Friday, May 09, 2008
Victory over fascism day!
To any of my readers who might be old enough to have helped stamp out fascism, THANKS, GRACIAS, HVALA! I find the corprathugs quite enough to deal with, I really appreciate not having to deal with honest to God fascists!
Yesterday on the way home there were some cute Bosnian girls selling SUBNOAR T-shirts and Tito T-shirts. Tito remains popular here, in fact I am starting to suspect people like him a bit more now than when he was actually around and workin' on t he railway!
O.K. the student who did not show last time did this time. He is a charming fellow, but can't be considered as a serious student. The reasons I can't consider him as a serious student, are 1. He lives in Zenica, and failed to notify me, on a VERY rainy day that he would not make it, until like the last minute, so I could not cancel out on t he other guy, I had to sit and wait, it was o.k. the cafe has indoor seating which rapidly became available as the rain fell, and a really nice wait staff. But still that is a sign of 'not seriousness' in my book. In some ways I am very much an American, and messing with my time is not liked. I did not give him a bad time about it, he made up for it, by as I said, being a nice person, and actually paying for my time. His English is not dreadful, and I told him so. A person who doesn't mind a charming accent, is going to enjoy talking with him. I bet anything he will be a HUGE hit with the ladies in Kansas!
As well, he goes to his weekend place, someplace near Neum regularly. That is normal in the region. People tend to have weekend places here, regardless of not having terribly wonderful incomes.
I suspected he thought I was a bit more available, so I made a point of several times working the S.O. into the conversation. That was for reasons of personal security. I also did not give him t he address. If he wants me to work with him, it will probably be in a public place, like the cafe. He mostly wanted to converse for practice reasons. Could have been worse. My time was not 100% wasted.
Still people who think seriously, they are going to improve their English with hit or miss lessons are doing themselves No Favors!
If you read any Sarajevo newspaper, and I have read most of what is available for the local press, you will see that the better jobs often want people who speak good English. These days, because a lot of the English speakers are American, you would think t hat there would be people breaking their necks to get a good native speaker to help them!
The other t hing is that courses in English in a more formal setting are EXPENSIVE! I doubt a quick course is going to be a lot of use to some learners, because it would go by too fast. You would think a slower pace, at a lower cost, not paid up front, would be of interest to people.
I have ONE student I think is serious, and no way of setting up classes until I get at least one or two more.
Last night, I got home and felt pretty annoyed about the whole thing frankly. I started having paranoid fantasies that some other people who teach English were sending me people to mess with me this way.....
That is probably silly of me, but I also wonder why it is that one week people who were advertising 10KM suddenly and abruptly began advertising 5KM? I never put a price in my own ad. But when people called and enquired, of course I had to say some price, so I at first said 10KM. It makes me wonder what the Hell was going on with that.
Teaching a language is an intense business. Even conversational is a LOT of work. At the end of my time as a tutor at YVCC, I was earning a bit over $9.00 an hour. That was whether in fact anyone showed up or not, I was a very good tutor, and believe me, people showed up and they asked ESPECIALLY for me! I tutored, Spanish, English, and Medical Terminology for the most part. I was qualified to tutor a few other subjects. This was part of my student aid package. It was a proper JOB! I had requirements to meet to even be able to do this!
Who knows, maybe this round of ads will result in a couple more. Then I can set a proper class day and get going. I would like for this to be sooner rather than later.
Incidentally, ads placed in places for students have not panned out. I won't bother again. Even at free to put one up, it isn't worth the shoe leather and getting past in some cases, security types.
Yesterday on the way home there were some cute Bosnian girls selling SUBNOAR T-shirts and Tito T-shirts. Tito remains popular here, in fact I am starting to suspect people like him a bit more now than when he was actually around and workin' on t he railway!
