I know I promised myself to keep updating this site but every time I jot down random thoughts I fail to organize them into an actually worth-reading note. They are just too random and generally not lengthy enough to be covered, nevertheless, the way they are makes them interesting.
I want to give some quick updates on what I have been doing, and thinking.
Tutor
I started teaching a brother of my friend English, as he’s entering grade 12 and College Entrance Exam is just around the corner.
Oh, my. Teaching a 17-year-old student who is faced with one of the most important exams in his life is super radically different from what I used to do with my previous students. Just think about how his fate is partially controlled by what I provide him with, is scary enough. So I tried my best–which I have always been–to help my student in every way possible. But lately, I feel more and more frustrated knowing that passion cannot be substituted for knowledge and skills. For those, you’ll have to earn it. I thought I’ve earned enough of them through all these years but after numerous times of teaching, I realized that apparently I am hardly equipped.
And yes, it sucks to feel like you aren’t qualified for what you are fond of doing. The more I struggle during my lectures, the more pronounced my frustration is.
You see, it’s such an interesting thing, being a tutor. Knowing that there will always be someone who is much more qualified than you are, more experienced than you are, more fluent than you are, you still grind it, try again and again, then fail several times, and then try a few more times.
All because this is what you love to do.
Part-Time
As usual, Jenny called and asked what I planned for my summer vacation just before it started and offered no other than a part-time job at her cram school.
I expected this. I have worked at her English school specifically for K-15 kids in the past few years after I started to go to senior high school (dang, I’m feeling old.)
I’ll add more story to the post once I have time, for now I’ll just say it’s been a very cool experience and I certainly learned a lot!
New Semester
I don’t really know what to say about this. A couple days earlier Joshua also asked me if I have any thoughts on this. There are mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I am pretty much excited about all the new things happening, especially the ones at the Chinese Center. We’ll have a bunch of new faces and besides that, I am appointed as the guy who has to compose emails and set up forms for our activities and events. Compared to what I did before (event holder & planner), it’s quite refreshing and new to me. On the other hand, I have to deal with a handful of mess (partly created by myself) including missing courses, redundant courses, overdue tuition fee, and a lot more hassle.
Michael Chuang 