connection

We have teaching practicum four days a week. Once or twice out of those days, I sit shaking in a small classroom, watching my students (most of whom are 3 times my age) file in and take their seats, chatting in Spanish, Cantonese or Mandarin. Most of the time we overshoot our students’ speaking level, leaving us grasping for any loose threads that they might be able to understand. We teachers are scared and unsure; our students are good-natured and forgiving. Usually, our feeble attempts leave our students more confused than when they first started, and we cry tears of frustration, anxiety and hilarity when it’s all over.

But sometimes, you see a light turn on. All of a sudden, it crosses over from being “memory work” to "understanding." It clicks, and it is an amazing thing to watch the brain work right before your eyes. One beginner student, whom I had taught the lesson before, was having trouble coming up with the right vocab word for the sentence her teacher wanted her to complete. From the back of the room, I watched her shake her head in frustrated concentration. All of a sudden, without even looking at her face I could see her eyes light up. She bounced out of her seat a little and chirped “Car!”, which was one of the words I had taught her. Taken aback, her teacher stammered out, “Well, yes, you do drive a car. But do you remember 'bicycle,' what I just taught you?” Our alum observer looked over at me with a huge grin, his eyes laughing. He knew, too--she got it. It’s quite an incredible thing for a teacher to experience, having their students actually learn something from them.

Life turns beautiful when moments like these happen—when a truth is discovered, when you finally connect it all together.