Thank you in advance for pointing out my mistakes!
I have learned English from many English teachers since I came to Canada.These days one of my English teachers is Steve, a retired engineer who came to Canada in 1970s from England. Steve is a tall man, that when talking with him, if not sitting, you need to lift your head him at 45 degrees so that you can meet his eyes. Steve got retired a few years ago and now he is teaching immigrants English in a church organized by two clergymen. Steve's class is not like a formal English class that detailed teaching materials are carefully planed by the teacher, the feature of his class is that, students are there to open their mouths and talk, expressing themselves by using English they have already learned but got no chance to practice. With materials Steve hands out, which mostly are some commonly used idioms, everybody in the class has opportunities to express his opinions without feeling left out and sometimes we can even talk whatever tickles our fancy relaxingly, but on a par with that everyone is given equal time as everyone else. However, because of his British accents, I didn't quite catch what he said in the beginning, but the good thing is that, as time goes by the more I go to his class, the more I can understand him. Since I am fascinated with conversational English and the charisma of Steve, I make every effort to attend his class unless I am extremely busy with my work and family commitments.
So that Monday morning three weeks ago, had been skipping his class for two weeks in a row, to a little bit of my surprise when I went to his class again, I was told that he and his wife had gone to England visiting their family. Since it is not a formal English school, quickly, students in Steve's class were arranged to join other classes that fit them. However, in order to obtain more opportunities to chat, I preferred to stay with a teacher who was also volunteering to take care of children in the playroom until Steve came back last week.
This morning, even though I got a bit bogged down I still could make it going to Steve's class. In the class, using a playbook which seems to have become a trendy high-tech thing amongst baby boomers these days, he showed us the pictures he took while staying in England. It seemed that they had a wonderful time traveling in England. In fact, beside staying with his mother-in-law, they also traveled to counties in the neighbourhood of the community where his family reside and even France. The fun thing to do was, based on Steve, in the same day they could have sausage in France for breakfast and fish and chips for supper in England. I said I admired his wonderful life and I wished I were retired now so that I could enjoy traveling around the world like him. With a smile he said his daughter was jealous at him since she couldn't make it going with them this time. After all, he said, to his daughter, lamb on the field and on the plate on the dinner table is a big attractiveness.
According to Steve, the reason they visit England every so often is that they need to see his mother-in-law who is a 93 year old lady, living with Steve's sister-in-law in the south of England. His mother-in-law, although looks energetic in pictures, Steve and his wife were still anxious about her health last year when she was very sick and could not get back on her feet for quite a while.
Maybe with the professionalism and expertise in mechanical engineering and working as an engineer for a large company which produces pulp and paper before he get retired doesn't make Steve the best English teacher, but in the course of conversations with him, I can tell that he is not only a good hu*****and, a nice son-in-law, but also a great father and a wonderful grandfather.
This morning, sine our conversations are always relaxing and fun, we had no difficulties to follow him when Steven switched his England trip topic into his granddaughter, who is a grade seven student, an outstanding synchronized swimmer in the city for her age. Based on Steve, she is taking four swimming class this fall, although they are not living together, every week, Steven still can save this little girl's parents a trip back and forth from home to the aquatic center in downtown. From time to time, while Steve mentions his grandchildren you can see that his eyes are beaming with pride and joy, which discloses the deep love from the bottom of his heart to his loved ones. Without limit, I give Steve credits for being a great father and grandfather.
I never doubt that when a person is giving without expecting payback is the way to create an intimate bond between oneself and his/her family. In the future, I am not sure if I could become a brilliant grandparent like Steve who can get along so well with his family, and love my grandchildren as he does. Probably, compared with Steve, I will not in the same league, but one thing I am certain is that I should keep being a happy person living with a positive attitude,and keep bringing my laughter to my family and my friends online and offline. I wish I could go to Steve's class more often and learn more English from him and, of course, more things other than English.
