Daily life

What is the life of a City tutor?

Getting ready in the morning, vite vite! I can't miss this train or there won't be another one before 15/20 minutes, and I can't have that. In the train, it's make-up time, email and text checking. Who has cancelled? Who wants to change their lesson day or time? Who is ill? Who can't be bothered so will use a bad excuse? Never mind, if it's a late cancellation, I am paid. Fair enough. I've prepared my lesson, I got up for you, my first student. The worst is when you cancel and I'm already in the train, no, I don't like that. My warm bed was better.

The train is also a time to catch up with my book of the moment. It is also a moment when everything can change, as you read above. As it's email and text catching up time, one can receive very good or very bad news and then the mood of your day can change.

The good news, like today: someone has recommended you, and you have a new student in your usual teaching area the following week, awesome! Or you're received a big payment. The bad news can be: someone stops lessons, someone is ill again (this usually means 'lost motivation', inventing or making symptoms worse to cancel), someone you have recommended has messed up. That's bad news. It's all about trust and recommendations in this business. The big rule is: don't mess up, don't be badly organized with your admin, invoices, timesheets, or agencies won't call you again.

Midday: you can't eat because you're teaching. If you're lucky, you can grab a chocolate/fruit/biscuit in the reception area of a very nice company. 2pm: you're done and can not quite eat right now, as you've got a train or tube to catch: "god, que j'ai faim!!!"

2.30: in the train, ahhh, bar eating (sandwich if I'm lucky). Lovely. Drink, email/text check: no big news, great. Nice rest.

3pm: home, lunch? Opening proper mail (yes, with real envelopes), parcels...Collecting the parcels delivery people have left at the door, what do they think they're doing?

4-7pm: evening lessons, this is when you teach in homes, small houses, big houses, mansions, teenagers, children, usually learning for exams, or adults learning for pleasure, love or business.

When I say 'learning for love', I mean learning a language to communicate with the person's partner's family. Christmas is coming, that's important. Imagine spending 3 days in your partner's family without understanding anything except 'yes', 'no', 'bread', 'snails'. You're not going to enjoy the moment the same way. It can be frustrating. So people from mixed couples decide to make an effort to learn the language of the other. And what an effort it is, it's hours of personal work studying vocabulary and verbs, listening to CDs, the radio, watching films to immerse oneself in the language. Years of labour, but so rewarding.

8-11.30pm:
back home, quick dinner, emails again, there are always evening news, because that's when people have time to write (kids are in bed, that helps). Responding to new inquiries, lessons preparation for the next day. Diary updates. Some tutors don't seem to have a diary, that's insane! Paperchase is one of the best places to buy one. And I don't recommend buying any diary as it says a lot about you. Sobre, c'est mieux.

TV, invoicing, DVD catch up (rare). Swapping books on www.readitswapit.com, buying books on Amazon. And collapse in bed.