Have you ever thought of owning your own business?  Here are some thoughts from Meryl, who comes to PC TECH from Lyon, France.  (Her ESL teacher has checked her spelling, grammar, and punctuation and has offered corrections with light editing):

I already have my own business, so it is not a question for me.  But I think you need to have a lot of skills to run your business.  Sometimes, when I have problems and difficulties, I ask myself if I really can be a good businesswoman.  It’s my dream, but it’s hard.  For my company, I need to work every day.  I have a lot of responsibilities.  I have pressure because I must make money, but I also must be serious with my clients.

My parents have never worked for a company.  I have never seen my parents complain about a boss or a manager.  They always work alone in their business.

When I began to work in a company, it was very strange for me.  I was not happy.  I didn’t understand the rules of the company.  They gave me a very low salary.  So it’s why I don’t like to and don’t want to work for other people.  I’m “configured” to work for myself.

In France, if you are an employee, it’s easy because you have a lot of rewards: health insurance, promotions, etc.  But that’s not [of interest] to me.  I don’t care about [benefits].  I prefer to work hard and to be proud of my work.

PC TECH instructors will help you improve your English skills in every area: speaking, listening, spelling, punctuation, grammar, reading, and – perhaps the most challenging of all – writing!

 PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

Have you ever thought of owning your own business?  Here are some thoughts from Aki, a student from Japan, who has a bit of experience in the field of cosmetology.  (Her ESL teacher has checked her spelling, grammar, and punctuation and has offered corrections with light editing):

“Do you want to own a business?  Why or why not?”

I’m a [waxing esthetician].  My business is to do waxing.

And my answer is, “Yes!”  The reason for my choice is also [the reason that] I came to New York.

At first, I was just interested in waxing.  I thought that if I could do waxing myself.  It’s very convenient and it might save money!

And then, I got a Japanese waxing license.  Waxing needs technical skills; however, the licensing exam was too short and easy.  I didn’t learn the details of the [procedure].  I was afraid to strip customers’ skin; human skin is very thin and delicate.

So I would like to [get accurate] knowledge and broaden it in Japan.  I want customers to feel relaxed [with my work].  I would like to try running my own business.

PC TECH instructors will help you improve your English skills in every area: speaking, listening, spelling, punctuation, grammar, reading, and – perhaps the most challenging of all – writing!

 PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

PC TECH instructors will help you improve your English skills in every area: speaking, listening, spelling, punctuation, grammar, reading, and – perhaps the most challenging of all – writing!

 Tea is a lawyer from Tbilisi, Georgia and has used her imagination to relate to us her thoughts on “offbeat” jobs she might consider:

I like cooking some traditional dishes; it’s my hobby.  I can tell that [being a chef would be] an offbeat job for me.  The process of cooking is relaxing and interesting for me.  I always try to learn some new dishes and then I [prepare] them.

Last weekend, I learned to prepare the taco.  This dish is from Mexico and it is wonderful!

Another offbeat job for me [would be] archaeology.  When I was a child, I wanted to become an archaeologist.  I like this profession.  An archeologist looks for something new from the past.  This is very interesting to me.

I am a lawyer and I can say that sometimes my [career] is an offbeat job.  My job is diverse and I like my profession.

Meryl, from France, has her own web design business, yet she can imagine a number of wide-ranging occupations that could interest her.  This is her contribution:

 Life is short.  It’s very difficult for me to be engaged in a job; I want to do everything!  I like traveling, so I would like to be an [airline attendant], tour guide, international journalist.  I love art, so I would like to be a painter, singer, dancer…  I’m creative, so I would like to be a designer, architect…  I like thrills, so I would like to join the army, be a [fire-fighter], secret agent…  I am passionate about life and I think everything is extraordinary.  It’s why I have my own company…I like to do [many] things: sell, create, give advice.  I like the effort to get good results.  That’s why I came to NYC.

For me, who have always been protected by my family, my boyfriend, my friends.  Traveling alone in a new country, with new people and a new language, was the hardest challenge…

We must all live our dreams!

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

Take an English language (ESL) course at PC TECH and you will improve your communications skills and your writing style.  Your teachers will guide you in sentence and paragraph structure, grammar, and punctuation.

Federica, a student from Messina, Italy, has written about her thoughts of becoming a trapeze artist in a circus, such a very different career from that of architect, her current occupation!  Here is her writing, lightly edited by her teacher.