O.K. the student who did not show last time did this time. He is a charming fellow, but can't be considered as a serious student. The reasons I can't consider him as a serious student, are 1. He lives in Zenica, and failed to notify me, on a VERY rainy day that he would not make it, until like the last minute, so I could not cancel out on t he other guy, I had to sit and wait, it was o.k. the cafe has indoor seating which rapidly became available as the rain fell, and a really nice wait staff. But still that is a sign of 'not seriousness' in my book. In some ways I am very much an American, and messing with my time is not liked. I did not give him a bad time about it, he made up for it, by as I said, being a nice person, and actually paying for my time. His English is not dreadful, and I told him so. A person who doesn't mind a charming accent, is going to enjoy talking with him. I bet anything he will be a HUGE hit with the ladies in Kansas!
As well, he goes to his weekend place, someplace near Neum regularly. That is normal in the region. People tend to have weekend places here, regardless of not having terribly wonderful incomes.
I suspected he thought I was a bit more available, so I made a point of several times working the S.O. into the conversation. That was for reasons of personal security. I also did not give him t he address. If he wants me to work with him, it will probably be in a public place, like the cafe. He mostly wanted to converse for practice reasons. Could have been worse. My time was not 100% wasted.
Still people who think seriously, they are going to improve their English with hit or miss lessons are doing themselves No Favors!
If you read any Sarajevo newspaper, and I have read most of what is available for the local press, you will see that the better jobs often want people who speak good English. These days, because a lot of the English speakers are American, you would think t hat there would be people breaking their necks to get a good native speaker to help them!
The other t hing is that courses in English in a more formal setting are EXPENSIVE! I doubt a quick course is going to be a lot of use to some learners, because it would go by too fast. You would think a slower pace, at a lower cost, not paid up front, would be of interest to people.
I have ONE student I think is serious, and no way of setting up classes until I get at least one or two more.
Last night, I got home and felt pretty annoyed about the whole thing frankly. I started having paranoid fantasies that some other people who teach English were sending me people to mess with me this way.....
That is probably silly of me, but I also wonder why it is that one week people who were advertising 10KM suddenly and abruptly began advertising 5KM? I never put a price in my own ad. But when people called and enquired, of course I had to say some price, so I at first said 10KM. It makes me wonder what the Hell was going on with that.
Teaching a language is an intense business. Even conversational is a LOT of work. At the end of my time as a tutor at YVCC, I was earning a bit over $9.00 an hour. That was whether in fact anyone showed up or not, I was a very good tutor, and believe me, people showed up and they asked ESPECIALLY for me! I tutored, Spanish, English, and Medical Terminology for the most part. I was qualified to tutor a few other subjects. This was part of my student aid package. It was a proper JOB! I had requirements to meet to even be able to do this!
Who knows, maybe this round of ads will result in a couple more. Then I can set a proper class day and get going. I would like for this to be sooner rather than later.
Incidentally, ads placed in places for students have not panned out. I won't bother again. Even at free to put one up, it isn't worth the shoe leather and getting past in some cases, security types.
# posted by Katja R. @ 12:36 AM 
Comments:
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Maybe you should go ahead with your one student. Think of it as up-front investment. Working with one student may help you iron out some of the problems before you start to build up numbers.
Don't give up on the student noticeboards. Remember this is probably the pre-exam period for most of them - people may not want to take on the extra time commitment just at this moment.
Don't give up on the student noticeboards. Remember this is probably the pre-exam period for most of them - people may not want to take on the extra time commitment just at this moment.
# posted by 
: 3:16 AM
: 3:16 AM
Owen, this student is male, and I don't want to work one on one with males unless the S.O. is present. I am sure this guy is fine, BUT, if he isn't I just don't want to be all alone with him, and working in a public place is subject to disruptions of all sorts. The student understands that I need a couple others and why. Any respectable woman teaching language here has the same constraints. Unfortunately the S.O. isn't even in Sarajevo for a few days. He would strongly object to my working alone with any male student. He isn't jealous, it is more a question of my personal safety, and good name.
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