I love teaching English to the Indian children. I love the interaction as much as I do the chance to feel as though I am helping them in a small way. The children are full of life, love, purity and passion. It feels very rewarding especially when they ask or rather demand that I keep teaching:

“Keep going, Miss.”
“Yah, more Miss….more opposite words.”
“Good teaching, Miss”
“Really Nice, Miss”
“You a teacher in your country?”
“Stay longer, Miss”

Our latest lesson was on finding opposites and making sentences with the new word. It was a strain on my brain to figure out how to explain the meaning of some of the English words. English is weird especially when I assumed I understood it well enough to explain to others but also end up getting stumped. In Korea, I had this same problem when a student once asked me what did falling in love mean.

That’s a tough one.

How do you explain it?

Ah, falling down, getting hurt, becoming stupid and losing your good sense, getting into trouble, going insane, crazy or mad.

Or, being on a cloud (something else that needs explaining), feeling light, happy, excited, like you died and went to heaven….

With the Indian kids, I did not encounter this problem but we did have a few interesting words that needed clarification:

Clouded
Briskly
Coccoon

At the end of the class all of the children stood up and shouted in unison, “Thank you, Miss.” Entering the classroom was also with a similar fan-fare (re: all the children standing up like a military drill). I thought my duty was over but as I headed for the doorway the children had other plans for me. They barricaded the entrance to the class so they could have their school books signed. Picture 55 kids shoving a notebook in your face with a pen!

`”Here Miss take mine.”
“I am here Miss.”
“See me Miss, I am sitting nicely here Miss.”

Definitely hard to say no. And once you start with one you start with all of them.

The wonderful part is being made to feel like a bit of a celebrity rather than a lowly English teacher. Some jobs indeed have their perks. And seeing how happy the children were as I signed their book made me smile so much. Sometimes it is the simple things in life that matter.....and the things we cannot pay for which are truly the most valuable. Those things are indeed the smile of a child.