TUTORING

July 2009... Rainy season... A text message startled the hibernating screen of my mobile phone which was lying coldly on the desk...

"Sir, do you have tym for tutor?"
Typical Korean way of asking for help in English studies in the Philippines... What the....

With the busy schedule that I have, tutoring a Korean would be next to impossible. I paused for a while.... Thought of the proposal... Made a decision...

"Sorry, I got no time. Find another one." I made it really straightforward because this person was my student during the previous semester.

But the phone kept receiving follow-up messages. Eventually, because of the persistence of the sender, I replied. I asked for info. "Who is the tutee?"

"Not me, one korean professor wants to study with you, she live in our house, even me study sometym with you hehe"

I really took my time to think over this one! Hmmm, "professor"...? "Wants to study with me?" Could this be an opportunity for new learning experiences to take place?

Then another text message came in... "Sir, if you dont want its ok for me, i dont want you and my relationship is not good"

I realized that I've forgotten to reply.. It's already around 20 minutes past the last text I received.. Hmmm, what shall I say?

I eventually agreed to teach the Korean professor. I learned that she is a professor in Busan City, South Korea. She just came to the Philippines to hone her English communication skills.

When the UB suspended classes due to the threats of AH1N1, I took the chance to visit her and talk to her about the details of our tutorial sessions.

Her name is Mrs. Kim Mi Ra. She is a professor of recreational therapy. She is from Daegu City.

Note: The italicized texts are lifted verbatim from the SMS messages received by this blogger.