Sensei's Explanation is Meccha... (6/5投稿記事「先生の説明、メッチャ」の英訳）

As a part-time job, I teach at a cram school (although, recently, due to being very busy, I am taking a leave of absence). I taught physics, math, and English to high school students. One day, I received a request from the principal of the cram school. I was asked if I could give some guidance to a kid who was in danger of failing English.   Upon meeting him, I discovered that he was a polite, upstanding young man. As he was attending a top high school, he had all the foundations for English. From there, I simply gave a detailed explanation of his textbook. After class, the student started, “Your explanation is meccha...” and, not being so accustomed to the manner of speaking of a high school student, I anticipated that he would say mecchakuccha, which would mean my explanation was a mess, or incomprehensible, but to my relief, he said “meccha easy to understand.” or “very easy to understand,” as younger people often use meccha simply to emphasize things, whereas I, being older, am used to its long-form being used in adverse circumstances.After several days of intensive lessons, he got a passing grade.

Thinking about everything essential to remember, I must emphasize that cram school lessons simply do not offer enough time. Consequently, I always tell students to fundamentally study on their own time at home and use their time at the cram school to ask about things they do not understand and inquire about how they should study the material. If you do the preparation and simply use the class time to instruct the students on how to solve problems, many problems can be solved. That way, the teacher can feel they have taught what they need to teach, and both the student and their parents can be satisfied. However, no matter what, there is no way to ensure every student will always become able to solve the problems on their own. To solve things on your own, the most important thing is being in the habit of thinking on your own.

The principal of the cram school told me that a student attending a prestigious school wanted to study physics. However, he could only solve about ten percent of what was being presented in class. My strategy was to put the student in a position to start thinking for himself in terms of how to solve the problems while occasionally giving them hints and nudging him back on the right track when needed. When he did solve something, I then gave him warm praise. At the end of classes, I told him how hard he had worked. The cram school vice-principal told me, “That student always leaves with a smile on his face!” After half a year, the student was able to solve about half the problems by himself.  Since entrance exams were coming up, we worked on solving some problems from previous exams from the university he was aiming for, which is notoriously difficult to get into. The student eventually told me that even though they were entrance exam questions, he was pleasantly surprised and optimistic about his ability to solve them.  At first, I would solve the problems myself first and then watch him solve them and give him a little assistance when he needed it, but eventually, he surpassed me and was able to solve the problems first.  When I told him that he was now faster than me, he said it was because of my age, and while it was unfortunately true that in the eyes of a teenager, I was quite old, I knew that he was only being humble since he really had come a long way with his studies.