The Precious Korean Boy

A company has hired me to teach business English to one of their up-and-coming managers. From Korea, he and his family have just relocated to Shanghai. Like most Asian managers, he's got his bad speaking habits. He doesn't know when to use the present perfect and when to use the present continuous. He gets lazy and drops things like the "s" on the end of words and those annoying prepositions. He needs my help.

I go to his house in a wealthy section of Shanghai once a week and his wife gives us tea and I teach him. His young son, about three years-old, always greets me--he's shy but he always has a big smile. I've been teaching at their house a few times, so he is used to me. This time, he gives me "five" and I pat him on the head and smile back. He is supercute and his smile gets bigger every time I see him.

At the end of our lesson today, my student, who is in his early thirties and is exhausted from his recent business trip to Europe, tells me of something that happened in his son's nursery school class this week. Since it's almost Father's Day, the teacher asked the children to talk about what Daddy does at home. Some kids said their dad fixes things, helps clean up, reads me stories, plays with me, etc. But when the teacher asked my student's boy this question, he started crying.

My student said that his son was sad because he didn't know what his daddy does at home. The fact is, his daddy comes home late and often goes on business trips. I imagine that this is quite common in Asia (as it is everywhere in the world).

To imagine this precious boy crying in class was a little heartbreaking. I know his dad works really hard to be successful so he can be a good husband and father. The pressure is incredible. I know, because every week I hear stories of his corporate battles (in English).

But, somehow, I hope he will be able to spend some more time with that beautiful boy of his.