Another class ends....

We said good-bye and farewell. My students brought this cake in on the last day of class along with another for my two daughters and I to take home. I was very touched and dreaded the last day of class. I could tell it would be a sad day for some whose initial facial reaction told me it was going to be a sad day. I had spent the last four months with my ESL students and we made good distance in the classroom.

They did a great job on their final assessments and that evening, I drove home in my silent but boastful happiness and cried. Yes, I’m a rookie and I know how to handle good-byes, but their growth, and their future lives were incumbent on how well I did my job. The human in me, taught with heart and soul. I did my best and used every teaching strategy I knew. It was like watching your child walk for the first time again….. and the littlest difference made a world of a difference. I cheered them, encouraged them, and did my best to inspire them.

The last day of class I talked with every student individually and from them I learned their stories of disappointment, gratitude, well-being, and how hard they studied and practiced on their own. Some say they did it for me, others said they did it for their families and for me, I prefer to believe they did it for themselves… they were a wonderful and respectful group of people and because of them, my cup runneth over…

You never know how you will affect others around you, a simple gesture, a pat on the back, a good word of encouragement changes lives. I may never see them all together again, those two classes, but the memory of their stories will stay with me always.