Last day off

Last day before I go back to work full-time so I thought I'd roam the city and take pictures in my free time. I decided to take in different places throughout Thessaloniki.

Abandoned

Abandoned, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Taken from the top floor of a deserted tobacco warehouse on the west side of the city. Strangely, the place still smelt strongly of tobacco even though it must have been abandoned for years.

Luckily, I went there before I watched I am Legend otherwise there is no way I'd enter a dark gloomy building full of shadows and who knows what.

Feeling Good

Feeling Good, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Reeds driftin on by you know how I feel

(refrain:)
Its a new dawn
Its a new day
Its a new life
For me
And Im feeling good

Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom in the tree you know how I feel

(refrain)

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, dont you know
Butterflies all havin fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
Thats what I mean

And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel"

Feeling Good by Nina Simone

Helping out

I got the chance to help someone yesterday. While buying bread in the centre I bumped into Manolis, who I often see busking in Aristotelous Square. We always chat and catch up on our news. Unfortunately, after 10 years residence in Greece he was served with a notice telling him that he had 30 days to quit the country. As you can imagine the man was gutted and at a loss as to what to do. He has no money to hire a lawyer to fight this decision and without his papers he becomes a non - person unable to earn a living, living in fear of every cop or official who crosses his path.

Luckily, I was able to put him contact with a lawyer friend who specialises in such cases and a after a couple of calls later we were able to pop by his office and at least see if his case could be contested.

Dude by Minas

, originally uploaded by minas_of_the_north.

One of great things about meeting up with other Flickr users such as Fragitsa and Minas is that you can talk about pictures, photographers and influences to your heart's content knowing that the others are not going to enter glazed eye mode within 30 seconds.

The other advantage is that you can take endless pictures of each other without annoying the others. Geeky? Nerdy? Absolutely. But when you see results like this by Minas then who cares what others think.

Minas - at least that's what he told us

Minas, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Minas and Fragitsa

Last night I had the chance to go out and have a great time with Minas and Fragitsa, both of whom are wonderful photographers. It was great being able to chat about life, photography and Czech beer.

Minas - www.flickr.com/photos/minas_papadopoulos/

Fragitsa - www.flickr.com/photos/fragitsa/

Any similarity between this and Minas's work is purely intentional.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Charles Caleb Colton

Happy 2008

I hope that those of you celebrated New Year had a great time. I certainly did, surrounded by friends, eating and drinking to my heart's content. A few images from then, then.

Animoto

Video by Animoto, music by Adam Burns - Master Criminal. Photos by Teacher Dude.

On Ermou St.

, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Using VoiceThread.- My year in twelve pictures

Sorry about the repetition but since I've got some time off I've been trying out various web tools connected with blogging. I think that VoiceThread is an interesting alternative to the traditional essay format. It allows EFL/ESL students to practice speaking skills.

My year in twelve pictures.

Zero Seven in 30

Made using Animoto video player. I'd like to thank Langwitches for putting me onto this. The only drawback is that you are limited to 30 second videos on the free edition. Still, it produces great results.

Music is Finally by The Sunday Runners

A taste of '07

Happy Christmas - Καλα Χριστουγεννα

Happy Christmas - Καλα Χριστουγεννα, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

I wish all my friends who celebrate Christmas a wonderful time.

Καλες γιορτες σε ολους.

Craig

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Christmas Eve shopping

Christmas Eve shopping, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

I popped into the centre to get Lydia's Xmas presents and whilst walking through the streets took the opportunity to grab a few shots. Call me cynical but it seemed that the whole place was full of people trying desperately to get shoppers to part with cash be it the form of charity, begging or ridiculous consumption.

Maybe the Puritans were right after all?

Damien Hirst seeks alternative employment - All reasonable offers

Damien Hirst seeks alternative employment - All reasonable offers considered., originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Time has not been kind to Damien Hirst. The once Wunderkind of the British art scene has been forced to seek alternative employment.

Nasia and Lydia

Nasia and Lydia, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Last night was spent goofing around and having fun. Luckily, Lydia still has friends in the neighbourhood to play with. Tomorrow she is off out singing carols with Efi and Goirgos

Blogging as memory

I suppose this blog, is like most others is a kind of diary. Saying that though it still seems strange looking back as I just did just now at what I was doing at the beginning of the year. I looked at the pictures, videos and posts and it seems as if it was a decade ago. So much has happened since that I find it hard, at first, to connect with those past moments. Thankfully, I recorded them so I guess I have the chance to remember once again what I was doing on that particular day. Is it me or is time is just racing by so quickly it seems like a blur?

"Get your dirty hands off our comrades."

"Get your dirty hands off our comrades.", originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Kubrick's orange

Kubrick's orange, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Also available in Myspace

Using Kantalk

One of the biggest difficulties facing studentslearning English in a country where English is not spoken as a first language is that they do not usually have chances to practice outside the classroom. Thankfully, the internet now allows us to overcome this obstacle. Applications such as Skype, MSN Chat and Yahoo Messsenger now incorporate phone style communication. Kantalk takes this one step further by allowing language learners to get together and communicate in the language they wish to practice.

I remember me and David, the founder of Kantalk talked about how this could be used in language learning and I expressed the concern that getting complete strangers to chat at length is a bit difficult. I thought that the service would work better if people could talk about a particular topic or theme.

Now Kantalk has introduced an extra service in which anyone can invite others to follow a lesson plan. If you are feeling creative then why not add your one of your own? I added this one earlier today based on something I posted on the blog.

