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I'm a bad person. I can't stand tutoring the foreign students anymore. Nearly all of the students I tutor are from Asia, and I have a great respect for them because they're here. You can damn well bet I'd never go to China or Japan or Korea to live for a year and study because it's scary and I don't the language and I'm a coward. Well I imagine coming to America when you barely know the language and don't know anybody is scary too. So I'm impressed. While I'm cowering in my little University, they're out, seeing the world and doing things.
But I just can't stand to tutor them anymore.
It's not their fault they're not proficient in the language.And they'll probably forget more about English than I will ever know of Korean, Taiwanese, etc. They take classes in English and live in a world now that doesn't even know what country they're from. I certainly don't. I never ask and I can't tell just by looking.
But my patience...my patience is gone. They come to me with vague assignments and problems. I have a hard time understanding anybody when they talk to me--it's hard to concentrate and focus on the words. It's twice as difficult when a person speaks heavily accented, broken English. They also assume I know everything about their class and their professors and if they tell me they need to "make a connection" enough, I'll understand what the professor wants. And I don't. I barely understand what my professors want from me--how can I piece together what an ECBU 500 ESL professor wants from hre students when I'm hearing second-hand from them?
And how do you tutor somebody who needs to be tutored in everything? I'm not a professor. I'm not with these students several hours a week. I meet with him for maybe an hour once a week, and they have a few local questions that in the grand scheme of things don't matter. Yeah, you'll look great if you can correctly use "which" and "that" but if you can barely talk to me and communicate in any meaningful way, "which" and "that" won't make that big of difference.
I think I should be better with them. I think I shouldn't be so frustrated I just want to walk away. I think I should work with them with a smile, even if they're driving me bug-shagging crazy. Because they aren't doing anything wrong. I'm just a short-tempered bitch. And I can't say "I won't work with foreign business students anymore." That's not the way it works here. I'm an English tutor, so I tutor anybody who needs help with English, regardless of class status, where they're from, or what they need. And for the most part, I enjoy it. The money and hours suck, so I'm not doing this to get rich.
I just wish I had the natural talent and patience that a few of my co-tutors have to deal with these students in a polite, efficient, educational manner.
But I just can't stand to tutor them anymore.
It's not their fault they're not proficient in the language.And they'll probably forget more about English than I will ever know of Korean, Taiwanese, etc. They take classes in English and live in a world now that doesn't even know what country they're from. I certainly don't. I never ask and I can't tell just by looking.
But my patience...my patience is gone. They come to me with vague assignments and problems. I have a hard time understanding anybody when they talk to me--it's hard to concentrate and focus on the words. It's twice as difficult when a person speaks heavily accented, broken English. They also assume I know everything about their class and their professors and if they tell me they need to "make a connection" enough, I'll understand what the professor wants. And I don't. I barely understand what my professors want from me--how can I piece together what an ECBU 500 ESL professor wants from hre students when I'm hearing second-hand from them?
And how do you tutor somebody who needs to be tutored in everything? I'm not a professor. I'm not with these students several hours a week. I meet with him for maybe an hour once a week, and they have a few local questions that in the grand scheme of things don't matter. Yeah, you'll look great if you can correctly use "which" and "that" but if you can barely talk to me and communicate in any meaningful way, "which" and "that" won't make that big of difference.
I think I should be better with them. I think I shouldn't be so frustrated I just want to walk away. I think I should work with them with a smile, even if they're driving me bug-shagging crazy. Because they aren't doing anything wrong. I'm just a short-tempered bitch. And I can't say "I won't work with foreign business students anymore." That's not the way it works here. I'm an English tutor, so I tutor anybody who needs help with English, regardless of class status, where they're from, or what they need. And for the most part, I enjoy it. The money and hours suck, so I'm not doing this to get rich.
I just wish I had the natural talent and patience that a few of my co-tutors have to deal with these students in a polite, efficient, educational manner.