A Desirable Residence Read Online Free PDF Page B

in the usual armchairs with cups of coffee—and their looks of shock at the transformation of the room had not helped Jonathan’s confidence. It was crucial to get the staff on their side, he thought, beginning to feel rather flustered; perhaps he and Liz should have let them all know in advance about the new arrangements.
    ‘As you can see,’ he repeated, ‘we’ve changed a few things. For example, the staff room. From now on we’re going to use the old languages room on the first floor.’ He hesitantly gestured upwards; a few pairs of eyes dutifully followed. Others exchanged glances.
    ‘I wouldn’t have thought,’ came a deliberate voice from the corner, ‘that the languages room was big enough for all of us.’ Mr Stuart, head of maths, looked challengingly at Jonathan.
    ‘Well, no,’ conceded Jonathan, ‘perhaps not. But then, the staff room is only meant to be for those who aren’t teaching in a particular period. Which should mean you aren’t all in it at once!’ He gave a little laugh. ‘And we thought that a lot better use could be made of the space.’ He paused.
    Go on , thought Liz, sitting supportively beside Jonathan. Why was he pausing so often? Every time he stopped speaking, she could see members of staff looking at each other; he really needed to galvanize their attention. She smiled at him encouragingly, willing him to get going. He looked down at his piece of paper.
    ‘So this room will become the new languages room,’ he said. ‘And we’re intending to install sound systems so that students can work with earphones. We want to make language teaching a priority.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Liz is a qualified teacher in four languages, as some of you will already know. Or perhaps all of you.’ He paused again, as though considering this. Liz couldn’t bear it any more.
    ‘We want to make Silchester Tutorial College a centre for languages as well as simply a crammer,’ she said rapidly. ‘Languages have never been more important for students, and if we can offer first-class teaching in the major European languages, as well as specialist languages on demand, we feel we should be able to attract more than simply retake students. Eventually we’ll market ourselves to companies which need good language training, and possibly organize children’s holiday courses. To achieve that, we’ll need absolutely first-class language facilities, and high-calibre teaching. I’ll be seeing the language tutors in a separate meeting to discuss resources and study programmes. All ideas welcome.’ She stopped, and gave a quick glance around the room. There was no doubt, she’d got their attention now. The faces she recognized as belonging to language tutors were looking animated; the others were looking variously indifferent, wary and hostile.
    ‘Does this mean,’ said one of them, ‘that you’ll be phasing out other subjects?’
    ‘Oh no,’ said Liz. ‘This will all be as well as the mainstream teaching. But our aim is to make this college far more efficient, so that we’ve got time and resources to do both.’ She took a deep breath and didn’t look at Jonathan. ‘To put it bluntly, this whole place needs shaking up. Part of the reason for moving the staff room is that we want less sitting around drinking coffee and more teaching.’
    There. She’d said it. Jonathan wouldn’t be pleased. They’d had an argument about what they were going to say at this first meeting. He had said they must be gentle and diplomatic; avoid ruffling the feathers of the staff. Liz had retorted angrily that their feathers deserved ruffling, they’d had such a cushy life up until now. Swanning in and out; teaching as and when; even using the premises for their own private coaching sessions. It was quite obvious from looking at the books that Miss Hapland had let the business side of things lapse almost completely during the last five years. She’d liked to see the staff around the place; liked to come