Time and Again

[37] Always Remember Age Doesn't Matter in Studying English

Isabel was carried away by Timon’s poignant story. They didn’t notice how time flew so fast until they heard the bell rang. Morris bid goodbye to Isabel. 

Isabel’s next student was an old Korean woman.

“Good morning, teacher.”

“Hi, good morning. How are you?”

“Good.”

“What’s your name and where are you from?”

“Marissa. South Korea.”

“Hi Marissa. Nice meeting you. My name is Teacher Isabel.”

“Nice meeting you, Teacher Isabel.” 

Marissa and Isabel shook hands.

“Why do you want to study English?”

Marissa was silent. Isabel thought that she was gathering her thoughts. 

“No Engrish, teacher. All young speaking Engrish. In Korea, ord pipel must know more than young. Very difficurt studying Engrish. Me ord. No learning fast. Very srow.”

Marissa poured out her emotions. She pulled a handkerchief out from her bag and wiped her tears.

“No problem, Marissa. I will teach you how to speak English. I will teach you slowly so it will be easy for you to learn. Always remember, age doesn’t matter in studying English.”

Marissa smiled and became at ease with Isabel. 

Isabel asked very simple questions to Marissa to make sure that she would understand all her questions. 

Isabel corrected Marissa’s grammar every now and then. Whenever Marissa spoke, she wrote her sentences on the white board. She encircled the wrong tense of verb with a red marker and put a blank space for missing prepositions.

Isabel gave clues to Marissa for wrong tenses of verbs and for missing prepositions so that she would understand and remember the parts of her sentences that needs correction. Once Marissa could spot the correct grammar on her sentence, Isabel rewrote her sentence with the correct grammar and let Marissa read the sentence. 

Once Isabel was already certain that Marissa understood the correct grammar in her sentence, she would erase both the wrong and correct sentences on the board and let Marissa recite the sentence on her own. 

Marissa was happy with Isabel’s teaching style. She didn’t feel rushed nor stupid. She felt comfortable with Isabel. The class ended successfully. Isabel made her day.

Isabel’s third student was a Taiwanese businessman.

“Hi teacher, good afternoon.”

“Hi, good afternoon. What’s your name and where are you from?”

“My name is Morris. I came from Taiwan.”

“Hi Morris. My name is Teacher Isabel. Nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you too, Teacher Isabel.”

Isabel started her class to each of her student with her warm-up question.

“Morris, why do you want to study English?”

“That’s a good question, teacher. I wanted to study English because I wanted to build a Taiwanese Restaurant business in Canada.”

Based on Morris’ initial answer, Isabel could already gauge that his English skill was advanced.

“That’s nice. What inspired you to build a business in Canada?”

“Well, it’s a long story. Do you want to know why I choose Canada of all the places in the world?”

“Yes, please.”

Morris heaved a heavy sigh. Isabel thought that he was compelled to study English in the Philippines to complete the requirements in building a business in Canada.

“I choose to build a business in another country to get rid of my fiancée.”

“Why do you want to get rid of your fiancée?”

“I was engaged to her from the very first day I was born.”

Isabel remembered when she was forced to marry an old man to pay off the debt of her father. 

“Did you try to get to know her first before you decide to get rid of her?”

“She’s a nice woman. She came from a rich family. In fairness, my parents had a good taste because they engaged me to a beautiful woman.”

“It seemed to me that your fiancée is an ideal woman. Why are you trying to ditch your engagement?”

“I know she has everything a guy would look for in a woman. I hope you understand. I hate commitment. I don’t want to get married. I wanted to be a bachelor for the rest of my life.”

Isabel was dismayed. How could anyone want live such a lonely life? Or maybe he was a womanizer who didn’t care about a woman’s emotions.

“There’s nothing wrong in enjoying your life to the fullest. However don’t you feel any emptiness in your heart?”

“I don’t think marriage will ever suit me. I hate having someone controlling over me. I don’t want my life to be limited with one person only. I wanted to explore. Maybe one day, I might think of getting married. As of now, I wanted to enjoy my life to the fullest.”

Isabel couldn’t bear to hear more of Morris’ recklessness. She cracked her head for a catchy question to gag him from gloating his mischiefs. She had to be careful in throwing questions to her students to avoid hitting a sensitive spot. She couldn’t ask questions about religion, sex, politics, rival countries, etc. Even topics about family was not advisable to ask because not all students came from a good family. It might ignite an emotional breakdown. She looked for a perfect timing to change the topic.

“I’ve heard that Taiwan is a very beautiful country. If I were to visit your country, where would you bring me and why?”

“Maybe I’ll take you to Taroko National Park.”

“Why do you want to take me to Taroko National Park?”

“Taroko National Park is the most visitor-friendly place in Taiwan.”

Isabel was disappointed with his brief answer. She wanted Morris to expound his answer. 

Isabel cracked her head again for another catchy question that will divert Morris from topics about girls.

“What is your favorite food and why?”

“I love Chinese food.”

“Why do you love Chinese food?”

“I love the taste of Chinese food.”

Isabel wanted to ax Morris. Whenever the topic of discussion was about women, he was so alive. When it comes to other topics, his answer was so brief.

Isabel wanted to dismiss Morris immediately. She couldn’t think of any decent question to throw at him. She wanted the time to run fast. She wanted to get rid of him. She wished from heavens above that he will not come back to her class the next day.

She felt relieved when the bell rang. She was saved by the bell. She happily dismissed Morris.