job rant
ugh...It's friday. and that means i have to tutor the brat again. I'm really starting to dread that job. I have to think of some more games to keep her occupied. Who knew little girls could be so much trouble? I thought it was little boys who are the unmanageable/obnoxious, tiaopi ones! Anyhow, I'm not sure how much I've said about my tutoring jobs. Right now, I only have 2 (which is good in terms of not taking up much time, but bad in terms of my monthly income...i'm so poor! *cry*).
I tutor one high school girl (Isabella) twice a week for a total of 3 hrs, and I really enjoy working with her. Her English is good enough to carry on conversations and so we talk a lot and class time just flies by! But the other girl I tutor (Amy) is just 8 years old and even though she says she wants to learn English, she refuses to speak it. Getting her to say things is like pulling teeth. Really. I ask her how her day is, and the answer is always "So-So" or "Fine". And then I ask her what did she do at school...and the answer is always "I don't know"...which is what she says to practically question I ask unless it's a yes/no question! Basically, she's either too lazy to say or doesn't know how to say it. I've told her lots of times that it's ok to ask me how to say stuff, but I get the feeling she's not one of those self-motivated students.
Anyhow, her monosyllabic answers weren't that big of a deal. And really, it should be easy cuz her mom says I don't have to give her homework or tests or anything (unlike Isabella, who gets homework from me every session that i have to correct later)...not sure how she's supposed to really learn english without putting any effort into studying it, but whatever, i guess young kids are supposed to be able to pick up languages quickly. The reason why I dread teaching her is cuz she's getting more and more bratty each time i see her (and it's only been 2 months)! Wednesday was the worst. I've taught her some games like hangman, blackjack, and go fish. And she really likes them, and I say I'm teaching her since I taught her the words "shuffle", "go fish", "deal", "clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds", "jack, queen, king", etc. Right? Yes, so very educational. :) heh Anyhow, usually, since I work with her for 2 hrs/session (twice a week), we work on an English workbook for the first hour and play for the second. I think that's rather fair, right? But Wednesday, she revolted. We started working on the workbook, and then, suddenly she stopped and said "I want to play". I said, of course we'll play, but after we work on this. But no, she refused to say anything except "I want to play". She just sat there pouting and wouldn't continue on with the lesson! ARG. I told her that there was no way we'd play without first working on the workbook and if she didn't want to study, then we wouldn't play at all. So we just sat there for a good 10-15 mins. What could I do? I can't hit her. And what can I threaten her with? Telling her mom on her? How pathetic (but i did mention her behavior when her mom asked me how classes were going). I refuse to give into her cuz that'll undermine my authority...but I also felt really uncomfortable having total silence in the room since the door was open and her grandparents could hear our lesson (or lack of). I kept on telling her that we'd definitely have time to play if she would finish the chapter we'd started in the book, but she wanted to play now! She even started tearing up like i was the one being mean to Her! geez! so finally, i bribed her with these barrettes i'd brought along as a reward for good behavior. Sheesh. What a pain.
Also, she doesn't like to read...and isn't even interested in having me read to her either!!! She'd rather draw (and I'm fast running out of ideas of what she should draw!) or play games (which means, I have to look up more games for us to play). It'd be SOOOOO much simpler if she'd just be a good little girl and let me read to her for a good 30 mins to pass the time! I would really love that. Why doesn't she like to read or be read to?? That's just not natural! And how am I going to survive another SEVEN months of this??? I really want to find another job (actually another 2 jobs before I can afford to drop any students)...but no luck so far.
I tutor one high school girl (Isabella) twice a week for a total of 3 hrs, and I really enjoy working with her. Her English is good enough to carry on conversations and so we talk a lot and class time just flies by! But the other girl I tutor (Amy) is just 8 years old and even though she says she wants to learn English, she refuses to speak it. Getting her to say things is like pulling teeth. Really. I ask her how her day is, and the answer is always "So-So" or "Fine". And then I ask her what did she do at school...and the answer is always "I don't know"...which is what she says to practically question I ask unless it's a yes/no question! Basically, she's either too lazy to say or doesn't know how to say it. I've told her lots of times that it's ok to ask me how to say stuff, but I get the feeling she's not one of those self-motivated students.
Anyhow, her monosyllabic answers weren't that big of a deal. And really, it should be easy cuz her mom says I don't have to give her homework or tests or anything (unlike Isabella, who gets homework from me every session that i have to correct later)...not sure how she's supposed to really learn english without putting any effort into studying it, but whatever, i guess young kids are supposed to be able to pick up languages quickly. The reason why I dread teaching her is cuz she's getting more and more bratty each time i see her (and it's only been 2 months)! Wednesday was the worst. I've taught her some games like hangman, blackjack, and go fish. And she really likes them, and I say I'm teaching her since I taught her the words "shuffle", "go fish", "deal", "clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds", "jack, queen, king", etc. Right? Yes, so very educational. :) heh Anyhow, usually, since I work with her for 2 hrs/session (twice a week), we work on an English workbook for the first hour and play for the second. I think that's rather fair, right? But Wednesday, she revolted. We started working on the workbook, and then, suddenly she stopped and said "I want to play". I said, of course we'll play, but after we work on this. But no, she refused to say anything except "I want to play". She just sat there pouting and wouldn't continue on with the lesson! ARG. I told her that there was no way we'd play without first working on the workbook and if she didn't want to study, then we wouldn't play at all. So we just sat there for a good 10-15 mins. What could I do? I can't hit her. And what can I threaten her with? Telling her mom on her? How pathetic (but i did mention her behavior when her mom asked me how classes were going). I refuse to give into her cuz that'll undermine my authority...but I also felt really uncomfortable having total silence in the room since the door was open and her grandparents could hear our lesson (or lack of). I kept on telling her that we'd definitely have time to play if she would finish the chapter we'd started in the book, but she wanted to play now! She even started tearing up like i was the one being mean to Her! geez! so finally, i bribed her with these barrettes i'd brought along as a reward for good behavior. Sheesh. What a pain.
Also, she doesn't like to read...and isn't even interested in having me read to her either!!! She'd rather draw (and I'm fast running out of ideas of what she should draw!) or play games (which means, I have to look up more games for us to play). It'd be SOOOOO much simpler if she'd just be a good little girl and let me read to her for a good 30 mins to pass the time! I would really love that. Why doesn't she like to read or be read to?? That's just not natural! And how am I going to survive another SEVEN months of this??? I really want to find another job (actually another 2 jobs before I can afford to drop any students)...but no luck so far.
posted by ss @ 11:59 PM
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