Hello, dear listeners!
We've launched a new series of episodes called Stories with Rory.
These episodes focus on storytelling and the ability to talk about different topics at length.
We know that it might be quite difficult to formulate a coherent story about a trip you made, your birthday party or all sorts of other things that happened to you.
You start off good, but by the fourth sentence you're lost in all these tenses and forget all the topic related vocabulary and you just can't hold it together really.
In this series of episodes, we'll be trying to help you fix that.
We'll be showing you how to be natural, express your thoughts clearly and use good language in your everyday English.
The topics we'll be discussing all come from the second part of the speaking exam.
We won't explain any of the vocabulary that you hear, so you might need a pen and paper to make a note of things, but we will be providing a transcript of everything that we say on our Patreon too.
But that's not it.
To make it more interesting for everyone, we've added a twist to these new episodes.
And we'll be playing truth or lie game.
Rory tells a story, I ask him questions about it and then decide if it's the truth or a lie.
All future episodes will be released exclusively on Patreon twice a month.
So if you are interested in hearing these episodes, check out our Patreon.
The link is in the description or on our social media.
Our today's topic is as follows.
Rory is gonna describe a situation or a time when he helped someone.
One of those rare occasions.
He should say who he helped and why how he helped this person, what the result was and he should explain how he felt about helping this person.
Rory, are you ready to rock and roll?
I am.
Come on, fire away.
So I'm going to tell you about the time before I came to Russia.
It was about six years ago, actually, and I was working at a summer school in London.
It was only a one week program, but I went down to stay there for a week and help out.
So while i was teaching we had a group of italian students and they were very, very nice.
But one of them in particular was quite special.
She had a learning difficulty called dyslexia, and she also has handwriting difficulties as well.
I forget what the name is for this particular disability, But she had all these problems with writing and understanding language, So I decided to help out as best I could.
I didn't really have much experience in helping people with learning difficulties, but I tried my best to integrate her into the activities and make allowances to help her.
It was really important to be as supportive and encouraging as possible.
And so I adapted a lot of the materials.
I had a lot prepared, so I had to change them all again.
And it really helped develop my patience as well as hers, because it took ages to get everything organized.
But the ultimate result was really good.
She had a great week and she was able to participate in all of the different activities that we had planned.
And this was great because she was really worried that she wouldn't be able to.
They had their state school teachers accompanying them and the state school teachers were really impressed with everything we were able to do.
And then on the last day, I got a very nice hug from her.
And that was really nice because I've never been hugged by a student before.
And then, even years after, I was working in a school in I think it was elsewhere in London.
It was in Bloomsbury.
And I actually, she sent a letter saying like, thank you.
And she was going to do her IELTS exam and stuff.
So that was really nice.
So it's always like I say When it comes to how I felt about the whole thing it's always amazing when people express gratitude for something you've done for them.
I also learned that I can't and shouldn't try and do everything for people, because she had to do things as well.
She had to be patient also.
So it's important to do this so you don't rob them of their agency.
But there's always something that can be done, and you can always make a difference, even a small one in this case.
So in this sense it was quite heartening but also quite humbling.
So I suppose ultimately the feelings were mixed, but I think in that sense it makes it all a bit more real and valuable.
Wow.
That's a story.
That is a story.
From Rory.
Rory's story.
Okay.
Rory, you said that it was six years ago, right?
About six years ago.
My life before Russia is kind of a blur.
Before Russia.
Did you have a life before Russia?
Wow.
I lived, but I didn't have a life.
So you went to a summer school in London, and why was it a week only?
Such a short course?
It was yeah, but it was only for the specific group of Italian students, so I don't think they had the money to pay for like a whole two weeks.
And moreover, it was actually in September, so I think they were due to go back to school very shortly afterwards.
So, you know, you've got to give them a break after.
How old are the students?
They were all teenagers.
I think the oldest one was about 17 years old and the youngest was 14, 13, 14.
So Italian teenagers, wow, how many teenagers did you have?
We had a group of 30 and so we split them in half.
Yeah, I had the higher level group and my colleagues had the lower level group, I think, so we split it.
So you had 15?
15 students?
Yeah, the British Council limit is 16, I think, so that's pretty good.
Okay, so you had this Italian student who had dyslexia, and how did you find out that she had these learning difficulties with handwriting and spelling?
