Romanticize Connotation

I'm sitting alone in my flat reviewing the conditional tense in English grammar while my roommates are relaxing in the paradisaical town of Nuweiba in a palm hut not twenty feet from the Red Sea's lapping tides. The only reason I am still sane, content even, is that I am absolutely loving my job as a private English tutor for the American University in Cairo's Center for Adult and Continuing Education. I've been tutoring a middle-aged Egyptian man four hours every day in preparation for his job interview in New York City next week. It's amazing the variety of topics we cover, on top of vocabulary and grammar crisping (as I like to call it; his English is very good). Check out the randomness:

romanticize ignorant literal metaphorical explicit implicit connotation subtle bias discrimination boast distinguish admire vs. worship

I feel like a math teacher, having to explain patterns and origins and applications from as many directions as it takes for the concept to click with the student. I am so grateful to be teaching my native language because so much of what I know comes from native instinct rather than the things I learned through my TESOL certification course. Don't get me wrong, the course definitely prepared me for explaining plenty of grammar rules, but using English all my life and thinking quickly on my feet are often the more important skills for addressing a difficult question.

We've also been drilling pronunciation, which makes me feel like Professor Higgins while Eliza Doolittle repeats a single word like there's no tomorrow, mouth exhausted and ears untrained to distinguish between right and wrong.