What's the most interesting part in your work/studies and what's the most difficult one? What do you dislike about your work/studies? What kind of work would you like to do in the future?
Vocabulary
Qualification (noun) - an official record showing that you have finished a training course or have the necessary skills, etc.
Deficit (noun) - the amount by which something, especially an amount of money, is smaller than it should be.
Frustrating (adj.) - making you feel annoyed or less confident because you cannot achieve what you want.
Disorganized (adj.) - not good at planning or organizing things.
A/To struggle (noun/verb) - a very difficult task that you can do only by making a great effort/to experience difficulty and make a very great effort in order to do something.
Profession (noun) - any type of work that needs special training or a particular skill, often one that is respected because it involves a high level of education.
Focus (noun) - the main or central point of something, especially of attention or interest.
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Questions and answers
Maria: Do you work or are you a student?
Rory: Well, actually, I suppose I'm both right now because I work as a teacher, and I work on this podcast, and I also work on a separate course as well, but I'm also doing an online course at Aberdeen University. So both actually.
Maria: Why did you choose this kind of work and studies?
Rory: Well if we talk about work for example, then I picked it because, first of all, I was interested in it and then I had stuck with it because I'm good at it. I always wanted to be a teacher. I like helping people achieve their goals. I chose mathematics to study... Well actually mathematics chose me because I didn't have a qualification in this so I study it now in order to make up for the deficit in what I know right now.
Maria: Do you like these job and your studies?
Rory: No I love my job. It's wonderful and I look forward to doing it more often in the future when all of my courses are over. As for the course itself, I suppose I like the idea of learning something new. But as for the subject in mathematics I'm not exactly in love with it. I think I'd much rather do more things with English.
Maria: What's the most interesting part in your work?
Rory: Well it's never boring. For example, like, every day I work with people for different purposes and I work with different age ranges and of course we work on a variety of subjects as well. I guess my only regret is not doing it sooner, to be honest with you.
Maria: What's the most difficult parts in your work and studies?
Rory: Well, if we talk about my job then I suppose the most frustrating aspect is that people are sometimes quite disorganized. I don't mean the students... They're allowed to be disorganized because they're all young people but sometimes the adults I have to work with can be quite disorganized, or they haven't had their expectations managed well so they get quite disappointed. It's not a disaster, it just makes things more difficult. If we talk about what I study, then I think the most difficult thing is the subject matter itself because mathematics is difficult for me. I understand for some people it's easy but for me it's really not I don't have a head for it, so that makes life a lot more complicated.
Maria: What do you dislike about your work or studies?
Rory: Well I dislike that I have to deal with so many disorganized people. Although, it's not that many it's maybe only a few. But it can still get a bit annoying. And if we talk about mathematics I don't like that it's such a struggle for me to get my head around different mathematical formula without a serious effort. For example, linear equations or adding positive or negative numbers isn't my thing right now. It just means I have to put more effort in. But it can be quite difficult and I don't like it when I put in this effort and I don't see the progress.
Maria: What was your dream job when you were a child?
Rory: Well like I said before, I wanted to be a teacher. I've always thought that's a great profession to have. And so far I've not been proven wrong by this at all. I think it's been great.
Maria: Have you changed your mind since then?
Rory: Only in terms of the subject, because... Well, I always wanted to be a teacher. Then I narrowed my focus to English language teaching. But it seems like I'm going to have to broaden my focus again because I want to be a primary school teacher. So you have to teach English mathematics. All of the other subjects related to this.
Maria: What kind of work would you like to do in the future?
Rory: Well anything connected to education I suppose. Unless it's anything to do with management or teacher training I'm never doing that ever again once I'm finished with this!