Girl On A Plane --- Pupils I Remember (2)

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Several years ago my husband and I spent our Christmas holidays/vacation in Florida. When it was time to return, the weather had turned so nasty in the Southern states that we were afraid we wouldn't be able to leave the USA and fly to Frankfurt/Germany where we had to change again. Luck would have it that we got seats on the last plane leaving Florida. It took us to Atlanta where Europeans change planes. We had to wait on the airfield for quite some time so that passengers from the Southern states which were being snowed under could join us. I was reading something to pass the time when I suddenly heard my name. I couldn't believe it! A girl from my current A-level course of English was standing in the aisle. In those days I was teaching at a secondary grammar school in Germany which can be explained as a highschool plus junior college. After successfully passing the final exam the pupils, or rather students, can go to university and study. They're usually 18 or 19 years old then. The girl had had a close boyfriend for many years who was one year older. He had already begun studying geology at a German university and had then gone to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, whose university is twinned with the German one. She had visited him there (Some young people have too much money!) She beamed at me and said that she was glad to see me because her bf had told her explicitly to tell me something. Namely this: My teaching method wasn't worth much. I hadn't prepared my pupils well to be able to follow lectures by native speakers. She was telling me this as if she was recounting a compliment which would make me happy. I got up from my seat and told her to listen attentively so that she could repeat everything the next time she communicated with her bf. Firstly, her bf had chosen the course with three lessons a week and not the one with five lessons. It's logical that one can't learn so much in the B course. It was mainly a repetition of grammar and an expansion of the general vocabulary. Secondly, I had to follow the curriculum coming from the Ministry of Education concerning the topics which were not - surprise, surprise - specialised texts on geology. Thirdly, everybody knows that the American English in the Southern states is more difficult to understand for foreigners than the one of the East Coast. It wasn't my problem that he had chosen Baton Rouge. Fourthly, and this was the most important item, her bf was a lazy slacker if there ever was one. The only thing he was good at was giggling inanely during the lessons. Hmmm. She opened her mouth and then shut it again. She slunk to her seat and that was it. I never heard any complaints again. The cheek of it! ----- If you click on the green bar at the top of the page, you can find my other posts on the topic.