With yet another spate of schedule changes for my adult students this week, all was quiet at Inkreadable. Which ended up being quite fortunate as I was able to help a good friend with a piece of writing. I was able to help her write a letter to her students explaining why she had to increase her own prices for group lessons that she gives In Greek.
I also made a bit of a mistake with a student on Friday. While I did not pitch the lesson too high or too low, I made a mistake and had him to a listening exercise that might not have been entirely appropriate for him. I hope it does not come back to bite me in the butt and I need to go through and make sure that the exercises that I choose are appropriate for the person that I’m teaching. That is still going to be quite a bit of trial and error. In the meantime, I am picking up another student, and I’m having a crisis of confidence with him because he is French. You all remember what happened the last time I had a French student. And so my confidence is a little bit on the shaky side. I also had to go out to Amstelveen on Saturday because the scatterbrained person that I am, I forgot the book that my new student needed. I was kicking myself as I had been in Amstelveen on Friday afternoon and could have saved myself a shit ton of hassle.
They say that bad luck comes in threes. I also believe that confidence and the ability to shake it also comes in threes. This week I have my first group lesson for The English Center. And while it is only a substitute lesson, I am a little bit nervous because I haven’t been in the classroom with a group of more than two students in a really long time. Intellectually, I’m sure it will be fine. But that doesn’t stop me from feeling like I’m not able to do this and having jitters.
I hope that I can do the person I am replacing justice and give as good a lesson as he does. To that end, we have decided to meet on Monday so that we could go over what he wants me to do. It helps that I already have the book, it also helps that I went and I observed another teacher giving the same type of lesson earlier this week. She was all that was kind and considerate and made me feel very welcome in the class.
This first group lesson will be a good litmus test, a way to figure out if I really want to do group lessons. In the first place, they are more money. And they are of a longer duration. They also last couple of months and so it’s a good steady source of income.
VIPKid land this week was not without its pitfalls either. I had a short notice student on Thursday that I am just waiting for a bad review from. This kid had a unit assessment and would not stop goofing off. He couldn’t focus, wouldn’t pay attention, and we almost didn’t finish the lesson. I have been checking my reviews obsessively for the last few days just to make sure that I have not gotten a low star review from this parent.
Writing proved to be a bit of a saving grace this week as I was able to finish up a blog post about living and teaching in Amsterdam. I was finally able to send it off with pictures to the person who requested it. With my writing obligations firmly under control, I was able to spend the remainder of the weekend chilling out with Jasper in advance of his going to Edinburgh. To say that I am jealous is, of course, an understatement. I have therefore charged with him bringing back several very essential things including over-the-counter cold medications and of course, crumpets.
Speaking of Crumpets, dear reader, did I tell you that Jasper actually makes homemade crumpets for me? I don’t think that I did. Last week I gave the teacher that I observed crumpets and have not heard back as to whether she like them or not. I am thinking she didn’t. It’s OK. Therefore there will be more for me. I will never again share my crumpets.
That’s all she wrote for this Inkreadable installment. But stay tuned. As always, there is more to come.
Inkreadable 