Today I had quite possibly the rudest student ever in my class. She was a Russian, with all the charm and wit that you'd associate with Vladimir Putin. And before you accuse me of libel (well, actually you can't, because you don't know who she is), let me tell you what happened.
Now, admittedly, I don't particularly like teaching grammar, and not just because we never did no grammar nor nuffink when I was at school. There are perfectly good grammar apps you can get for your phone, or websites you can look at. The emphasis on the lessons I do is speaking and listening in order to better integrate into British life, and I try to make the lessons as engaging and fun as I can. So today's lesson was themed around love (cue late 80s jazz-funk riff from 'Lessons in love' by that group whose name escapes me...I'll remember it in a bit). As a warm up, all the students had been trying to think of a definition for love, by completing the sentence 'Love is...', and we'd written up ideas on the board. It was just a bit of an ice-breaker, but there were some lovely sentences, such as 'Love is how I smile when I see you' or 'Love is an ocean of trust'. We were going through them and voting, so that we could get a class definition of what love is, and I was mid-sentence when Vlad-the-ESOL-student interrupted. "This is not interesting," she said. "It is not interesting for us."
Not only did she interrupt to tell me I was boring, she also felt she could speak on behalf of the whole class. Later I overheard her talking to my boss, and explaining how she needs to improve her English because she wants to work with children and nobody will employ her at the moment.
I have a sneaking suspicion that her inability to find work isn't entirely down to her English level.
Anyway, off to mop kitchen floor now xxx
ps - Level 42! I knew it would come to me eventually...