PACIFICALLY

At a recent training session, the instructor, in the opening sentence clearly said "pacific" when it was obvious that the correct word should've been "specific". I thought it was a slip of the tongue, but nevertheless I jotted "PACIFIC?" on my planner. Sitting beside me was my friend Becky who is a retired teacher with thirty years service. I noticed that she had also written "pacific" on her sheet.

The instructor gave us packets and then proceeded to READ the information to us. I wrote on my sheet "Recitation is not teaching!" Becky shook her head in disbelief. Even reading to us as if we were kindergarten age would have been acceptable except the instructor was a poor reader and stumbled over words!

After reading the training materials to us, she then asked if there were any "pacific" questions. I caught a glance from our organization's leader who just rolled her eyes. Another time the instructor said "pacifically" instead of "specifically".

The instructor gave us several additional sheets and told us we could make copies at home for our own use. I marked several errors on the sheets. Becky looked at my sheet and when the instructor asked if there were any questions or comments Becky said, "We'll make copies of this one where Sue has corrected the grammatical errors!" The instructor glared at her but said nothing else.

Milling around after the class, one classmate stated, "No wonder teachers get a bad rap." Later, another classmate asked, "Aren't you glad Becky said something because you're usually the bad guy who corrects people?" [HOW did I get that reputation?]

Bless you, Becky!

What makes me SAD: the instructor is a local SCHOOL TEACHER who was paid to "teach" the class!