Why retire at all? A tutoring job is not that onerous an undertaking after a while. A number of reasons led to my decision to stop in 2013, 18 years after immigration. First is that the sources of good eager students were drying up. Taiwan and Hong Kong ceased to become major sources of immigrants. Second, I no longer wanted to be tied down for nine months a year; but language arts, more than other subjects, requires sustained attention, on the part of the student and the tutor. Third, from the day I took up tutoring and teaching evening classes in the first year of university, I had clocked up about 50 years of English Language Teaching. I can address my career, with sincerity and thankfulness: “To ELT, with Love”. To aspiring teachers and tutors, I say, “Welcome and good luck! It is more than a job. It’s a job worth doing well.”
