Self-Evaluation It Seems...

“Why B.A? Why M.A? Why Literature? Do you want to become a teacher/lecturer?”

These questions have dogged me ever since I decided I’m going to take up Arts, and specialize in English Literature. And I’ve doggedly dodged the questions refusing to satisfy anyone’s curiosity or appease their frustrated attempts at making me consider more lucrative career options. My decision to take up French was met with some relief, for most people thought I was aiming for the corporate world and the well-paying field of interpretation. Yet, through-out my under-graduate years and even during post-graduate studies I never, in my wildest (or most sober, if you please) dreams, imagined I’d end up in the teaching profession. I knew I’d do something related to Language and Culture, but what exactly, I wasn’t sure. Frankly back then, even I didn’t know the answer. So when I took up teaching, most people around me weren’t as surprised as I was (specially since I started with the dreaded kid’s course)!

Yesterday was the last day of my fifth session with Alliance Française de Poona. I’ve had a rollicking time this session – it was more of fun and sharing my knowledge, than actual teaching/working. Today, I got a call from an ex-student from my weekend batch, asking me if I’d be teaching a 1B in the next session and I burst out laughing on the phone. The current batch has been asking me the same thing for the last few days – initially I thought they were just asking because of the comfort level that is attained by the end of a session between a teacher and students, which makes you want to continue in the same group – but now I’m beginning to think that perhaps I am a likeable professor, irrespective of the fact that I do make them write a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot!

I don’t think I fit any of the stereotypes one has about teachers, except maybe the fact that I am bespectacled ;-) and that I was a sincere student who had an astonishing 90% attendance in college and expects the same from everyone else ;-) Yeah well, I have high expectations from the world in general! Seriously though, I was thinking about my classes and realized that with my appearance, my attire (faded jeans with glass-paint stains!), my attitude and my antics in class (I talk to myself, I tap my feet and swing my hips when I’m teaching them a song and I threaten to throw my pen-knife at them when they make silly mistakes), it’s a little wonder that I have such an easy, relaxed relationship with my students. Plus I’ve lost my cool only thrice and am generally quite lenient, since I think my students are old enough to decide where their priorities lie and thus old enough to choose between responsibility and discipline and the opposite.

I attended an Alliance Française organized cultural event yesterday with some of my students (a Nouveau-Cirque group that calls itself “Méli-Mélo” )…my brother was also there with his partner and after the event, they both had one thing to say – that they would never have guessed I was their teacher, not their friend, if not for the fact, that most of them address me as “Ma’am” (atleast the ones younger to me – still can’t get them to call me Mademoiselle)! I’m not quite sure how to react to it, but I do know that it feels nice when my students stay in touch and want to continue with me as their teacher. I’m guessing that means I rock as a teacher. I think I’d give myself an 8 on 10 ;-)

P.S The current batch has done quite well, making me even prouder of them, than I already was, after having replaced a colleague for 4 days and walking away from that class horrified at their lack of comprehension and required level of fluency, not to mention complete lack of discipline!

P.P.S The Nouveau Cirque performance was amazing – I’m not sure I managed to interpret it correctly (the main theme being the delicate balance and transition from childhood to adulthood and the over-all absurdity of our existence), but in terms of performance it was a really well-executed and entertaining display of acrobatics, gymnastics combined with dance and mime. The backdrop of the Shaniwar-wada fort highlighted the absurdity of their act, though the acoustics could have been better had it been in a closed auditorium or else at least quieter environs, not bang in the center of the old city and one of the most traffic-congested areas of the city.

Current Music :- Pretty Child by Indus Creed.
Current Book :- Nearly done with Perfume – it’s made my hair stand at ends, yet drawn me to it, like a moth is drawn to fire. It’s definitely not a book that you can read, without any kind of reaction. Perhaps it wouldn’t qualify as high-brow literature (one never knows), but considering the fact that I’ve not been very impressed by most works that are hailed by literary critics these days, I’d rather read something of this sort, than well…other literary trash! *chortling with wicked mirth*
Current Mood :- Satisfied.