Tuition - my new website

For my birthday this year, Kate and Kev said they'd do a website for me for York Language Tuition so I could start to promote my services as a teacher of English as a second/foreign language. Now it's nearly there I'm getting so excited. I've really had a buzz out of the teaching I've done so far, since finishing the CELTA course and can't wait to do more. I would have enjoyed the teaching on the course much more if it hadn't been for the terror of being assessed!

The starting point for the website was discussions with Kate and Kev - http://www.byitsizepro.co.uk/ -trying to work out what I wanted and what was most important. They listened, they asked lots of questions and really made me think about what I planned to do. They're certainly more than just website designers as they have a good grasp of business issues too. Gradually it began to take shape and they asked more questions, asked me for little chunks of wording to go into the different sections (or pages). We talked about colour and design and they got me looking at other websites to get an idea of things I liked and didn't like: I found that really useful.

Now I'm getting impatient to see the finished product (or nearly finished product) as well as wondering whether I'll get any teaching from it over the next year. I'll update this as soon as the website is available for me to see.
12th November
Well, it's really live now - put a link on facebook and some really positive comments - Kev and Kate, you have done such a fantastic job and whatever the outcome for York Language Tuition, I hope it brings you in some websites to do. Anyone coming to you for their website will get first class, professional results. http://www.yorklanguagetuition.co.uk/
Also has separate email address: info@yorklanguagetuition.co.uk

Over one year on and in some ways not much has happened. I've had quite a bit of teaching over the spring and summer - mainly groups of French and Czech teenagers and have also picked up some one to one work. I really enjoyed working with a Japanese mature student through the summer. He really just wanted to improve his English conversation. At the moment I have one person from Poland who has lived here for 5 years but now wishes to focus on improving her English with a view to improving her job prospects, as well as improving her conversation skills for social purposes. I find one to one teaching interesting in many ways and quite different challenges are presenting themselves each week. I'm now getting Kate's help (www.byitsizepro.co.uk ) to find ways of sourcing more students through my website at www.yorklanguagetuition.co.uk

Dog attacks - what can be done?

Day after day I read in the papers or hear on the news about someone being attacked by a dog. Headline news, even for what may be deemed 'minor injuries' (they won't seem minor to the person who was attacked of course). How do I feel about all of this? Mixed reactions:

• sometimes upset - it's always an extra reminder
• occasionally a sort of hurt feeling - was mine so trivial it didn't ever get a mention? I know it wasn't at all trivial and I know I didn't want any publicity.
• very often angry that it keeps happening
• and angry that the dog that attacked me is still there, able to and likely to attack again. I do react differently to hearing that 'the dog has been destroyed' or to no mention of what has happened. Upset when the dog is destroyed because it's usually caused by lack of training so it's sad but aware that it should be the only outcome. When I hear no news of the outcome for the dog I wonder why and wonder how the victim of the attack is feeling.

So what should happen? I really don't have an answer to this one except that after any unprovoked attack and probably after any attack, the dog should be put down. The alternative is to risk it happening again.

Should we be bringing back dog licensing - not at a cost that will cause problems for existing owners who would struggle to pay a big fee, but an amount that will at least cover not just the cost of providing the licenses but at enough to cover the costs of monitoring dog ownership. This might require an increase in the number of dog wardens and it might of course result, in the short term, in more abandoned dogs. I'd suggest phasing the licence fees in - starting at a lowish level but increasing over a 10 year period. Perhaps pensioners could be exempt.

Licensing the dogs could be a bureaucratic nightmare but I can't see why this task can't be undertaken by the dog wardens. As well as have to buy the license, individual dogs should all be checked - this is where the nightmare starts I fear! There should also be a requirement for all dogs to be micro-chipped.

Some action also needs to be taken to prevent irresponsible breeding. I don't want to go into detail about some of the situations we came across when delivering pet food but it made me aware that it's not just the 'commercial breeders' who are likely to produce unhealthy and potentially dangerous dogs.

What does upset me and make me angry is that no-one really seems to care enough to do anything. When my attack was first reported to the police and we get a reaction of "it's unlikely anything will be done", what hope is there? When the magistrate in the case of the dog that attacked me can simply say 'keep the dog under proper control in future' what hope is there? When I'm told by the criminal injuries compensation board that I'm not entitled to anything because no crime has been committed, what hope is there?

It may be a battle I should take on but I don't have the strength - it has been bad enough, and still is, dealing with my own situation and all the correspondence from the solicitor, victim support (waste of time), criminal injuries compensation board (see above for another waste of time), reports for the police, visits to independent consultants re the insurance claim etc etc etc. All the way through, I think I've hoped someone else would take on some of my battle for me, that maybe someone would have questioned the magistrate who made that stupid, irresponsible decision and conveyed to the dog owner, the full extent of my injuries.

But I still love dogs in general and of course my own two gentle monsters in particular.