Linguistic Diaries: Pallavi Singh

Pallavi Singh is a 24-year-old teacher who teaches the Hindi language to people of different nationalities around the globe who currently reside in India. She calls herself rather sceptical and cynical person who makes mistakes but tries to learn from them. Here is a peek into a day in her life.
What inspired you to start this?

It was the need to make money whilst studying. Student jobs do not exist in India which makes it harder for students who wish to plan/save for things which require money. I did not want to wait another 10 years to shop in Hong Kong or go for that hike in Nepal. Also, in India, students are hardly ever given good meaningful internships to get work experience from. I got tired of sending emails and dropping off my CV at organisations that would not believe in my skills and would rather hire somebody from IIT/IIM without even giving a chance. I had had enough. I started my own Linguistics Business which provides me with not only opportunities, but also the much needed international exposure.
What is the best part about what you do?

The value for my time and meeting new people is the best part of what I do. I am interacting with 20+ nationalities on an average, learning a lot about world in general.

What are some of the challenges you face?

Some expats who come here tend to believe that India is a poor country and everything is cheap. They try to bargain the class price. Not only that — some people delay payment, give petty excuses like “Oh, I forgot to go to the ATM” and sometimes cancel at the last moment. India is a functional anarchy — hence it does not always attract the right kind of people. I guess what I am trying to say is: things that you would never pull off in the west like making excuses for delayed payment , not being punctual, trying to bargain etc., can be a few things people do here. Other than these daily challenges there are not many things that I encounter.

What would you advise people who want to get into doing the same thing that you do?

Just because one speaks Hindi does not make them a good teacher. Remember that subject you hated because the teacher was strict? That’s exactly what I am talking about. Anyone can learn from just about anything: how can you be different than the others? How can you make your students “WANT” to come to your class? Focus on that and then the rest is easy.