the interview
So tired. I’m in the ghetto. Jersey City is it’s name. It reminds me a lot of Liberty City on Grand Theft Auto. I’ve gone to a couple of interview so far. The first was yesterday and ended very well. I’m pretty sure they’ll offer me the job. That one was in Manhattan but is only a part time position. The one today was a disaster….
I intereviewed at a place called Zoni Language Center, which is an ESL center for mostly working adults. The branch I interviewed at is located in another slummy town called West New York. Everything went great until the director told me to teach him him about the Present Perfect Tense. Easy, I thought as I walked up to the chalkboard in the empty classroom. And then, when I turned and faced him, I went blank. I couldn’t remember what the Present Perfect Tense was. He asked if I remembered what it was. I told him that I of course knew it. After a few seconds of standing there with a blank expression, it was painfully obvious that I had no idea what the Present Perfect was, much less teach it. I had to admit the fact and must have been beet red.
We talked for a few minutes about other teaching methods and then he asked me to teach him why some comparative and superlative adjectives end with "er" and "est" while others end must have "more" and "most" added to them; like big, bigger, and biggest versus enthusiastic, more enthusiastic, and most enthusiastic. I didn’t have a clue about the rule so I b.s.ed something about there being exceptions to rules in English or something like that. Again, I was embarassed when he told me the simple rule that adjectives which are one syllable long end with "er" or "est" while longer verbs utilize "more" and "most."
At that point, I couldn’t wait for him to tell me that my English skills were terrible so that I could get out of there as soon as possible. However, I did my best with the rest of the interview and he ended up offering me the job. I’m not sure how or why. But he did.
Unfortunately, i don’t think I’ll be taking it. 3 months of training. And after the interview today, I’ll feel like he’s doing me a favor by hiring me and I’ll feel bad if I decide to leave during the middle of training.
Anyway, so, I have another interview tomorrow morning. I hope it goes better than today’s. I’m just a little overwhelmed with everything so far and my head’s spinning a little. But I’ll be ok, eventually.
