This particular student--let's call her flower child-- irritates me. She doesn't like to have a material with me. She always tells me that her computer is bad or slow so she wants to have free talking only. I know she's kidding me around because when I check her Karte, she sometimes uses a material in her lessons. Her account is shared with her mom and her mom sometimes have lessons with materials, either given through a link or the material typed in the chat box. And having with no material with Flower Child puts me in a very awkward position. Like what I said, I'm not good with kids at that age.
But since it's always the student's prerogative, not the teachers. I didn't have any choice at that time but to succumb.
I'm not the talkative type of teacher and somehow, I get irritated by students if they don't play along with me. Flower Child only answers "Yes" or "No" to my questions and doesn't even mind elaborating them. If asked with any open-ended question, she only says "I don't know." But she will answer a lot if you ask the questions that interests her.
However, towards the end of our lesson, Flower Child became talkative. I asked about what she does to relax. She said she just watches TV and she likes the Disney Channel. She also mentioned she likes Harry Potter. Unfortunately, I don't really like Harry Potter but at least I have a little interest in it to play along. That's why I had endured, or should I say, both of us had endured those 25 minutes. Maybe she also had no choice but to succumb to my repetitive questions and boring lessons.
Come to think of it... I should stretch my flexibility to different kinds of students. It's pretty challenging knowing that I could not pick my students and if it involves subjectivity. I guess this is just part of the challenge.
So, I gave myself a mental note: To Relive Again My Juvenile Past and Remember What's Interesting in that Era.
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Two days after having lesson with an advance kid student, I had a lesson with an avid kid student. I call him the Prince because his Skype ID is a picture of him being in a prince costume. He's just around four or five years old and his level is around Beginner.
Prince is one of my favorites despite is English level. I don't really have to teach him because he has his own reading materials. HBOETs only need to guide him with the correct pronunciations and with the correct answers to his homeworks. The texts are provided by his mother in the chat box. Generally, in twenty-five minutes, all we have to do is read. If there's still some extra time, we can talk a little. He's quite funny and talkative, so there's no problem with him.
But on this particular day, I sensed that Prince was in no good condition to study English. He was a bit tired and sleepy. He didn't even greet me back immediately when I greeted him "Good Afternoon!". And with that, I think his mom scolded him or something like that.
Prince's energy was kinda low but I just played along and gave my positive "Uhmmms..." and "Mmms...." to his reading. There are always parts in our lessons that he should change books for his reading practice. Unfortunately, he didn't know which book was next that he became confused. His mom became furious and was scolding him in Japanese. That was the first one.
As we continued, he sobbingly read. His mom's scolding continued and he fought back the tears. After a while, his mom stopped and he resumed reading normally.
And there was another part of his reading practice/ homework that required him to make a journal. Prince usually points that out because his mom doesn't really know how to compose in English. He didn't point it out and skipped it. I didn't mind. Like what I said, it is always the student's prerogative. We just went on on reading until his mom found out.
His mom scolded him again. I can't understand what his mom was firing about but I could sense it that it was the journal this time. I could see on the video that his mom went back on the book that required the journal and slightly slammed it on the table.
Prince now actually cried. I couldn't say anything. I just watched, listened, and became mute. He sobbingly told me to help him write his journal. He cried more when he became confused on what to say. His mom telling in Japanese what to write but I think he wanted to say otherwise. I was able to help him but he was telling me good-bye in tears.
I told what happened to one of the staffs. She said that kids should never be forced to do anything, that includes studying, if the kid is not yet well-conditioned. I guess I have to agree with her.
I wasn't able to do anything. I guess, there was nothing for me to do something. I couldn't understand and I'm miles away from them to actually interact with them. It was a very sad sight. All I could do was to say "Good-bye. See you next time... that's enough...."
