Closing Shop

Zach and I were just told by the principal that because of recent low turnout in our afternoon Spoken English class, the class would now only be offered in the morning. It's hard to not be discouraged by this. I've been struggling to answer why fewer and fewer students are coming out to class. Are they realizing that other tuition classes, particularly in the maths and sciences, are more valuable to attend after school? Were they expecting the class to be more fun and interactive? Do they just not have an incentive to spend an hour each day learning more English than they feel that they have to? Am I doing something wrong as a teacher?

I've had to constantly adapt and change my idea of what it means to be a teacher ever since teaching my first class 3 months ago, but grappling with setbacks time and time again has been making it hard for me to feel grounded enough to make concrete judgments and improvements on my teaching. Dhire, dhire...