Elizabeth's English Lectures (CEO, A-listers Academy/ALA)

Image credit: Freepik  I really love it when students finally learn to speak in the language they are learning. As the language barrier starts to break, their personalities start to show. Student: Teacher, Coronavirus is bad… I can’t go out! I became fat! I eat, I eat, I watch TV, I play cellphone games, I eat! I don’t go to school, I don’t meet my friends! I want to diet! Me: No, I don't think you are fat. But, if you think you will feel better if you lose a little  weight, then go for it.  After a week…   Me: Hi (Her name), how’s your diet? Student: I did not do it. It’s difficult.   After another week: Me: So how’s your diet? Student: Ah, no… I did not do it… in the world, there are many delicious foods! After another week Me: How’s your diet? Student: Ah, no… nothing. Tomorrow, I will start… I laughed hard. I myself have been planning to exercise and go on a diet since 2010, but I always say "Tomorrow, I will start..."  Again, after anothe

  It’s been a year since the pandemic started. When the government of my country declared a total lockdown in March, I said to myself, “Okay, here’s another valid reason for me not to go out.”   I think I have always been a city hermit, if there’s such a thing. Even before the pandemic started, I would go out only when I needed to buy some essentials. Occasionally, I would stay in Starbucks or McDonald’s reading a book or writing a blog post while sipping coffee. And even before the pandemic, I had been wearing a face mask for a while because I have smoke/dust allergies.   So when the lockdown started, I thought I would not be mentally nor emotionally affected. I was very wrong. A few weeks into the lockdown, I felt uneasy. Maybe it’s because I knew that in many parts of the country, there were many people struggling to get by. Those are the people euphemistically called “people living in the fringes of the society”.   Every day I would see poignant pictures posted on social media.