English: Venus of Marbella, Marbella, Málaga, Spain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sorry but I love telling about my students, but this one never became my student actually, she made me think a lot of how people get the wrong ideas.
I tend to spend a lot of time at work, even when I’m not teaching as my classroom is also my office and it’s where I handle this blog, I send and receive e-mails and I sometimes waste my time watching The Sopranos.
The knock at the door
A lady knocked at my door as she was interested in English lessons as English would be the best thing she could ever attempt to improve her career. We live in the Costa del Sol, where many foreigners live.
Getting the English spoken people in any business is a big thing anywhere near Marbella, and that was that lady’s intention. So far, everything was perfect. She had the motivation and she had the need.
Lack of commitment
She specifically asked me for hairdresser’s English, which I am not quite sure what it is. Especially with all the gossiping inside those places where a conversation can lead to any topic.
I had to look at her in the eye and be totally honest. “I can teach you English, and you can speak anywhere you want to” and she looked a bit disappointed and replied: “I only need to communicate in a hairdresser’s parlour, no other conversation needed”.
I recommended her to get a dictionary and translate concepts like “haircut” or “scissors”; or to study English for real. I also warned her that if anyone told her that by teaching her a couple of terms she’d be speaking hairdresser’s English, she was being scammed.
She had the perfect motivation, but she lacked the commitment. At least she was true to herself and to me as well and none of us wasted our time.
Why not doing it after all?
Once I explained it to her, she was really thankful, and I tried to convince her to get aboard, but she said she was not going to study at all. She understood there were no easy shortcuts to success and I lost a customer but gained some self-esteem as I am not money motivated for this job.
Keep Thinking!
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Wow, thank you very much for the link to my blog. Hairdresser’s English … I thought hairdressers needed more than just words like ‘scissors’ and ‘mirror’, because they always talk for hours on end about the weather, politics and anything just to keep their customers entertained and to distract them so they won’t notice that they are actually cutting off more than you asked for. I’m glad you were honest to that woman. Keep on blogging (and teaching).
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Thank you!
Hairdresser’s language is the most difficult, you’re totally right 😉
Some people are just looking for a magic shortcut that doesn’t exist but there’s no satisfaction without effort!
Thank you for your support, and I will keep on blogging and teaching. Regards
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