Probably not something I should continue to do
16 February 2010, 09:00While in Thailand, I was asked on a few occasions to teach English. I’m fine with that, because I’ve striven to better my English since graduating. I’m not just a native speaker, I’m one who loves and continues to learn the language. However, I’ve never quite perfected my penmanship. I’m working on it, and if I actually concentrate on what I’m doing, I can muster quite fine handwriting. But when teaching I tend to get in a hurry, and what you see on the blackboard there is the result. Here’s the thing, though: I wasn’t teaching a group of kids who speak the language and just need to learn some of the finer points or whatever. This was like teaching Kindergarteners. They had no idea how to form the letters. So, you get flying g’s and e-a ligatures. I drew a line beneath the word “and” to demonstrate that all letters should align to the baseline. But without Kindergarten resources, this proved a futile task. I begged Mrs. Wong to let me quit.
~Jonathan