This last week, we were doing some English exercises (as one often does in an English class) and I called on one of my students to complete a certain exercise. The sentence was "The lights went off." She was supposed to make it into a sentence with a time clause or something. She looked at the sentence, looked at me and said "This mean.... cat feed me dinner eats?" ........
I really didn't know what to say. I felt like a complete failure. Why am I even trying to teach anything?
But last night, Jason and I heard a knock on the door- actually it was more like a bang and a bit of muffled Korean as they tried to get through the screen door. There stood my students. They handed me a plate of freshly made kim-chee pancakes and smiled and giggled. I had never eaten Kimchee and it was VERY good. Along with the pancakes, they handed me a card that simply said "THANKS". In that simple gesture, all my failures were forgotten and I felt hope again.
What cool students! You must be a cool person.
ReplyDeleteIt's the blessing of teaching - random gifts at random times with random meanings...
ReplyDeleteIn other words, good on you!
Well, all's well that ends well. And that was a nice gesture on their part; thus your title for this blog.
ReplyDeleteHey, your post was a blast from the past. I think I felt hopeless 70 percent of the time. And then they threw me a birthday party, making me feel on top of the world. I rode that wave for 8 months. You're doing a great job Larissa, and you're making a huge different for these people. Keep up the good work!
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