Newbies

Picked up a couple of new students last night, while another newbie cancelled this morning...slowly business is taking off, not enough to jack in the day job just yet, but hopefully to a point where I'm making more than I was as a full-time Tech Writer (I'm only part-time these days, as I try and make a go of the English teaching). The major reason for bunking off from the Tech Writing was the lack of job satisfaction (there are people who absolutely love this profession, but I think you've got to have a special kind of mental constitution to survive more than a few years!)...and, though it ain't easy by any means, there's something mighty rewarding when somebody grasps something new in YOUR language.

Take last night for example - I had a lesson with 2 kids, complete beginners. We went over the alphabet on my portable board - within 20 minutes the older kid (he's 9) had got it! He even told me he was going to tell his English teacher at school that she was useless because she'd been teaching them for 3 months and he could never get past 'G'...kind of makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.