Steve's sandbox

Tag: English

  • Samuel Franklin, March 2015

    Tutoring

    Since last November, I have been tutoring a 13 year old boy English. We meet each time at a café just five minutes’ walk from my room, where we talk for two hours.

    At first, I wasn’t sure if this would be a good use of my time, but on reflection I am pleased to have had this opportunity.

    Not only because we get on very well, but also as we realised we have a lot of common interests, including chess and maths puzzles. Through our exchanges, I have also gained a number of insights into the thoughts and ideals of the younger generation in China. For example, like a lot of boys his age, Mike’s dream is to go to America to work for a tech company, like Google or Microsoft.

  • Our Changing World

    It is now drawing closer towards the final month of my scholarship, so I want to make an effort to blog more regularly. I would like to give readers an insight into what life is like here, and the potential ways to strengthen ties between the UK and Pakistan in decades to come. A couple of days ago I was invited to visit the family of a friend, and I was simply overwhelmed by the welcome I received. I have found it so much easier to relate to people now that I can communicate with them on a deeper and more personal level. I often feel very encouraged when they told me the Urdu I speak sounds very ‘pure’ (I am sure they just wanted to tell me very gently that I sound old-fashioned). In truth, just liked English, Urdu is a whole mixture of different languages: Hindi, Farsi, Arabic and more recently, English. This shows real potential in the language, a willingness to change, and adapt according to the needs placed upon it. The world we live in is now changing faster than ever and thus our methods of communication must learn to keep up.