A little reminder

This sign, hanging in a local diner, is a good reflection of my mood for the day, which is typical Seattle winter - cold and wet.

I spent the morning tutoring at the library, and it was a bit different today, which was a good thing.  First I worked with a well-educated woman from Taipei whose command of English is very good.  She wanted me to explain some of the word usage in a magazine article she was reading, about multi-national corporations.  The problem was that the author was a dreadful writer more concerned with fancy writing than with conveying information.  We had an interesting time.  Then I worked with a couple who are preparing for their citizenship interviews, using special preparation materials.  

This was the first time I've not had to deal exclusively with very basic ESL.  When I signed up to volunteer, I expected to be dealing with a number of different issues - helping people working toward a GED, college students needing classwork help, or people preparing for SAT, GRE, or graduate degree exams, for example.  I would not have volunteered if I had known it would all be ESL. I think the people I worked with today are planning to return next week, so I have that to look forward to.