A foreign Asian lady sat in the bus, scrutinizing a paper she had handwritten of various English words with their Chinese translation. She bravely went as far as asking the lady in front of her to pronounce a word… she did, but very nonchalantly… a one word answer and then back to listening to her Ipod. Is this how we welcome our new and eager Canadians?

I could see from my seat just how many spelling errors there were, not to mention the letters in themselves were drawn out incorrectly!

My sense of moral and civic duty prompted me to get up from my seat and help the foreigner! I smiled and pointed at the paper with my pen handy.

She smiled back and nodded as I gently tugged the paper away and began to correct each word… slowlyy.. showing her each of the changes.

She then tried to pronounce the word. Barkcolkei. No! BBbbbbrrrroooooCCCCCoooollliiiii, I said, with a sincere smile. I helped her with each word until we reached the subway station. She said “Thank you”.

I’m glad I made myself useful as opposed to vegetating in a bus with my ipod on. Why didn’t that other lady have the same sense of duty? What was she doing that was so important? What songs were on her ipod that she hasn’t heard before?

The bus is the most boring place to be,I’d go as far as saying dehumanizing. There’s no stimulation for the mind! I could try reading, but I easily get car-sick, so I listen to some podcasts, but those are hard to hear with the blaring bus driving sounds.

Then I got an idea- teaching English in the bus… decently intelligent minds during their daily long commutes to downtown will be made useful by pairing up with an eager learner to impart their knowledge in basic English. And it will be the best way to integrate new people and involve our citizens in our community! Sounds simple- why not!?