Mind your language

SO, IT’S back to normal, Friday bingo, charity fundraising music events and a distinct lack of social distancing. But being part of a business that depends on tourists (remember them?) my “normal” life has had to change.

There are only so many hours in the day where you can clean, read and cook. Even my poor dogs have had enough of getting walked twice, if not three times a day. I mentioned the word ‘walk’ the other day and I could have sworn I heard them groan.

All this spare time it has made me think I should be working my brain and keeping it active. I loved the English language growing up, Shakespeare, Keates, Dahl, anyone that could make a sentence come alive out of the pages. I remember the first Harry Potter book being released and was lost in JK Rowling’s magical world, so as I grew up and started to think about what I want to do with my life. I knew I wanted to make people come alive with my own words. Journalism was the way I saw that happening.

Growing up in a Devil Wears Prada and Sex in the City world, I had thought fashion was how I was going to make people come alive. My mum on the other hand, encouraged me to focus on English and look into teaching. I had just left school and after fifteen years of being in classrooms five days a week, the last thing I considered was being a teacher! I remember walking around Winchester University thinking “BLAH BLAH BLAH” studying English Language and Literature until I am 22? Good God no. At 18, I wanted to travel. I wanted to write about fashion and live fashion! Fast forward 12 years and I have finally learnt one of life’s valuable lessons... your mother is always right! (Well, almost always) Teaching is now part of my life and the new path I am about to pursue.

After running an incredibly successful tourism business for the past eight years, life has thrown a curve ball. During the lockdown, I figured the spare time, that for the past eight summers I have only dreamt of, should be put to good use. I decided to not follow the lockdown trend of making copious amounts of banana bread and watching Netflix in my pyjamas all day. One, my waistline would have increased massively but I would now be wondering if should have spent my time more wisely. I am now leaving lockdown with my new found knowledge, my cabin fever cured and my jeans still fitting!

On completing my Teaching English as a Foreign Language course (TEFL) I realise that English is an incredibly difficult language to learn. It does not follow any rules! Whoever invented grammar and spelling for the English language said goodbye to rules and chucked them out of the window. Often in the course, the lecturer would say: “There is no explanation why we do it that way, but it is just the way it is done!” This is one of those examples: If the ‘gh’ sound in enough is pronounced ‘f’ and the ‘o’ in woman makes the short ‘I’ sound and the ‘ti’ in nation is pronounced ‘sh’ then ‘GHOTI’ is pronounced just like ‘FISH’. How do you explain that to a student who does not speak fluent English?

I can only imagine that it is going to be fun and a bit mind boggling. The example excites me about language and I can not wait to overcome that challenge with a student.

As a native speaker, I feel absolutely blessed that I could arrive in almost any country in the world and know someone will speak a little English or at least understand. I have met many people here in Cyprus and elsewhere who speak incredible English and it is often their second, third or even fourth language. Apparently, one billion people speak English as a second language. With the world getting smaller, albeit via Zoom in the current corona times, and the increased need for English it was a perfect time to put my love of language to good use. Not just that, but a global pandemic is a pretty good time to take some time out and learn something new.

I haven’t had a pupil yet, but now lockdown has to come to an end and schools won’t open until September, perhaps parents are screaming out for tutors to take the burden of home schooling off their hands? Perhaps even the kids are screaming for someone to take their parents off their hands for an hour a day!