Call me ma'am
It has been nearly 21 months since I first started thinking about a change in career direction. And guess where I am? Still right here where I've always been.
Although I do feel the time's not right yet to make such a drastic change in my life, part of me wonders whether I'm just procrastinating about it. Coz after all, it's pretty scary to leave the familiar and do something totally different. Maybe I'm just being a chicken. I'm comfortable here, after all; I have a great boss, the work's okay, the company's established and offers excellent employee benefits. I don't want to uproot and start all over again in a strange place.
Anyway, I decided that if I can't handle such a big change, maybe I should just try something small first. So I volunteered to give English tuition at the "tuition club" run by my church.
The club operates in a less privileged area of town and is one of the ways we hope to make a difference in the community. It's strictly about teaching children and not a front for evangelism. But as St Francis of Assasi said, "Wherever you go, preach. Use words if necessary," so... ;)
I went for the teachers' briefing on Saturday evening and they were talking about basic stuff -- setting ground rules, how to deal with disobedient students, rewarding punctuality & regular attendance -- and I was like, I cannot believe I'm going to do this. What do I know about teaching children?! Eek!
Then Sunday came along and with it, the first day of class. Only two children turned up, both eight years old, and I realised I have no idea what to say to young ones. I only know I'm determined not to patronise them or "talk down" to them, something which I've seen many adults do. For some reason adults' voices get very high-pitched and sing-song whenever they talk to children, and they use the simplest sentences as if to insult the child's intelligence. I'm convinced we constantly under-estimate children, but when it comes to subject-matter for conversation, all I could think of was, "Do you like school? Which is your favourite subject? Do you have a best friend in school? What's his name?" and then I got stuck!
It was a good way to ease into things, though, coz next week the whole class (all eight of them) are expected to turn up. It'll be a mixed age group, coz the students are gathered according to proficiency level. My co-teacher and I will take turns conducting the class during alternate months, so it's not such a very heavy commitment, and she's gonna take January so I'll have a chance to observe & learn before I actually start teaching in February. It's exciting and scary at the same time.
For me, this is a way of saying "yes" to God and a small step towards whatever He might have for me in the future. Finally I'm doing something about this career thing instead of just talking about it!