Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

The relationship between a student and tutor is a very precious one.  The weekly hour spent at a kitchen or dining room table, debating the merits of mobile phones, making a fruit salad whist conversing in French or colouring in a picture of different coloured clothes is an experience I treasure.  I value the opportunity of working closely with someone who is interested in learning whatever their age, someone who is interesting to talk with and who has chosen you to help them on their learning journey.  

Teaching is, quite simply, one of the best jobs in the world.  To share someone's thoughts, hopes and dreams and to help them achieve an ambition is not something too many people get to experience in their everyday life.  I have had students call me, full of pride and bursting with confidence because they went to France, did some shopping and got what they wanted.  Others who managed to negotiate a better deal for their clients because they could put their case in French.  To have a student call and say "thank you, I got the grade I wanted in my exam" is wonderful.  Even better is when they stay in touch long after their official lessons end and you find you are more than their tutor, you are perhaps even their friend. I once met an ex-student for coffee and was astonished to hear her English accent, as we had always conversed in French until that point and yet I knew how she felt about subjects ranging from the effects of the TV on our society to where she stood on a number of highly controversial issues... it was no wonder the coffee turned to lunch and we didn't stop talking, as we had been talking like friends for months and not even realised!  

For the student, the relationship with the tutor is one based on trust.  Trust that the tutor will know their subject well and know how to teach it, even to someone who has not found it easy in the past.  Trust that they will laugh with them but never at them.  Trust  that the lesson will be planned but will grow organically to meet their needs and help them with whatever query they may have or whatever their need for that time is.  Trust that their hour at the table is truly theirs alone and nothing and no one else will compete with them for attention.   The tutor is theirs for that hour, at that table and the student's learning, confidence and progress are all that matter.

One of the nicest things that can be said at the end of a session is "wow, where did that hour go?".  As we all know, time flies when you are having fun and that is the best possible gift I can give a student: to make progress and really enjoy the learning process.