Yesterday I found out that not all kids are interested in England and snow and double decker buses. In fact, some of them show very little interest in anything at all.
After an hour and a half confronted by rows of stony faces of children who didn’t want to play, who didn’t want to ask any questions and who, quite frankly, didn’t want English lessons anyway I was just about ready to beat myself to death with a flip flop.
But finally, and only by expending a huge amount of energy in the process, I managed to break the ice and get them talking. I think the turning point was when I told them how small the cockroaches are in England and that we don’t really have mosquitoes. For some reason that seemed to interest those kids far more than us Brits going round roundabouts the wrong way or having a Queen who lives in a palace. And somehow despite feeling exhausted this morning, and despite the fact that my tutor was observing my lessons with the two 'bad' classes, I managed to get though today with far fewer problems. So no death by flip flop for me. Not today anyway.
The adults who I teach taekwondo to on Wednesdays have demanded an extra lesson on Fridays. This came as a surprise to me - I thought I had given an awful lesson on Wednesday after I had a brain freeze and couldn’t remember the first white belt pattern. I think my brain had short-circuited after the confusion of trying to give complicated instructions in French. I assumed everyone would think I was a poor example of a black belt, a terrible teacher and generally a useless person but it seems I was too hard on myself. Or maybe they’re just too forgiving. But the people have spoken so I must teach. I’m sure it will help my French (as well as my fitness!).
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