Monday, September 05, 2005

at last it can be told

So, do you remember Mr. Irish?

No? OK, let me sum up. Last February I sent a couple of resumes to the local businesses that teach English as a second language. Mr. Irish called me back, and I had an interview with him, but it became evident that I wasn't quite ready. I didn't have a background of teaching and didn't study more than the required amount of grammar in school (dear god, I don't think I've diagramed a sentence since third grade), and my French wasn't good enough to teach a beginner's class. I bought a couple of grammar books, but finally set them aside when I felt I'd have a better chance of finding a job relating to what I did in the states (oh ho ho how silly of me).

So life went on, I took my French classes, blah blah blah. Then, out of the blue, I got a message Thursday from Mr. Irish. I called him back Friday morning and learned that he's still interested in me and could I come in and see him.

For a paying job? Heck yeah, I'll be there in an hour!

So, I had to wait until this afternoon. To be honest with you, my first reaction was, "Oh no, I'll be a terrible teacher, I'd be better off waiting until I can find something that I'm more familiar with." And then I looked at the bank balance and thought, "Who am I kidding?"

So off I went. The interview went really great. Since I've got a bit more French under my belt, he feels more confident about placing me in an intermediate level course. He's so enthusiastic about what he does, that it's nearly impossible to catch a whiff of it and be ready to storm into a class.

Well, here's what it comes down to:

The Good News
For starters, I would be teaching 9 - 10 hours a week. This is perfect for starting out, so I can get comfortable with the material.

The pay doesn't suck.

The Bad Not So Great News
The classes he would like me to teach are evenings and Saturday mornings. I'm happy to take anything, even if it means we need to buy a second car (the buses stop running at 9pm and I don't like to take the bus after dark anyway if I can help it). But it does mean that I probably won't be able to sing with the Conservatory this year. Sure, the rehearsals are on Wednesdays this year, the only day during the week there aren't any English classes, but concerts are often during the week as well as extra rehearsals. Not singing this year will suck, but I gotta go where the money takes me. At least for now. But the good thing about evening classes is that I can continue taking French classes during the day.

Classes start at the end of the month, and he is in the process of firming up the schedules for the year. If all goes well, I should have received a phone call and have a contract in my hot little hands inside two weeks. I'm about ready to jump out of my skin with anticipation!

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