Well, initially it was because she couldn't participate, but then, later on down the line, we discovered that that was what the problem was.
I can't remember what the handwriting disability is called, so I'm very quickly going to look it up because I don't know.
I used to know all of this off by heart.
Handwriting disability.
But did you know... that it was dyslexia that she had?
Yes, eventually, when the information came out.
The handwriting disability is called dysgraphia, by the way.
I should have known that, really.
I used to know all of these different things.
Yes, come on, Roy, enough.
How exactly did you help her and did she want to be helped?
Oh yeah, she definitely wanted to be helped because well, learning English was very important for her, so she did say that.
And then, when it came to helping, it was all about adapting the material so that, for example, handwriting didn't play a major role, because if you can't write, then you can't write.
You can't make someone write.
So in this sense, you've got to work around the problem.
So we integrated the activity so she could use a laptop to write things, for example.
The same thing for the end of the week test.
And then that worked out really well.
All came together quite nicely.
Did your peers make fun of her?
No, not really, actually.
They were really nice kids.
They were very supportive.
And then that Italian teenager hugged you.
Yeah.
How did you feel?
I was very emotional.
Obviously at the time because I was being professional, I sort of laughed it off and said thank you.
Very nicely.
But it was quite touching.
And what was in that letter that she sent to you in London?
Well, it was first of all, just saying thank you very much.
Then it explained how it really helped her.
Well, first of all, it helped her engage more at school and come up with ways of coping for things.
And then she, of course, said that she always remembered us even years down the line.
So I think she was 14 at the time.
And when I got that letter years later, she was like 17, 18.
So she was like getting ready for university.
Oh, wow.
Do you still keep in touch with her?
No, I don't keep in touch with students who are under the age of 18.
But more to the point, I wouldn't know how to anyway.
And also, those are the rules in schools in England.
You can't contact your students directly.
So the letter came.
It was very convoluted actually, because it got transferred from one school to the one I was working at.
And then it went through all of these different departments because they were trying to find the right teachers.
It was really strange.
But I suppose at the end of the day, you do have to protect children, so it's probably worth it.
So you enjoyed teaching Italian students?
I loved it.
It was great.
They were so well behaved.
I think it's maybe because their particular school was...
I think it was specifically a languages school and therefore they're obviously more motivated to learn and speak English all the time.
You know, sometimes they would want to speak in Italian and I think that's okay if you want to do it, just a little bit.
Okay Rory, I think that you are telling the truth because we've been working together with you and I know that you are into these learning difficulties, into dyslexia.
You run different workshops or sessions on how to deal with dyslexic students.
And I know that you did work in some summer schools and like camps and you taught children in different parts of the world.
So I could see that, yeah, you went to London.
But was it London, though?
Hmm.
That's the question.
I don't know, actually.
But I can imagine that, yeah, I can imagine that you're working in London.
Why not?
After Fiji Islands, you decided, yeah, I should go back to London.
Okay.
So, yeah, I believe that you helped that Italian student.
And maybe after that you got into this learning difficulties and started researching more about this topic.
So I say it's true.
It's true.
And you are right.
Yay!
It was London.
It was in Bankside.
We were right next to...
I think we were next to the Shard, actually, when I think about it.
That's like one of the tallest buildings in Europe.
And certainly it was quite close to all of these really nice businesses.
So I really had a nice time there.
But was it your first summer school?
Or you went to some Fiji Islands or somewhere else to Africa and then you start teaching in London.
I went to Now.
If I remember correctly, I went to work in summer school.
First I qualified as a teacher, and then I went to work in different summer schools around England and the last one was in London and then, a few months down the line, I went to Africa, and then I came to Russia, I think so.
I'd need to double check that, because maybe it's the other way around and because I worked for the same school so many times, but I always remember this incident when it took place though, is beyond me.
Dear listeners, we are very lucky well, Russia is very lucky to have Rory.
Rory is an asset, okay?
If you're wondering what an asset is, could you check out our episodes?
Okay, Rory, thank you very much for this lovely story.
I'm very happy that those Italian students had you as their teacher.
They were very lucky.
I think I was luckier to have them, to be honest.
Thank you very much for listening.
And always help each other.
It's very rewarding.
Bye.
Bye.
