A few days ago, I received a tutoring gig referral from a headmaster of a children's English cram school. I was informed that the parent was working as a professional in the legal industry. It should have been like any normal referral, I assumed. Little did I know that there was some surprises in store for me. The parent entered the coffee shop with the seventh grade daughter, identifying me and then sort of taken aback that I was a 30+ year-old, Taiwanese-looking Asian American. I did NOT wear anything odd on that day. I wore a light blue shirt and khaki pants with brown leather shoes to go with it. Perhaps I localized too much. Perhaps I did not fit the "typical" profile of an "American-born Chinese (ABC)" English teacher.
Whatever it was, our talk started off on the wrong foot. I could feel it as the parent awkwardly started talking. I sensed her uneasiness and offered to show her my generic Mandarin resume. After reading it, she then began a series of questions that seemed innocuous but were aimed at a my legitimacy based on my birthplace and language familiarity. Questions such as, "oh so when did you go to the US" and "so why didn't you become a doctor" were not only marginally inappropriate, but also irrelevant to the purpose of the meet-up. Wasn't she trying to find a suitable tutor for her kid? Or was she trying to find an instructor with a certain profile? I coolly deflected the uncertainties that were addressed indirectly via Mandarin wording or non-verbal gestures. Strictly speaking, people who went to the US after being born in Taiwan aren't Americans or ABC's. Secondly, whether a person is qualified to teach English or not is not predetermined by the color of their skin or birthplace. Methodically, I then pointed out that where a lawyer graduates from does not have ANY direct indication as to the person's ability to perform in the court of law. The parent made an undecipherable sound in her throat. Again, whatever it was, I am making my point clear that application of knowledge out-trumps theoretical familiarity of it any time. I will refrain from divulging details of the rest of the conversation on the basis of client privacy and privileges. In summary, we ultimately made a temporary agreement to starting out with a certain number of classes as an initial package deal. Since I was not exactly receiving the best of vibes, I did state all the possibilities in case things do not work out. She smartly sensed my displeasure and consented that if there are things that needed adjustments, she would be willing to try and comply. Hopefully throughout the course of time, things would work themselves out. What sort of bummed me out a bit was that despite my clear indication that I might be unable to handle the kid's addition to my already-hectic schedule, she refused to try a college student whom I had tutored when he was in high school and is currently studying Foreign Languages/English in Taiwan's No. 1-ranked university. I understand the need for excellence, but I fail to see the assumption that there is nothing for a 12 or 13-year-old kid to learn from a dedicated undergrad student tutor. We shall see how things unfold next week. If things go south, I honestly am more than happy to get more time back for myself. Last but not least, I coach English debate because I love critical thinking and understand its powers. For future students and parents, I would like to tell you that we should be logical and sensible on first meets. Whether an amiable conversation or a smoldering discussion happens, completely depends on what kind of assumptions and thoughts you have in mind when you approach me. Past and current parents/students all understand that while I am ethnically Taiwanese, much of my teaching principles and negotiation manners are quite American/Western/non-Asian. Let's make Taiwan a better place by setting aside racial profiling, excessive power plays, and highly distorted assumptions when we are trying to find out what's best in terms of education. Saves everyone, quite a bit of time and an ample amount of passion. **My available tutoring time slots have all been filled from Oct 2019 until the end Jan 2020. I won't be receiving any new students to tutor or clients to train until the beginning of Feb 2020. Parents or students who have already made appointment or announced their intention to have me as their tutor or instructor are NOT affected by this. This announcement is specifically about TUTORING OR TRAINING NEEDS and DOES NOT include requests of a different nature. Please note that school requests for MUN and English debate are still open, provided that they are requested at least 2 weeks prior to the desired date. Thank you.
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