So I think I've been letting Angelica get to me an awful lot recently. So I've decided I'm going to try to balance things out. I'm going to try to remember a time when she was nice, in an attempt to convince (remind?) myself that she *is* a nice person, deep down, somewhere; and that her behaviour is not personal.
Oh, but it so feels like it is.
Stop. Not going to fall back into that trap.
Ok, lets see. I know. Once upon a time, Angelica and I used to spend a lot of time together. She was struggling in school and had important exams coming up. I teach maths and science in my spare time and have quite an impressive success rate, so when Jason mentioned Angelica's ongoing issues and that she was worried that she would fail badly, I desperately wanted to help. I genuinely believe that no child can ever be 'useless' at maths or science if they get the right attention and approach to learning. You need to tailor the teaching to suit them. If they want to learn - and Angelica really did, then it should be rewarding to watch them flourish.
And you know what? It really was. We did need to start pretty much at the beginning. Angelica had been left behind over the years as the course went on at a pace that was just beyond her. Nobody took the time to make sure she'd understood before moving off topic - and it really didn't take much time. In the end, I taught her two years worth of maths in six months. Plus a bit of science, literature and French thrown in. I loved puzzling out the best way to explain things so that they would make sense from where she was sitting. She thrived - she would come to see me with evidence of hours of extra work she'd put in to a subject she used to hate that she now saw as just a series of games and puzzles.
Plus we were getting on really well. In between discussing the number of prada purses a girl could by with 600 euros (In my world a prada purse costs about the same as a hardback book), we talked about the things we loved to do, the people we knew, hobbies, friends, our families and our pets - everything you could imagine.
She had been predicted an E in maths. Six months later, she got a B. I was incredibly proud, and very impressed by her hard work and determination. So to reward her, I started saving up for a particularly special birthday present for her. Angelica loves animals, and had wanted to be a vet (at that stage). So for her 16th, we got her a day looking after tigers, lions, jaguars, cheetahs, meerkats, red pandas, snow leopards, coatis and pretty much every other animal you can imagine at a wildlife conservation park. She got to climb into enclosures and feed racoons, monkeys and birds of prey. It rained all day but nothing could wipe that smile from her face.
Oh, and the park-keepers were great at including Mark whenever possible too. It was a fantastic day - and she really deserved it.
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