One undeniably fascinating aspect of being an English tutor is getting a glimpse into how other people see English as a language and school course. My students hate English, not so much as a language, but as a course. They think that it's irrelevant, and I suppose that since their marks aren't the highest in their respective English courses, they have no affection towards the subject. Their feelings toward English as a language range from indifference to slight distaste -- it's necessary to know for survival in Canada, but beyond that, it's quite useless. One of my students, J1, even said that he would like to go to school in China maybe, because at least there, he wouldn't have English class like the ones here in Vancouver. Something to note is that he has never been to China or anywhere else in Asia so he truly has no real understanding of schooling outside of Vancouver. Granted, I don't either, but that's beside the point. The point that J1 wanted to make with his statement was that his Cantonese and Mandarin were good enough, he thought, so that he could enjoy school more in Asia.
Beyond hearing the kids' impressions of English, I get glimpses into their home life and a culture that is surprisingly foreign to me. But that's for another time and another post...
It seems that at this point in the school year, things are starting to wind down and the kids are getting less and less homework. I didn't think that teachers would start lessening the load until June, but this means that I have more time to develop the kids' skills and to expose them to things outside of the realm of homework. I'm not sure if I'm the only tutor who has this sentiment, but I feel as though homework is just a waste of time. Perhaps I should word that better. Homework itself is fine, I understand the need for it, but the amount of it that teachers assign is either not enough or too little, and the fact that so many of my students' teachers (for yes, I help them with whatever homework they have that they find difficult, with the exception of Mandarin) don't check or collect the homework renders the goodness of homework obsolete; if there's no short-term incentive for doing the homework, then students are not going to do it. This is something that I found when I tried to assign J2 extra Math questions because she sorely needed extra practice with decimals. At this point in their lives, these kids are not going to do homework for their own good, practice, or betterment. I personally felt the same way in high school, and it was not until university when I realized that I really needed to do the "optional" homework in order to get a decent grasp on the material.
In terms of English homework, there isn't much for these kids to do, much to my delight. So while I was walking J2 through her Science homework -- given that the girl doesn't understand erosion after a month of studying the process, I am inclined to believe that she needs to be walked through it -- I decided to read the first Harry Potter book to her. I didn't have it on me, of course, and besides she had plenty of homework to plod through, but I voiced my intentions and she made a face. Yes, the girl, all of 13 years old, made a face at my declaring that I'd read
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to her.
"I don't like Harry Potter," she said, her voice somewhat contemptuous.
"Why?"
"I didn't like the movies."
I gave her an exasperated look. "The movies and the books are not the same."
"Yeah," her brother chimed in.
"Well, actually I liked the last movie," she clarified. "But I only read good books. If it isn't good, I won't even finish it! And Harry Potter isn't hot. He has glasses, and that scar, and that hair."
"Wait, so you think that a protagonist has to be hot for a book to be good?" I asked, incredulous.
She giggles. "Yes. Like vampires."
Ladies and gentlemen, that just sums up this age of readers, doesn't it?
I am not going to go into the saturation of the YA genre and how Twilight seemed to be the turning point when that entire genre melted into a mythological-creature/human/interspecies lovefest. That is another discussion for another day.
To finish up this story, I did read the first chapter of the Philosopher's Stone and both of my students listened in, and J2 even had her face all pressed up close to the book as I finished the last page of the chapter. I remember when I was in grade 3 and I had become sick of reading -- I had read all of the interesting kids books at the library, and I was starting to feel too old for some of them. I remember my mom bringing home the first Harry Potter book and absolutely falling in love with the world and the characters. I hope that this is the start of a similar experience for these kids. Sure, this isn't going to be a romantic series full of "hot" people. Sure, this isn't a non-fiction piece about technology. But what it is is a good story, and goodness knows that we all need to read some of those sometimes. I'm not going to say that JK Rowling is the best writer, nor would I say that she is one of the world's most talented writers, but she is an A+ storyteller.
If anyone has any suggestions for good quality books for a 13-year-old girl and/or a 15-year-old boy, please let me know in the comments!
2 comments:
For the boy, how about A Song of Ice and Fire and Ender's Game?
War and Peace is probably a bit too long and difficult.
I always enjoyed David Eddings (fantasy) and Jonathan Kellerman (detective thriller) when I was in high school, so maybe you can check that out as well?
As an English tutor too I can empathize with your pain..haha. Good luck!
Ah, Ender's Game, I remember my brother reading that series! He quite enjoyed it so yes, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I myself adore the ASOIAF series, but I worry that the length of the books might scare him. Also, the fact that he is a bit immature, especially when it comes to private parts -- i.e. he would probably confused by the term "cunny" & laugh every time "cock" is mentioned -- being mentioned makes me think that maybe I'll hold off on suggesting the ASOIAF books.
Awesome, I haven't heard of Eddings or Kellerman so I'll look into their works!
From what I've gotten out of the boy, he doesn't seem to be a big fantasy fan, so that really limits the extent of my knowledge, haha. Granted, he told me that he will "read anything", but the books that he's read of his own volition have been non-fiction works relating to technology. He does enjoy these humourous "bildungsroman" type stories focused on male teenagers assigned to him for English class, so hopefully he really is game to read anything!
Thanks for your suggestions, djia!
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