55 - "I'm still standing" - The latest from Enlightener - March 2010.

"I'm still standing, better than I ever did. Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid."

With radio shows, Dutch study and other more frivolous pastimes taking up my attention, the blog has been somewhat neglected of late. I heard Elton John's 'I'm still standing' the other day and it pretty much summed up how I feel about life at Enlightener.

A quick overview for those who haven't followed the story from the very beginning: With linguistic difficulties and cultural complications the journey at Enlightener has taken me down a long and winding road. But I am still standing, I'm still there, I have survived! (A self penned follow up to Gloria Gaynor's tiresome I will…)

It's been almost a month since our Banana lollies English zone and much has happened at Enlightener. I'm sad to say that Tracy has slipped back into her bad habits. Still incredibly kind, generous and easygoing, she's also unreasonable, short-sighted and easily manipulated by demanding parents.

Don't get me wrong, things are 'ok' but this is mainly thanks to my ability to keep my famous temper under control and try and face each new ridiculous situation with a wry smile.

With Silvie now firmly out of the picture and teaching at Easy English (more on this in a later blog) Tracy finally employed another teacher so for the past few weeks I've had a new colleague. 'Liam' is a 23 year old American born in Ohio and raised in Washington DC where he graduated in Politics from George Washington.

From the very beginning he seemed an ideal choice. Tall and "Sooo handsome" (as Tracy cooed) he somehow ticked the boxes marked sportsman 'and' bookworm. On top of all this he speaks what sounds to me like very good Chinese and easily communicates with Tracy, Nini, the kids and parents.

Liam is continuing his studies in Chinese at Beijing University. Like all students he needed some pocket money to make ends meet so opted, as is the norm for foreigners here, to try his hand at teaching.

Unluckily for Liam his first week of classes coincided with 'open week,' where parents can observe lessons. This seemed a little harsh on Liam who didn't really get a chance to get to know, or even properly meet his kids before being put under the spotlight.

His first class was an unmitigated disaster! Based on their ages and their so called levels he'd planned a standard lesson from the Playway book.

As the lesson unfolded he quickly came to the conclusion that they didn't know half the stuff they should have and that his class had been far too overreaching. His lesson plan went out of the window and he had to heavily improvise with four stony-faced parents watching. (Parents who were NOT happy that Silvie had left Enlightener and weren't willing to give Liam much of a chance).

The kids too didn't help him much along the way, one child, 'Grace', even shutting down completely by lying on the table with her head in her hands.

After the class a furious parent told Tracy that Liam was a terrible teacher and that "under no circumstances" could he continue to teach his child. Needless to say the word quickly spread around the huddle of parents and Liam was sinking faster than a lead weight in water.

That same evening I casually asked Tracy how Liam was getting on and she screwed up her face and said "Not so good. I don't think he is able to teach these small children."

The next thing we knew Silvie was being asked to return and teach part time cash in hand. Silvie chewed it over for an evening and sent me back to Enlightener with a firm "Thanks, but no thanks." With things starting to really take off at Easy English Silvie had, and indeed has, no plans to work for Tracy again. She hadn't appreciated Silvie enough before and had even been under the delusion that she didn't need two teachers. Once again things at the school had become something of a mess.

Towards the end of his first week I sat in on one of Liam's classes and thought he was doing an excellent job. He was lively, dynamic and enjoyed an excellent rapport with the class. It was only then that I heard the story about what had happened in his class and realised that Liam had no idea Tracy was actively trying to replace him!

It seemed really unfair that he'd been brought in, given no opportunity to settle and was going to get booted out on the back of one class and an irrational parent.

Flashbacks of our own awful experience hit me and I couldn't help but shake my head and wonder if Tracy was simply going to make the same mistakes all over again with Liam.

I decided to have a chat with Tracy. Politely but firmly I told her that I'd been impressed with what I'd seen in Liam's class and that she should have a little more faith in him and support him a little before making a rash decision. I have no idea if I got through to her and we're currently waiting to see what her next move is.

After a number of successful Saturday English zones, last week's 'Lazy Charlie' drama performance was an absolute catastrophe that was only tempered by the fact that hardly any parents turned up to see it. It started off badly when Tracy, rather than myself, chose the children who I would have to work with. She somehow, (and this exhibited quite a talent) managed to pick some of the worst kids possible. We had Harley in the role of Lazy Charlie, Tom senior Tom junior and Frank as the three witches and Becky as Lazy Charlie's mum.

Harley is of course normally fantastic but put him together with his best friend Tom and all he's interested in doing is fighting, being silly and speaking in Chinese; which is what he proceeded to do throughout the duration of the rehearsals.

Frank is an idiot of a child who is spoilt, greedy and with something of a vicious streak. He's recently been setting off firecrackers around the school, never stops stuffing himself with candy and doesn't do anything he's told to do.

Finally there was Tom junior the boy from my Primary Colours 2 classes who is incapable of concentrating on anything for longer than a few seconds at a time. It was impossible to get him to follow his script or listen to anything anybody said and as a result he missed his lines, fought with Harley and Tom and kept shouting at his mother who had come to watch.

English zones are basically adverts for the school, an opportunity for people to see what work we do, the quality of our teaching and what we're capable of. I had a sinking feeling about 'Lazy Charlie' from the very beginning and after a hopeless afternoon of rehearsals wondered how on earth we would pull it all together in front of a full school of parents the following weekend.

On the day of the performance Harley turned up without his script, Frank phoned ten minutes before we were due to start saying "I don't want to do it" and Tom junior turned up twenty five minutes late after we'd drafted in an emergency replacement. He spent the whole of the performance singing to himself in Chinese, rocking back and forth on his chair and generally ignoring the whole thing.

As I said, luckily only three or four parents turned up (Had Tracy bothered to promote it?) and I was spared what could have been a large scale embarrassment. Lessons have been learnt and I can tell you that in the future I will be 100% in control of who takes part in English zones.

Other than these two stories things have been quietly ticking along at the school. I have a new assistant, 'Kevin' who is excellent, a good laugh and easy to communicate with. He also happens to be Nini's boyfriend.

Although things are going ok I'm fully aware that the next storm in a teacup could be lurking just around the corner so I'm taking nothing for granted.

This blog's photo album includes pictures of my new students Cathy, (Jack's sister) Frank and Nina as well as a few from one of Liam's lessons.

Thanks for your continued support of the blog and I hope to hear from you on the message board or in the chat room during the radio show.

-Leighton & Silvie-

PS - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!