Have y’all seen the random videos of this kid, Mr. Okoloko, trying to learn English? He’s def Chinese btw, not Japanese. Anyway, idk why it’s so endearing and funny to me watching those videos of him. I’m always rooting for him. The struggle is real! And his sister(?) keeps losing her shit lol. Imagine being so angry trying to teach someone something that you can’t help but slap em. The amount of inner rage must be intense!
I used to tutor math (arithmetic and algebra) at a local college during my summer breaks from my college days, and slapping the students out of frustration was definitely not an option 🤪. There was a lot of practicing patience. It was an interesting experience and was nice to finally earn some money too! I was quite young at the time and not the most empathic either. The most memorable memory I have of that time was almost getting into a fight with a student lol.
This tutoring program was designed for people who weren’t able to get into the college because they couldn’t pass the math exam. So, I assume the reason students were in this program was that they wanted to attend the school. Most students understood they needed help and worked really hard to figure things out, even if they were struggling. But there was this one student who stood out differently. It seemed like they were forced to be there against their will.
I was assigned to that particular student who clearly didn’t want to be there. Imagine just straight up attitude, exasperation, frustration, “UGHHHHH I shouldn’t be here” energy. ALL. THE. TIME. I wasn’t sure how to deal with them. I tried my best but I remember it was a constant struggle. Working with someone for weeks and seeing little to no progress due to their NO to life is disheartening. Felt like a waste of time for the both of us. The student was also a bit… not gangster per se… hmm… but more like I guess “too cool for school” vibes? I think doing math problems probably felt like attempting to solve world hunger for them. They just could not be bothered.
Anyway, one day as things got really stressful, because we might’ve been approaching an exam iirc, they sat across from me and angrily said, “I Am AgGrAVaTeD.” I was already fed up to my eyeballs with their attitude after weeks of not making much progress. I stared at them, with my non empathetic brain that was already pushed to my own limits of interpersonal interactions, combined with an empty cup of patience, and I autistically and neurodivergently corrected them. I said, “You mean you’re feeling irritated.” They snapped back with, “WHAT?!!” I calmly and very matter-of-factly said, “You can’t be aggravated. You can only aggravate a situation or a condition. So I think what you meant to say is that you’re feeling irritated right now.”
At that moment, I think I saw my life flash before my eyes lol. The amplifying rage was startling. The student immediately got up and started screaming something like, “DON’T TELL ME… WHAT I…….. I…… I AM… …. ….. AGGRAVATEDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!” doubling down on their colloquial usage of the word, completely spiraling into Hulk mode, and throwing one of the biggest public tantrums I have ever witnessed in my entire life. I thought to myself, “Oh no! Did I do something wrong? Should I not have corrected them? But what if they continue living their life not knowing the actual definition of the word?! That’d be terrible! They’d look so foolish!” Oh, silly younger me to even think that would’ve even mattered to them (or anyone, really lol) 🤣
The head teacher immediately came over to see what was going on and removed this student from my table. They then quickly swapped our students around with another tutor’s. After things had settled down, I did notice that my old student seemed to do much better with their new tutor, was much calmer, and seemed to listen better with them, which was fine with me. I’m just glad things didn’t get worse. But boy oh boy was that an experience lol.
I guess the lesson I learned back then is that it’s important to be empathetic towards others’ struggles, and correcting their grammar when they’re already at their breaking point is definitely ill advised, LMAO! Thankfully, I’ve grown a lot from that time and am not as emotionally or empathetically dense as before. Romantically still dense, but at least I can actually try to imagine what others might be going through and empathize with their struggles now. Rest assured, I don’t go around correcting people’s grammar anymore. Only if they ask, and no one ever asks 😫. One thing at a time though… this chaos baby is trying her best! Anyway, what a wild memory 🤣
I do wonder what Mr. Okoloko is up to these days and if he were able to learn English properly. I hope he’s figured things out. Whatever the case, learning new things that we aren’t naturally good at can be so hard!! But I think with dedication and consistency, improvements can definitely be made. Remember to be kind to yourself when trying to learn something new!
Aja aja fighting!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️