Substitute Tutor and Salary

I was supposed to make this blog yesterday evening but I didn't have internet connection. So...

I accepted a job as a substitute tutor on December 19 and 20, since I had nothing to do yet. It's to teach English to Korean kids. It's a challenging task for me since it's my first time to be a tutor and I find it hard to teach someone or to explain a concept or something like that to a person. The first day was a reaaaally long day for me. There are 6 students and 6 tutors. The system is that in the first hour, teacher A will tutor student A, then after the time's up, teacher A will tutor student B, and so on... In short, each tutor will get to teach all 6 students or rather, they do a cycle pattern or something. The schedule is 8:30-9:30||9:40-10:40||10:50-11:50||1:00-2:00||2:10-3:10||3:20-4:20... Since I was just a substitute, and I was given a short notice, I was not given the chance to prepare myself or to get to see the material that I was going to teach. So, I just did a quick scan on their books right on the spot. Each student had a different level in their English proficiency, so I also had to adjust to every student I handled (and they easily get bored.. ToT). Luckily though, I can still remember my past English lessons, not accurately, but at least in essence. The hard part was how to relay and make them understand the underlying rules in every grammar, sentence structures and right pronunciation in English (since it has A LOT of rules). How am I supposed to effectively and efficiently explain to them about English when I use English to talk to them? Language barrier. My dilemma in those two days was whether they had learned something from me or none at all. It's really a frustrating feeling when all my effort to teach was just futile. But I know I did my best, so I just hope that they did learn something from me, even just a little bit.

The tutors receive their week's pay every Friday. I received mine on December 21 (end of the world, eh??). It was my first time to receive a salary or pay. It was just a small amount since I only tutored for a total of 12 hours. But, it was a refreshing feeling when I got to hold the envelope containing my self-earned income. It's like my hard work and effort had been paid off (duh??? 'cause it's a compensation for the job XD). It's like I was holding a very precious treasure that I don't want to waste. It's really true when people say it's easy to spend money that is not ours (*ehem*parents*ehem*), but it's very hard to even spend a peso/penny of the money we worked hard to earn. (But I already spent a quarter of it... I had no choice.. ToT )

Right now, I am looking forward to receiving my first salary on a regular work. I know it will be a different feeling since I will be waiting for at least a month to receive it; which also means---it's a month worth of hard work!!! But before I get to experience that, I should first apply for a job. (I will really be in full force in January 2013!! Hopefully... Yes, I should be! No choice. Meh. **tehehe**)