If I have to choose an offbeat job, I’d like to be a trapeze artist.  [Federica uses the term “trapezist.” —editor]   I know, it is a strange job for many people, but I think it is very fascinating.  When I was fifteen years old, I did it for a few months, but only as a joke with my friends.  While I was clinging to the trapeze, I was very happy because I was feeling good and free.  My “career” ended because I am too heavy and I don’t have enough skills for it.  It is hard work because it is like a sport: you have to dedicate a lot of hours every day to improve yourself.  It is dangerous because it is practiced ten meters above the ground.  I think it is a very creative job; to do it, you are an artist!  The salary is not high is not high, but there isn’t a price [to be put on] the feeling you get when you fly from trapeze to trapeze.  It’s amazing!

By the way, it is only a fantasy of my mind because I’m an architect.  At this moment, I’m out of work.  Sometimes, when I have a bad day and I don’t have a [reply] from companies, I like to close my eyes and think about myself on the trapeze!

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

One of the topics for English writing practice at PC TECH is “If you wanted an offbeat job, what would you do?  Why?”  Students have come up with a number of interesting examples.  Aki from Japan writes about this:

If I wanted an offbeat job, I would like to be a skydiving instructor.

The first time I skydived was in Hawaii.  There was no rain and no wind; conditions were perfect.  Before I skydived, I was scared.  The distance of 10,000 feet [more than 3000 meters]was too high for me.  My instructor tried to talk with me, but I couldn’t respond.

However, I could do it!  And I could see beautiful views of the ocean, clouds, mountains…  Everything I could see was amazing!

At this time, I didn’t think I was falling through the air.  Then we arrived at the point of landing and [the skydiving instructor and I] made a friendship which overcame difficulties together.  This was the most impressive experience of my life.  So I hope that everybody will try the wonderful [activity] of skydiving.

PC TECH students create an essay every week.  Their teachers make corrections to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and suggest improvements to writing style.  This is often a class activity, where everyone has copies of each completed composition.  All the students, guided by the teacher,  can then add their comments and suggestions.  The teacher makes the final – but not too technical – edit before publishing to PC TECH’s blog page.

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

In one of PC TECH’s ESL classes, students have been writing about the world’s indigenous cultures.  Federica, an architect from Italy, offers her opinion in response to this question: “What would the world be like if most indigenous cultures disappear?”

There aren’t that many indigenous [cultures] surviving in the world. They [largely] live on the American continents (especially in South America), in Africa, in Asia, and in Australia. They have adapted to nature, particularly in the jungle, very far from the big city. Many indigenous are nomadic; others have been forced by logging companies to leave their lands.

It’s very important that we remember who we are, and that we must never forget [that] they are our ancestors, our history. They are what makes us unique. Unfortunately, more than their customs and their history have been lost. The world went ahead and probably to blame is globalization. I don’t know how the world would be if they were to disappear. But I know that we are similar. I take care of myself with plants and roots like indigenous people and we speak the “same” language; it has only evolved.  [Editor’s note: The author gives the example of Italian having evolved from Latin].

I think that what would help [many] indigenous people would be if logging companies stop [activity] in their territories. We can also try to not lose old cultures and [instead] learn from them. We have to protect them and we have to continue to [merge] the old world with the modern world.

PC TECH students create an essay every week. Their teachers make corrections to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and suggest improvements to writing style. This is often a class activity, where everyone has copies of each completed composition. All the students, guided by the teacher, can then add their comments and suggestions. The teacher makes the final – but not too technical – edit before publishing to PC TECH’s blog page.

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

In one of PC TECH’s ESL classes, students have been writing about the world’s indigenous cultures.  Rocio, a travel agent and guide from Peru, has composed a response to this question:  “What would the world be like if most indigenous cultures disappear?”

The answer is very simple.  If most indigenous cultures disappear, the world will lose cultural identity.  This means that our world [and] our lives will lose valuable knowledge about traditional medicine, religions, world vision, natural nutrition, animal life, plant life…secrets of the simple life in this amazing world.

Now, governmental and non-governmental organizations, religious groups, oil and lumber companies, and others are rapidly [threatening] a lot of the indigenous cultures of the world.

Who can stop it?  Anybody?

I think we will [quickly] become more “artificial” people.  I can’t believe that technology and lust for power will dominate our beautiful world.  I hope for a miracle.

Our future is in the children’s hands:  “Education with Conscience”

PC TECH students create an essay every week.  Their teachers make corrections to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and suggest improvements to writing style.  This is often a class activity, where everyone has copies of each completed composition.  All the students can then add their comments and suggestions.

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City