Tea For Two

After finishing my TESOL course this weekend, I have to say that I've gained all sorts of new respect for teachers. Now that I have a bit more insight into all the planning and preparation they have to do, it seems that it's an even more difficult profession than I once believed. I'm reflecting back on the teachers that I had growing up and seeing them in an entirely different light. Some of them better, some of them worse - all of them facing a difficult challenge with a confidence that soon I'm going to have to wear. Over the last week, I've had a lot of moments where I dipped back into memory and tried to learn something other than the lesson I was being taught. If only I had realized at the time that the delivery is just as important as the content, maybe then I wouldn't have denounced a 'silly' activity as such if I knew that sometimes it's the best approach.

Break.

She was behind me as I was walking out the building. While I held the door open for her, she had stopped to look at a book; maybe she stopped because she knew what I was thinking. I came back over - feeling a hint of future regret - and asked her if she would like to go for tea some time. Actually, that's what I should have said, what I really said was that we should go for tea some time. There's an implied difference there and I hope that's what she was overlooking when her eyes darted off to the side as she apprehensively agreed. But I know that look now. I know that tone when saying yes. I know it all means something else entirely.