why i do what i do

Contracts for next year recently went out, and for the first time since I've been at my school, I'm not thinking about bolting for the door. But I have been doing some thinking about what keeps me at my job. If you asked me what I like about it, I could give you lots of answers: speech, The Advance, being around my family, etc. However, there's just one thing that keeps me coming back--my students. Who would have thought I would say that? I wasn't ever going to be a teacher. But somewhere along the line, I fell in love with the internationals. I'm crazy about them! I love talking with them about their home countries. I love teaching them grammar. I love having them on my speech team. I love going on trips with them. I love having them over for a meal. I love making "lemon pie" (lemon bars) for them. And when they graduate, transfer, or just leave for the summer, I miss them.

This is my Intermediate ESL class, minus Dan (Taiwan), who had already graduated. Alice (Korea) is the girl on the left. She has a twin who looks absolutely nothing like her--you wouldn't even be able to tell they're related. She is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. She joined our class in January after she got bumped up from Beginning ESL, and once she started getting the best grades in the class, everyone else realized they needed to start working harder! Arisa (Japan) is next to Alice. She always made me smile, and she acted like a mother to the boys. Her English improved dramatically throughout the year. David (Korea) is on the left. He's holding the "lemon pie" I made in celebration of our last day of class. He would always greet me with a "Good morning, Miss Becky"--no matter what time of the day it was! Paul (Korea) is on the right. My friend Melissa calls him "Exclamation Paul" because he only speaks in exclamation points. Paul makes me think--he always has excellent, deep questions, especially relating to Christianity. He is obsessed with finding me a husband . . . to the point where he offered to set me up with his "fat, mean" uncle. When I asked why he'd want me to marry someone mean, he said, "Because then I could call you Aunt Becky!"

I'm excited to meet next year's class, but I don't know how it could be any better than this one!