Friday, October 17, 2008

Parents' expectation, children's initiation

Two of my private students are teenagers. It is obvious they are too young to decide, "I need to take English private lessons!" As you know, the mothers decided.

One is a 13-year-old boy. His (fictitious) name is Mitsuru. He had lived in Germany for a few years. So called, a returnee...who is not from an English-speaking country.
His class is customized to pass the pre-second grade of EIKEN. It is said if you pass that grade, your English level is almost same as 10th grade students. Now he is 7th grade(In Japan, a freshman of a junior high,) so his English is assumed pretty well.
However, not as good as the one who can easily pass the pre-second grade.
His mother is really desperate to let him pass it. She said Mitsuru's younger daughter, who is only 9 years old, passed the pre-second grade of EIKEN.
She let Mitsuru take two private lessons per week. One is from me, the other is from Bob(a native English speaker.)
Do you know the tuition of private lessons at my school? One private lesson(50 minutes) is about 10,000yen! (Don't misunderstand! I don't get paid such much money!!)
She made Mitsuru's contracts with 20 private lessons. Half of them are my lessons.

Misturu is a pretty obedient boy. He always tries very hard during my lessons, but also seems to be very sleepy. He said he was busy with tennis club activities & study (not only English, but every subjects.) "Juggling a job, household, and study" is always my concern, but this 13-year-old boy may have the same concern as me...

The other boy, Takuya, is 16 years old. His aim is to pass the second grade of EIKEN. Oh, correction:his mother's aim...
His family is pretty famous in my school because the whole family members have been our students for several years. How much money have they spent us? Yes, they are VIP! Very Important People!!

Just after Takuya's first lesson, I called his mother. I wanted to tell her about his text book. The call was supposed to finish in a few minutes.
However...she started to tell me how her two sons had studied English, and how English is important for two of them for 40 minutes. I was listening to her talking, how crucial for him to pass the second grade of EIKEN.
She was not demanding, rather than a good person. She said," I know the most important thing is how Takuya can work hard. I applied for 30 private lessons from you. If the result didn't come within the term, I will extend the contract!"
She also said she had made him take EIKEN every time. (The test is provided three times per year.)

By contrast from his mother's zeal, Takuya is so easy-going. Once, he forgot the textbook. On another day, he was late. Today, I said to him, "I heard you take EIKEN every time! The next EIKEN is this coming Sunday. How are you preparing?"
Then he said, "What!? This coming Sunday!? I didn't know that!!"

...Can I make the mothers dreams come true? Can I make them pass the EIKEN for real? The mothers' expectation and the children's initiation seems to have a big gaps. I don't know how it will go, but... what can do is just do my best!

Not only me, but you also, test-taker boys!

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