Post-break

And now I've come upon the final week with my first group of students. They will graduate from the course on Thursday, and after that I will receive a new group.

I didn't write this past week because I was at home for the fourth of July (among other things.) I, like most people, need a break if I am doing the same thing day after day. I was getting pretty burned out there for a while, and needed some time to recharge and see my friends and family. However, my job is probably one of the least day-to-day jobs there is, such is the job of any teacher. Every day is different, every lesson is different, and every group of students is different. When I was home I sort of stayed out of the teaching mindset for a while, so it didn't even occur to me that pretty soon my group of students wouldn't be my group any more. And I gotta tell you, it's not the best feeling in the world.

I think I've become more attached to my group than I thought. I never really thought about what it would be like at work without them there. I started on May 20th, the same day that my students started taking the class. Even though a month and a half seems like such a short amount of time, after spending three hours a day four days a week with these guys, we've gotten to know each other pretty well. Even though sometimes in my advanced group we spend too much class time listening to stories of the Congo and trying to understand advanced grammatical rules that even I struggle with, I really have enjoyed my time with them.

I think there comes a time in every teacher's life when your students become not only faces you see in the classroom, but people you have real relationships with, and who even become your close friends. And I've felt that toward all my students, who are all grown men looking for jobs, who have to provide for families, who are honestly just trying to get by in their new life. And I have such a deep respect for them and all that they've been through that the least I can do is go in that room every day and try to make it easier on them by giving them a useful skill. It makes me a little irritated to think of some people that I go to school with, who complain about going to class and say, "when am I ever going to use this material?" At least we have the opportunity to take a useless class, or a class about a random subject, or something that we really like. In my class at Exodus, the students try to squeeze everything they can out of those three hours, every rule, every spelling correction. Because they need to, and because they have motivation to do so. Today one of the students was asked if he thought being a teacher was hard, and he said yes, of course it was. And to that my coworker and I said that it's easy to be a teacher when you have good students. And indeed it has been.

Another thing that I have gained from these students is a male perspective. I will admit that I can tend to be a hardcore feminist. And no, this doesn't mean I'm scary or mean, it just means that I truly believe that men and women should be equal and therefore should be given the same rights and opportunities. Sometimes, however, I get so caught up in this mentality that I assume the worst about men and don't try to listen to their side of the story. But in the past six weeks I have been with a bunch of men every day who respect me and listen to me and take a vested interest what I have to say. This has allowed me to soften my edges a bit, and to take time to sit down and listen to what some men in this world have been through. Sometimes it's painful to observe this and to see men who were once educated in their own country, were important figures, maybe had their own land or their own business, and are now struggling to speak the native language, working minimum wage jobs, and living off of food stamps. And they are expected to be the tough ones, the ones who know what to do and who are supposed to provide for their families and be the role model. These guys have had their pride scraped off the floor with a metal shovel and thrown back in their faces. But here they continue, day after day, coming to English class with an open mind and an open heart. And if that's not inspiring, I don't know what is. Maybe not all men have it as easy as some of us would like to think :)

Next week I'll have a new batch of students to teach. Although I will be sad to see this current group go, I'm looking forward to hearing some more stories, explaining more grammar and gaining some new perspective from the toughest group of people I've ever met in my life. Till next time...