I have decided I am not cut out for working. My soul is too sensitive. I have been tutoring for about six-ish months now and so far haven't had any criticism which means I am very lucky, I suppose, when you consider that I am tutoring kids with competitive parents who like to bargain. Today after I finished tutoring two girls aged 10 and 11, their mother said that she wants much more conversation and less grammar in the classes and that the older one finds it a bit boring because we don't spend as much time on conversation as she would like. She said this in the nicest possible way but I still find it very depressing to be criticised. I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Perhaps I should avoid politics as a career.
The thing is, the major problem I see with these particular kids' speech is that they make heaps of mistakes in their really basic English grammar, although they have a large vocabulary. Obviously, they haven't been properly taught the simplest verbs, like "I am" as opposed to "I is", or at least, they haven't remembered them very well. So even though we don't focus on grammar in our classes, I always slip some in when I correct them, because it is always their basic grammar that is wrong. It sometimes really annoys me how mothers have these opinions about what it is best for their child to learn and how. I guess that is the occupational hazard of ESL teaching.
Anyway (excuse the rant), I've decided that maybe I should win Lotto, be given a large inheritance from someone I've never heard of before, find a sugar daddy, or become a housewife, because I hate criticism, and it seems to me that whatever line of work I choose for my career, I'm going to have to face it.
Isn't it just my luck that the thing I really want to be is an author, and criticism is probably one of the main five points in the job description for that.
2 comments:
Poor Allie. If it makes you feel any better, I too lack a thick skin. Maybe they sell them on e-bay and we can get good bargains.
As for the grammar thing, isn't that a common problem with learning another language? Vocabulary is easy to pick up, but people tend to revert to the grammar of their native language? My father has lived in the US for about 40 years now, and to this day, he hasn't picked up on the usefulness of the word "don't," preferring to say things like, "I no want."
If you find a sugar daddy, make sure he's willing to fund a European trip. You know which trip I refer to :)
Yes, grammar isn't always the most important thing in terms of communicating, which these girls are actually quite good at when speaking. They're going to go through high school here, though, maybe university too and writing is so important then. I'm sure they will pick up the simplest verbs gradually by osmosis but at the moment they seem to be forming habits of doing it the wrong way for English.
Argh! Just read that! Ignore it all! I need to get a new job :)
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