A Load of Cobblers….

Cautiously, I slithered into loving the long expansive lecture halls with rows of wooden desks and benches and became fond of my students.  It was their eclecticism, the reliance on the courage of their convictions, their irreverence and bundle of much fun they represented that drew me in.  

My initial anxieties dissipated and comfort and confidence grew. In the face of engaging serious subjects like Entrepreneurship, Business Law, Insurance and Risk Management, Global Economics, Administrative Law and Nigerian Legal System, joviality, fun and a few games filled time and space. I developed the skill of deploying illustrations and jokes to convey serious points in a light hearted manner.

During lectures my hasty delivery and reliance on a staccato of expressions gradually gave way to the use of slower pace and deliberation to convey my points. It would seem at last I began to hold the students captive and their attention span attained a new lease of life.   However, I could not get rid of the selection of expressions I had acquired from two decades of sojourn in England.

Words like ‘dodgy’, ‘cobblers’, ‘porkies’, ‘blokes’, ‘shebang’, ‘fruitcake’ were freely thrown about during my lectures and became part of the vocabulary of many students. I hope, however, that more than that, the students gained a width, depth and breadth of knowledge to last them a life time.