My first assignment was to take over an Arts remedial English class until the end of the semester. It was in a medium-size lecture hall. There were about twenty rows of seats in the form of wooden benches rising from the front to the back. Ninety per cent of the students in front were girls in black, literally head cover that falls to their knees and they wore a black robe that cover them such that I can't see their slippers. Once they sat down, I could see flowery and colourful cloth peeping out from under the robe. Most of the guys were at the back of the lecture hall, sometimes I see a few colourfully clad girls sitting at the back but a few seats from the guys.
My first lesson, I did try to invite the back benchers down to the middle of the hall. Try as I might, they refused to come down. Using my voice projection, I doubted if they could hear me from 35 feet away and forty feet higher than my teacher's platform. By the second lesson, I realized that they were there to earn their 80% attendance to allow them to sit for their final examination. Therefore I concentrated on the front students and slowly teach them, not attempting to finish every teaching goal but rather make sure they understand and really learn something new every single lesson. That goal must have led those majority number to perform well, much to my surprise, I was invited back the following semester as a regular part-timer.
It was interesting to find that those back benchers were all scholarship holders. They seemed to see English as a source of corruption, therefore they refused to be corrupted. Anyway, they were going to become Government servants and need not speak a word of English in their daily work. I elect to leave them alone, well, they are well set for life. There is no need to teach a second language to them who have the guarantee of a life time promise of employment.
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