A rewarding moment in teaching

There are many days when I feel my job is very tiring, but I still enjoy teaching every day. Sometimes I will have an insanely difficult class where none of the kids listen and they just scream and fight and behave very badly. Then, I have the total opposite, where the kids love English and will work their hardest to listen and understand every word I say.

The most rewarding though is when I know I can make an impact on a child.

Today I had a class with a bunch of 2nd graders in elementary school. These are usually very fun because we can play simple games and just have as much fun with English as we can. At the beginning of this one class, I was with my supervisor and she asked (in Japanese) "Ok so last week you learned 10 animals. Was it difficult?" and this one girl yelled out "It was too difficult! I hate English!"

That was when I turned to her, made a big sad face and said in English "Awwww! I am sad!!" then in Japanese "Do your best!!" Then all the kids laughed because I spoke in Japanese. I find that with the much younger kids, it is best to let them know I understand Japanese so I don't seem as scary and different. I become closer to them and they actually want to get to know me.

Afterward we played a game, where the kids come up and say with the class what animal they like. I could tell that the little girl who hated English wanted to participate so I had her come up with a friend, I knew she wouldn't come alone so it was a good way to get more kids involved.

Once we played a few games, and everyone was having fun, the girl who hated English came up to me and said "My name is ___!" and then she said in Japanese "I like English now!" I almost wanted to cry from happiness. She asked me many questions in Japanese and so I talked with her and her friends and I think it made her really happy. After class she folded me an acorn in origami and then during her recess she would come up to the teacher's window and wave at me and then run away.

What an adorable kid! It makes me so happy to think that I completely changed a child's view on English, that I made her enjoy the class and want to participate, I can only hope and wish that she will keep that love forever.

I think this really shows me what kind of impact being a teacher really has on a child, how you can be such a large influence on their opinions and ideas just by saying a few kind words. This is one reason why I truly love my job, I can meet many students of all ages, spend time with them and let them actually enjoy English. Hopefully, if I can just make a couple kids really love English then I think I have done my job right.