It's the Little Things...

Today’s article is written for the Reach To Teach Teach Abroad Blog Carnival, a monthly series that focuses on providing helpful tips and advice to ESL teachers around the globe. I'll be posting a new ESL related article on my blog on the 5th of every month. Check back for more articles, and if you'd like to contribute to next month's Blog Carnival, please contact Dean at dean@reachtoteachrecruiting.com, and he will let you know how you can start participating!  For more tales of proud classroom moments from around the world, check out the other links for December's Blog Carnival.

It’s difficult to choose one moment in my time teaching abroad that I could label as my “best” or “proudest”.  When you’re in a career like teaching, there are so many highs (mixed with a healthy dose of lows), sometimes they become the norm, and you forget to be grateful for them.  But reflecting on those moments can be a real boost to your morale, giving you a jolt of energy and feeling of accomplishment.  

In the spirit of reflection, I’m going to share a few of my fondest memories, simple as they may seem.  I truly can’t choose just one!

Two years ago, when I was teaching in Taiwan, I had a sweet little class of three six-year-old girls.  They started with me in August in the very lowest level class, learning to say “hello” and recite the alphabet.  But by winter, we were reading simple books and chatting up a storm every week.  It’s amazing what young brains taught in a small group can absorb!

Reenacting the barber shop scene in "Kipper's Haircut"

I had a student in Taiwan that changed his name three times in the course of a year.  His name started out as Dan, but since there were two other boys in the class who had chosen the name Daniel, he decided he wanted to be different.  (Side note: the name Daniel is very popular in Taiwan because it’s Hello Kitty’s boyfriend’s name!)  Dan was not one for subtlety, so he chose to rename himself as Milk.  Yes, Milk.  Now, I loved this ‘name’ and did not question his decision.  It fit him quite well.  But his mother did not like this dairy moniker, so it was back to the drawing board.  After some deliberation, he came back to class rebranded as Mario.  I couldn’t help but sing the theme song every time I called his name for register.  

Check out his artwork.  Hahahaha!
Full credit :)

So many of the students here at British International School Vietnam come to class everyday with a great attitude and an excitement for learning.  It’s refreshing, really, to not battle constantly with behavioral issues (although I deal with a fair amount of this too) and to actually focus on teaching and learning.  This allows for breakthrough moments for the students.  I had a six-year-old girl earlier this year read a sentence independently during class.  She was so proud of herself because this was the first sentence she had ever read on her own!  She read the sentence, “The chick is in the egg,” and immediately broke into a huge smile and shouted out, “I read! I read by myself!”  A truly heartwarming moment that I had to capture on film.

Proud moment; first-time reader!

Here in Vietnam, I’m teaching the youngest students I’ve ever had in my class.  My four-year-olds are particularly cute, and they make me smile everyday when they insist on calling me “Ms. Samantha Cinderella Princess.”  I mean.... come on.  Too much cute.  Since I’ve never taught kids this young, I’m still learning the best practices and what appropriate goals are for this age.  Every once in a while, I come up with something that turns out fairly well, like this gem:

With these little cherubs surrounding me on a daily basis, it’s no wonder I can’t choose just ONE best moment!