Collectible Moments

It's been a while since I wrote anything here, so let me just ramble a bit about the last couple of months. Actually, as the semester for one school comes to an end and the semester for my other school is about to begin, I think I need to reflect on some of my favorite moments of the past few months. As much as I love my job, I seem to get to a certain point every few months in which I lose my excitement and momentum a bit. After teaching a certain course for a while, I don't necessarily walk into the classroom brimming with wonder at what the day will bring. I get into a comfortable routine, and it always helps to re-affirm why I'm doing this so that I can continue to be as creative and interested as possible.

So...some of my favorite moments of the past term:

1. In my vocabulary class, one of my favorite students (I know, I know...I shouldn't have favorites, but seriously, doesn't every teacher have a few faves?) told me that I was the best teacher she'd had at the school. I was so flattered, I nearly cried. This students was a bit older than most of my others - probably about 50, and I remember on the first day of class, I had wondered how I could possibly gain the respect of my much older students who had way more life experience than me. Well, I guess I shouldn't have worried so much. Somehow, I managed to do it.

2. On one particular day, we talked about tongue twisters in one of my classes. The Polish students asked me and other non-Polish students to repeat tongue twisters from their language and then the rest of us did the same in our native languages. Needless to say, much laughter ensued! That all sounds so dorky, but if you had been there, you'd have laughed too. My Thai student attempting to repeat a Polish tongue twister - absolutely priceless moment.

The intense discussions we had in my American film class were incredible, particularly for the movies American Beauty, Crash and The Visitor. My students' perspectives on these films are so interesting. They approach them from the standpoint of people who weren't raised in American culture, and so their observations are often completely different from my own.

On the last day of my vocab/grammar classes, we played the game Apples to Apples. If you're not familiar, one person chooses a card with an adjective and the other players choose a word from their stack of cards that is best described by that adjective. Explaining the game doesn't do it justice - it's always hilarious and just happens to be educational at the same time. I felt that my students bonded over this game, as cheesy as that sounds.

And then of course, all the little moments: students grasping something for the first time, students telling me their personal stories, joking around with them, seeing pictures or eating food from their home countries, etc., etc.

I'm so ready for the new semester and new favorite moments to add to my collection!