Stories

I love my international students. They struggle and persevere and I am thrilled when their personalities shine through (and even some humour) when they try and communicate.
I remember one fellow who was very excited as he came to class that morning. He told me that he had "two good news." The first one was that he had received some long awaited documents from the government which would allow him some permanency here in Canada. The other was that his wife was expecting a baby. I enthusiastically congratulated him to which he responded, almost apologetically, "Teacher, Canadian winters long...what else can you do?"

Well, obviously he found something to occupy his time!!

Often beginner students find it hard to tell you what they are feeling, but by the look on their face, it is easy enough to guess. I had one Colombian student who was in my class and she did not appear to be "herself." After class I asked my beginner "are you sad?" "Do you miss being at home?" Two crocodile tears coursed down her cheeks as she held her emotions from bursting open and said "Teacher, it is so hard." I gave her a big hug and promised that it would get better, but we all need time. She was a nurse in a large Colombian hospital who worked with babies in a neonatal unit. I recognized that I would be teaching some health issues to my class since we were starting the cold and flu season. So, I asked her if she would "help" me with the class. She came to class with handouts (that she had made) and spoke to the class (now this was beginner, CLB 1) about how to wash your hands properly, how to take care of yourself when you have a cold or a sore throat. She was amazing!! She just needed to know that she was important and had something to offer.



When one of my students got a job at a local fast food restaurant, she was nervous and excited all at once. She persevered with her language struggles and often asked me for help in pronunciation or vocabulary. It was a steep learning curve at first, but I could see that her confidence was building and the successes were increasing. I literally did the dance of joy when she came to class telling me that she was being trained for being on drive-thru! How exciting! This was truly a testament of her perseverance.

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I have one very cute Mexican student in my class--her eyes light up when she enters the classroom as she is so excited to be in English class. We were discussing Thanksgiving idioms and I was talking about having "goosebumps". She kept saying that she had goose bums. I finally pointed to my backside and said not "goose BUMS" but "goose BUMPS"! She laughed at herself and said "Teacher, my mind is slow but my heart is strong!" Yes, it seems that most of our students have a very strong desire to learn all they can! =====

Sometimes my students are very nervous when coming to class and so usually I start by asking them to tell a little about themselves. One student seemed quite willing to talk about her family back at home. She told me of her husband of 5 years and how he lived in the Philippines while she lived here in Canada for the last 3 years. She wistfully stopped and said how she would love to have a baby. But then, as if suddenly snapped back to reality, she admitted that would be rather hard with him being in the Philippines and her being here. "But" she said with a laugh, "maybe he could send his sperm through Skype !" I guess--that would be a first--a Skype baby!! :)