Cleo has 4 tutees. One is beyond her years. One is behind his years. One will not change his wrong pronunciation, no matter what. One knows how to make people feel comfortable in embarrassing situations. Cleo sets out to teach them, but ends up learning more.
Audio excerpt
Part 1 – “The adjudicator is wrong”
“Eyes meet
Challenge made,
She prayed
The cat did the forbidden thing
Next to the window it sprang
She shut the window with concern
Seeing she is stern
The cat leapt away
And continued to play”
Cleo delivered the poem at the Speech Festival Competition.
One by one the students performed on the stage. The last student stepped off the stage. The adjudicator scribbled on the marking sheets. The prizes were about to be awarded. Cleo fidgeted and tried to look at the marking sheets.
“The third prize goes to…” announced the adjudicator.
Cleo yawned.
“The second prize goes to…”
Cleo looked at her fingernails.
“And the first prize goes to…”
Cleo’s eye were like a newly-polished car. She leaned forward and placed her feet on the ground.
“Mabel Wong!” declared the adjudicator.
Cleo’s eyes almost fell out. She forgot to breathe. Her smile gone. She sat there still for a few seconds. After a while, she blinked.
She got the marking sheet back.
“All the words are not clear.” It said.
Cleo frowned in a way where one eye is smaller than the other. Later, she would tell anyone who would listen that the adjudicator was wrong.
Part 2 – Cleo’s Lesson with Jack
After attending the Speech Festival, Cleo tutored twenty-year-old Jack.
“How did you learn English by yourself?” asked Cleo.
“I read the SCMP,” said the boy in Cantonese.
Cleo’s eyes widened for a split second.
“What is the answer to this question? The doctor treated the p_____.”
There was a long pause. Jack frowned and mumbled something to himself.
“I don’t know.”
“You shouldn’t read the SCMP. The text there is too advanced for you. You would feel scared of English and hate it.” Cleo diagnosed.
“But I can learn the advanced sentence structure and vocabularies.”
Cleo bit her lip hard. Her look was fixed.
“You should learn the simple words and sentences before going for the advanced ones.”
“I’m going to continue reading the SCMP. I think it’s the best way for me to learn English.”
Cleo clenched her fist which was hidden under the table.
Part 3 – Cleo’s Lesson with Tom
The thought of tutoring three-year-old Tom made Cleo sigh.
“Tar!” Tom pointed at the car.
“No, it’s car,” said Cleo.
“No, it’s tar!” Tom shook his head.
Both sides would not stand down. Both restated their beliefs to each other for at least ten times.
Cleo gave an unnatural smile.
“five, six, seben,” Tom counted.
“No, it’s seven,” said Cleo.
“No, it’s seben!” Tom shook his head and hands together.
Cleo looked down for a while and continued the lesson.
Cleo showed Tom a picture of a girl.
“Gir-lo!” Tom shouted.
“No, it’s girl,” said Cleo.
“No, it’s gir-lo,” Tom widened his eyes and jumped.
Cleo stuck her teeth together and tried to steady her breathing.
She smiled at the parent politely and left.
Part 4 – Cleo learns about herself from Jack and Tom
In the classroom, the only sound was the soft rumbling of an air conditioner. The English teacher asked Cleo’s classmate to read out a story. Cleo pricked up her ears.
“There was a rat in the mug. I grabbed a net and mop. I tilted the mug. The tea was spilt. The fat rat fell out on the table with a thump. Startled, it sniffed the air. I swung the net towards it and caught it. It tried to escape. Now that I have caught it, what should I do with it?”
Cleo couldn’t help but notice the ending sounds. The “t” sound after “rat”. The “g” sound after “mug”.
The teacher asked Cleo to read out the next paragraph.
“I stood there for eight seconds. Next to the mug was a hat. I grabbed the hat and scooped the rat in the net into the hat. The rat crawled out and shot towards the fridge and took refuge under it. When dad got home, he was mad, for that was his favourite hat and it smelt of tea and rat.”
“Very articulate,” said the teacher.
“All the words are not clear.” The adjudicator’s comments rang in Cleo’s ears.
She thought about her tutees, Jack and Tom. Jack was so self-righteous he believed he was right to read the SCMP, despite his inability. Tom was so stubborn he still insisted “car” was “tar” after being corrected ten times. Yet, Cleo, she asked her name, was she the same? Was she pointing out a speck in her tutees’ eye, but couldn’t see the beam in her own?
