Homework for April 3rd

Opportunities

It is late January as I write this, and cold outside. At Expo Park in Sokcho, there is a winter festival that puts me in mind of the festivals back home.

At one particular festival, I was around eight years old. One of the events was a "Kid and Mutt" race. The organizers provided a dogsled participants provide the child and dog. I had no dog. Struck by a sudden thought, I went to the announcer's booth and asked if they could ask the public for a dog for me to race with. Actual dog races with packs of huskies were also going on and one competitor agreed to help me out. As I got ready to race, I saw five more kids lining up at the announcer's booth. I placed second in the race, by the way.

One doesn't need to be pushy or predatory to find great opportunities; Kwandong University, and every other university I know of, has many that they are looking for students to fill - they become the pushy ones.

While at university as a student (so very long ago), I qualified for a trip to the Caribbean to study coral reefs and also travelled to Canada's East and West Coast on the university's dime to compete in sports. They weren't entirely free but much less expensive and more rewarding than I would have managed on my own.

I let my first year or two on campus slip by without really availing myself fully of the richness of experiences possible. In my final years though, wow! Famous speakers came to the campus and I was there, listening to and sometimes questioning them. I made a few political statements and learned more about my own country and others. I want to be clear, all this was in addition to regularly scheduled classes.

I was unable to do everything I wanted. I learned this quickly and tried to work on two or three options each year. A group of Canadian universities were preparing an eight week trip to study Indian hill tribes; I applied but was not accepted. Three years later, I went on my own to India (I highly recommend it).

A group of canoeists were planning to retrace the route of Canadian voyagers, paddling up the St. Lawrence River, then the Nippising and the French Rivers to St. Marie, a Jesuit Mission Headquarters. The route had first been paddled by Europeans three hundred and fifty years ago. I applied but was not accepted. I have since paddled significant portions of the route alone and with friends and learned about Canadian history in more interesting ways than my best school teachers ever managed.

A cycling club formed and I rode with them almost every Sunday. I know the Niagara Peninsula better than many natives and visited sights no tourist bus stops at (but should).

It is January as I write this and I have just finished a series of short camps for local high school students. They seemed alert to the opportunity and squeezed as much fun and learning in (maybe more fun than learning, but definitely both) as they could.

I am now teaching a group of university students in an inexpensive (or possibly free) camp and I am impressed with the students for taking this wonderful chance. None are fantastic English speakers and they won't be when they finish, but they will be much better. This camp is a tougher choice than the ones I made; even great English teachers (and I am at least very good) would have trouble filling full days in the classroom with energy and wonder but I, and the students, are trying.

I expect the number of students to drop. The classes are free, or nearly so, and attendance usually matches investment in these cases. However, the students who invest time and effort will be richly rewarded.

Whether they stay to the end or leave after a few days, I admire the attempt and the seizing of the opportunity.

Many of my students, in this camp but also in my regular classes, tell me their hobbies are "Listening to music", "playing computer games" and (this one I particularly hate) "sleeping". Extend your reach, try something new, break out of the comfortable and take advantage of opportunity.

If opportunity doesn't knock, you can always try making cold calls on it yourself as a young boy in search of a dog did thirty years ago.

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1) What opportunities did the writer find?

2) What special events or classes did the writer try for but not achieve?

3) What does the last sentence mean? “If opportunity doesn't knock, you can always try making cold calls on it.”

4) What opportunities have you taken advantage of?