Great Expectations

Sam Levinson had precancerous skin,
horn rimmed specs, check sports jacket,
grey flannel trousers,polished shoes
and a very South African accent.
A good salary was necessary [with a
South African accent] to make
it worth his while teaching and his
wife wanted to live in St. John's Wood.

Derek, the pupil, had dark brown black skin,
navy school blazer, grey flannel trousers,
good eyesight and a very West Indian accent.
He was determined to study hard so that
he could get a good job.

In between games of tabletennis,
Derek was doing his homework. He had
to write a description of an accident.
He grinned and said it was easy - he had
seen two cars crash into each other
that very same lunchtime.

Even from afar, I could see his writing
was a bit scrunched up. So as casually
as I could, I told him:
If you want to get a good mark,
keep your sentences short;
use full stops and capital letters;
start a new line when someone talks;
and put in lots of detail, like the names
of the roads and makes of cars.

Derek went off with a big smile.
He carefully tore the page out.
He started again.
This time he sat down.

On Thurday, I asked Derek how he
had got on with his English homework.
He said Mr Levinson took a look,
ran his finger over his earlier marks,
said Derek had got someone else to
do his work - so he was giving Derek
zero marks [with a South African accent].