Santa Claus and his cups

Santa Claus and his cups, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Today was Lydia's last day at school before the they closed for the Christmas holidays and the kids put on a show for the parents. As you can see father Christmas was there handing out...cups? Oh well, it's the thought that counts.

Dude

Dude, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Sea

sea, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

The strange thing about the sea here is that every single day I pass by the light and the colours are different. There is always something worth photographing.

Lost and forgotten

Lost and forgotten, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Found in a semi - abandoned building in the centre. The whole thing reminded me of Bladerunner.

Christmas came early for some,

Christmas came early for some,, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Thessaloniki Super Mare

, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Snowing

Snowing, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Yesterday was a slow, lazy day so I just took this from my balcony

Talks James Nachtwey: TED Prize wish: Share a vital story with the world

"Accepting his 2007 TED Prize, photojournalist James Nachtwey talks about his decades as a war photographer. A slideshow of his photos, beginning in 1981 in Northern Ireland, reveal two parallel themes in his work. First, as he says: "The frontlines of contemporary wars are right where people live." Street violence, famine, disease: he has photographed all these modern WMDs. Second, when a photo catches the world's attention, it can truly drive action and change. In his TED wish, he asks for help gaining access to a story that needs to be told, and developing a new, digital way to show these photos to the world."



http://www.ted.com/index.php/pages/view/id/105

Indifference is this year's black.

Indifference is this year's black., originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Taken on Egnatia Street. Yesterday.

Lost friend.

Top

Stephen and Richard

Bottom

Stephen, Richard, Tony and Kelly

Yesterday I I heard of the sudden death of a school friend of mine, Richard. I don't think I have fully got my head around the idea yet and I still feel numb. Although we hadn't been in contact for a long time he was one of the most important figures in my teens as he, along with Tony, Steve, Mike we're all close friends.

Indeed without these people I think that there would have been little chance of me having ever reached university. We all went to a school where such aspirations were not encouraged. Had it not been for the example of Richard and the others who made being good at school something acceptable I doubt I would have been able to overcome the peer pressure that led most kids to drop out at 16.

What I remember most about Richard was his intelligence. Not so much fierce as positively ferocious. He was able to shine at just about anything he chose to do that in turn led him to a very independent, sometimes infuriating single - mindedness.

After we finished university and I came to Greece we gradually lost contact and news from and about him grew scarcer and scarcer. I'm just so mad that I had to wait for an event like this to find out more about what he had been doing.

The city stopped

Yesterday there were massive demonstrations and strikes throughout Greece as people protested against proposed government changes to the state pension system. Thessaloniki was no exception as one of the biggest marches I ever seen snaked it's way around the centre of the city.

Protest march in Thessaloniki

All photos by Teacher Dude

Today there were massive demonstrations and strikes throughout Greece as people protested against proposed government changes to the state pension system (see here in Greek and here in English). Thessaloniki was no exception as one of the biggest marches I ever seen snaked it's way around the centre of the city.

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Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?"

Lord of the Flies

Modiano market

, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

This is the kind of photography I enjoy doing most. Blending into a crowd, trying to become invisible to the people passing by me. Trying, as far as possible for 6 foot (1.80m) SLR carrying foreigner to not to be noticed.

Lydia learning

, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

This week we worked on our news presentation skills. Actually, it was her idea. And I thought that this would be a great way to practice our language skills by reading out the news.

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Taking pictures

Photo by Teacher Dude

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At night in the market

, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

I had a spare half hour between lessons so I decided to wander down to the Modiano market which was still open at 8pm.

Sit, Spot, sit..

One man and his dog, Spot., originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

In the city

, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Funfair

, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Stuff for your blog

Today I came across two interesting widgets/sites that could prove very useful in teaching EFL/ESL. Thanks to Theodora, I found out about Snapvine's nifty little application which allows you add voice/video to your blog. A great idea for those students whose typing skills are weak or who hate writing in general. You can even start a video/voice blog.

The other application is Voicethread which also allows you to add the spoken word to your blog. I haven't tried it out yet but it looks very interesting and beautifully designed. Thanks to Joe Dale for that. As he says;

"Jo Rhys-Jones creator of the Ning network Talkabout Primary MFL has written a great post on ideas for using VoiceThread for teaching primary languages which beautifully exemplifies some of the potential of this powerful tool.

e.g.

• using the doodler feature to label, annotate, trace a route on a town plan and play games such as noughts and crosses
• differentiating according to ability
• encouraging independent work in the target language
• reinforcing adjectival agreement
• creating evidence of pupils' work
• engaging pupils with technology
• encouraging pupils to leave comments in a moderated environment
• singing a rhyme using a picture prompt
• using authentic digital photos from the country whose language you are learning
• as a prompt for discussion
• describing the weather using an authentic image from the net
• creating a dialogue or open ended text from a picture prompt
• inviting your partner school to comment on a protected VoiceThread
• letting pupils choose the images that appear in the VoiceThread
• scanning in or photographing images pupils create themselves."

Crazy horse

Crazy horse, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Healing

Healing, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

An X-ray of the shoulder that was dislocated during the unprovoked attack by the MAT (Greek riot police). Thankfully, now back in its right place. I had this taken a week or so ago to check that everything was OK

.

Portraits

Luckily, I have somebody to practice taking pictures of. Namely, my daughter , Lydia. Though as you saw previously, even she has her limits. Made with Flickr Toys.

That'll teach you.

That'll teach you., originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Lydia thought that this would make for a good image. I have to say I agree. She has a good eye, not to mention a good left hook.

Memories of summer

Memories of summer, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Taken at the Bristol Urban Beach in summer. I was just revisiting some old shots to practice my processing skills.