Productive

Yesterday was busy. Work screwed up my schedule this week, but sort of fixed it. I'm supposed to have the day off so I can tutor my private student before he makes his trip to the US next month. So, instead, they gave me four hours of classes and then I had to rush home to teach for two more. I was exhausted, but ok (I think it helped me sleep a bit).

It was the first time I got to teach the class of Bao'an police officers. I was warned that they weren't responsive in class--well, I got a response. I found that many of them have fairly decent English skills, but they lack an environment to practice. They are disinterested in the material they are supposed to learn. I pretty much threw out the text as it was filled with poor conversations and phrases that no one would ever utter (such as, "He's such a rascal!"). I changed a lot of dialogues around and joked around with them a bit. They all tried to keep me after class to talk some more, but I had to rush out to my next class.

I sloshed through the downpour to teach my private student after I got home and my umbrella did little to keep me dry. I have found that I am making progress with him. Unfortunately, I know he doesn't study much, which is hampering his abilities. However, I have changed a lot in him. When I first taught him, he always used his useless translator for everything and couldn't form a complete sentence. Now, he only uses the translator for single words that he doesn't know how to say or explain and he can speak in complete sentences (although with quite a few errors). It's amazing what I can do with a student whose Chinese English teacher barely speaks English (and yes, I have met his teacher before when I worked at that school). Since I have been teaching him, his test scores at school have doubled--from a 40 to 80. And that's only since April.