Childhood #6: Tutoring

Wow! Time flies fast when one is seriously busy. Sorry for the lack of entries. I was more focused on financial issues but hopefully it will work out now.

So tutoring is not exactly a pleasant topic for me. I don't know if it is a common feeling among Asians but many times when I hear that I need tutoring, I feel like a failure as if I wasn't good enough. I was pathetic and stupid. Now I'm not saying people who take tutoring are stupid. I was a bit stubborn and would like it if I was already good enough for many things. I was a teen who was tired of homework and tests. When I heard I needed to take prep courses, I just felt that I am not good enough for my parents' standards. The concept of my parents' wanting to insure I get into college never occurred to me. All I thought about was how I wasn't smart as I thought I was.

The prep courses I took was for the SAT. It wasn't exactly a pleasant place. The tutors were nice and considerate. They knew the students wanted to get through the session as quick as possible and then leave immediately. They tried to keep us entertained and took the time to explain the lesson thoroughly. Sadly, that was the only positive thing I found in my prep courses. Besides the tutors, the counselors were really strict. Every time I meet them, it felt as though they were demanding me to improve (which doesn't really help with that attitude). Also the tutoring site consist of two classrooms - one with no windows, the other had its windows covered with some sort of black coating. If I had claustrophobia, I wouldn't have survived. Fortunately I didn't but I still felt uncomfortable with the sealed windows and small spacing. So the curriculum consist of sample tests and reviewing wrong answers. Every sample test scores were recorded and tracked by the counselors. It was a horrible weekly session.

What I got out of it? Well, I improved my score by 400 points which is not too bad. Sadly I never hit 2000 points. Oh well...

So I thought of tutoring because I currently am working as a tutor. Thinking back about my personal tutoring experience,  I don't want to be a cold tutor towards my students. To be a bit strict is fine but to be cold is not too good with progress. I am hoping I can follow what my whole family said before: "A good teacher is a person the student fears on academics but he is also the first person the student will request any kind of help from." 

Childhood #5: teaching younger relatives

I don't know if you know [assumed] this. I am the oldest grandchild on one side of my family. As expected, if one is the oldest "child," the adults expected one to be the role model for the younger ones. In some cases, they even expect the oldest child to teach the younger ones. However, let's be realistic. Unless the oldest grandchild is at least 10 years older than the younger one or miraculously gifted in teaching, how does one expects that child to know how to teach? The answer: we shouldn't expect that grandchild knows how to teach (at least not properly the first time). Like any skills, teaching requires experience, whether be it through trial and error, or actual teaching courses.

Well, many years ago, my sis and I moved to the US (as you know). Our family had to live with my relatives because our newly-bought home was still in the making. So when you have two grandchildren (my sis and I) living with two younger grandchildren (my younger cousins), we were expected to teach them or at least be role models (and pray they follow). In one family dinner event, the whole family decided to eat at a restaurant and at the entrance was a small fish tank. There was a clear sign on the glass stating "don't tap the glass." One of my cousins keeps tapping the glass. As the oldest, I instructed him to stop the tapping. However, I was only 13 years old (I think?) and my cousin was 3-4 years old. He obviously won't listen to me since I am not an adult no matter how serious my tone was. So my sister, being 11 years old (assuming I was 13), she told the most ridiculous white lie I have ever heard. She told my cousin, "if you keep tapping the glass, the glass will break and the fishes will come out and eat you." That really scared the little boy. He immediately stopped and through the dinner, he occasionally glanced back at the fish tank. I asked my sis if that was okay to lie to a child like that. Obviously it was a ridiculous lie since the fishes in the tank were 2-in gold fishes. As of today, I wonder if my cousin still remembers that lie.

This memory didn't really hit me until my sis told me about her friend's lie to his younger brother about child birth. Now, his story really scares me. My sis's friend wanted to teach his young brother about the birds and the bees, and prevent him from causing teen pregnancy. His story was that when a woman is pregnant, obviously her belly will be enlarged. When it is time for labor, the baby will burst out of the woman's belly. I actually skipped a lot of details. To summarize the details, let's just say the story sounded like it came from a horror alien movie. I heard this when I was around 18, and even I got scared. I'm pretty sure for a young boy, after hearing that story, he won't be getting any girls pregnant for a good while (or at least until temptation gets the best of him).

