A little while ago I wrote about the little boy I work with in first grade who is very somber. In the past, there have been some days when he will not write or talk. He will just sit there with an expression that makes me wonder if he's about to cry. Although it usually isn't that bad, he rarely seems excited about working unless he gets to color.
Yesterday, he had in his box a new marker and new crayons that he must have gotten over the weekend. Come to find out, writing with a marker is so much more fun than writing with a pencil. The con is that it bleeds through the page. But when you find something that makes this little guy excited about writing, such a con can be overlooked.
Today this somber little kid was a different person. He forgot to bring his workbook (not unusual) so I decided we'd finish the work in a different book we had half-way done from yesterday. His marker wasn't in his box but his crayons were, so he used a black crayon to write. He was having so much fun that for the first time he was being silly and goofing around. He was smiling and LAUGHING!!! If he were any other kid I would have gotten more frustrated because I would have felt like he was just trying to get out of work. But with this little boy I felt like if I told him to stop being goofy I would be robbing him of this happiness he had found. So I tried to find ways to make that energy productive and we had a great time.
We finished the first project before class was over so we went to show the teacher. There were a few other students around her desk and all the sudden one girl said one thing and another girl burst into tears. Supposedly my little first grader had kissed a classmate on the cheek and it was observed by another classmate who embarrassed the little girl that had gotten kissed. It resulted in almost the whole class standing around the girl's desk while she cried. Oh, the drama! :D My little friend claimed he did not kiss the little girl by shaking his head with a little grin and I wasn't sure whether or not I believed him. But the situation was so humorous that how could he get in trouble for maybe kissing a little girl's cheek?
After the crying settled down, the teacher said we could work on memorizing clothing words. So we drew some outfits with his new crayons. It was good because we could work on colors and articles of clothing at the same time. And I got very excited when he would say the words to me in English. He would get this adorable little grin on his face as he said the word so quietly I could barely hear. Like it was a secret.
I was just getting ready to draw some more outfits with women's clothing when the teacher said class was up. Already? We were just getting started!!!
I'm so thankful this little boy seems to be having an easier life. He's much too young to be so burdened he can't smile. It will be fun to watch him continue to grow.
Another plus is that it has helped renew my purpose for being at the school. I don't feel like the students are being taught English the most effective way but there really isn't anything I can do about it. Observing/helping with five 50 minute classes gets a little long under these circumstances. But days like today are when God helps renew my excitement to be in the classroom. All thanks and praise to Him!
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