ESL is Heartbreaking Work.....

ESL (English as a Second Language) can be heartbreaking work. If you don't want to see the door hitting their backside as they head for the airport and America or England, don't teach them or encourage them by telling them they are smart and ambitious enough to do it. Instead, tell them that their background (from Isan) or their orthodox shyness or their Thailish (English as attempted to be spoken by Thai people) or their intelligence (only 4.0 GPA) is not good enough for the ol' USA or those stuck-up Oxford types.

Despite my best attempts to slow them down my speech betrayeth me and they learn and leave me anyway, SIGH! About 25 of my students are, even as we speak, infiltrating Western culture and poisoning it with their saccharin smiles and overly courteous ways. If you happen by the campuses of MIT or Stanford or Harvard, watch out, and more so if they ask you, "Where is the Taco Bell? Mr. Randy wanted me to take a picture of it and eat taco for him."