Class is Out

Today, I taught my last class for the semester. It was one of my best days teaching, not becuase it was my last, but because of my students. There is something amazing about the brains of children. The capacity that they have for learning is truly astounding. I have only had these students for about four weeks, but in that time I have seen their confindence in the use of English grow. When I first began teaching them, they knew a few of English words but they seldom used them due to being somewhat shy around a foreigner. Today, however, they seemed to come out of their shell. I broke the class up into groups of four, put a picture on the board, and gave the groups ten minutes to write down ways to describe the picture and what they saw. After the time was up, one member of each group had to stand in front of the class, and talk about what they saw. We all know the old saying that a picture says 1000 words. Well, my students impressed me with their vocabulary and descriptive thinking. For example, the picture was of a man sleeping in a bed. One of the students said about the picture "I think he is having a good dream". I asked why he said that, and he told me "because the man is smiling". Another said that the man had a cheap bed. In explanation he said "it was because the bed was bowed". I was very impressed. In the span of a few weeks, they have began to take the vocabulary that they knew, added it to the new vocabulary that I taught them, combined that with the grammar patterns that they were taught, and then use it in abstract thinking. I am looking forward to the fall semester. Working with them and seeing their progress encourages me in my efforts to learn their language. - Frank