As you can see, sometimes people make up the weirdest lies to teach young children lessons. I am a full adult now and I still wonder if that is a good way to teach them. Sadly I don't know the answer but restating these memories is quite amusing. I can't help but giggle at the stories behind those lessons. So think about it. How would you teach a very young child about a certain lesson or prevent them from having certain behaviors?

Childhood #4: Children on the plane

I always wonder if I was ever one of those annoying children during a flight. When I was young, still living outside of the US, my family and I would always take our vacations in California because that's where my grandparents lived. So every summer vacation, we would take the long flight across the Pacific. As children, the flight is a long boring trip and staying in one's seat for 12+ hours is torture. To cure my boredom, I would usually have a small carry-on bag filled with candy, snacks, pencils, papers, and reading materials. Once the seat belt light is off, my sister and I immediately open our bags and do what ever we like. Most of the time, I would be drawing. Other times, my mom would make sure I read (the homework my parents gave me for every summer). And sometimes, I would grab the magazines in the seat pocket and read it. Thinking about it now, I wonder how I manage to stay so still in my seat (besides going to the bathroom). I would like to say it's due to my parents' discipline but both my parents said I was an obedient girl (that they probably took too much pride on). When my sister and I get bored, we would always talk... a lot. About what? Honestly, I don't know and don't remember. The chat is probably about cartoons or toys or movies. So this train of thought led me to this one question: was I ever an annoying child on the plane? I would love to think just as what my parents told me but knowing myself, I probably got a few adults angry during the long flights. If not the passengers, then probably the flight attendants since I get air sick every time.

As an adult now, flights are quite interesting to me. Many times I would go through magazines to read about different cultures. Occasionally I would try to listen to music in other languages. Sadly my air sickness was never cured and at every plane trip, at least 8 hours were occupied by sleep. I hope everyone else has a better flight experience than I do.

Childhood #3: Mommy is rich!

So there are many events in my past that I don't remember clearly. It is either I was too young to remember or it became a "unimportant" memory according to my brain. My parents decided to tell me one of those memories because they were somewhat proud of it.

One day, my sister wanted something from a store. It was either a candy or a toy, something that requires payment. However, she was upset because she didn't know how to obtain such money. Now just to be clear, my sister was only around 2 or 3 years old and I was 4 or 5. I proudly stated, "Don't worry. Mommy is rich. She sticks a card in this machine and money comes out." My parents laughed after I said that. They said they were proud for my being observant and creating a correlation. My present self is currently thinking how stupid I was to not know what an ATM machine is. Either way, if someone were to tell me a similar story about his or her own children, I would definitely find that adorable. Children have such wild imaginations.

Childhood #2: School Uniforms

I always love school uniforms. Sometimes I wonder why the public schools in the US never had school uniforms (dress code doesn't count). Usually out of all my friends, I'm one of the few who would support having uniforms. I guess my reasons are bit on the selfish side. With school uniforms, I wouldn't have to figure out what to wear each day. Also it would be easier to schedule laundry days. Oh well, my reasons just leads to my laziness. What can I say?

There are some down sides to having school uniforms. Most likely the girls will have to wear skirts. I remembered back in my elementary school, I used to wear skirts. However, it wasn't convenient during recess. At some point, my parents got me to wear pants to school instead. I remembered how I was the only girl to wear pants for a period of time which did felt really awkward. On the other hand, it was easier to play during recess. Fortunately, the school uniforms changed and soon everyone wears either shorts or (as my parents will call it) trousers. I'm not trying to say uniforms are all that good but it was a nice experience. Plus I look nice. Funny thing is because I used to wear uniforms to school, now I have no sense of fashion. I just don't understand it that easily. Hehehe... I guess uniforms are not as sweet as they're supposed to be.

Childhood #1: Happy Unbirthday

Sorry for the late post. I wasn't in good condition to type up anything yesterday. Rest assure, I'm feeling better now.

I wish I was in elementary school again. From what I remembered, I wasn't really stressed or depressed in anyway back then. There were many good memories. One awesome one was how my younger sister and I can have fun with almost anything we find. In one case, we took a shoe box and flipped it over so it would be standing on its cover. Then we stick small screwdrivers into the gap between the lid and the box. What does it become? In our eyes, it was suppose to be a birthday cake. We cheer "Happy Birthday" to each other even though it wasn't really anyone's birthday. Of course, we didn't keep it. The box and the screwdrivers were returned to my dad. None the less, it was a funny and creative moment.