Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Ayumi's Letter

Ayumi is one of the "bad girls" of the "ghetto" school. When I say "bad", I mean she never raises her hand or participates in class, carries on conversations with other classmates during lessons and basically ignores the teacher altogether, except for when she has something disrespectful to say. She's always been sweet to me, and I've often enjoyed talking to her and her friends during "silent" soji (cleaning time) or in between classes, which are basically the only chance I have to actually speak to the kids, since I do almost nothing in class. Be that as it may, I never thought she was even remotely interested in English, especially considering her behavior in class. You can imagine my suprise, then, when she handed me this letter after class on Monday. It almost makes all the time I've spent at the ghetto school, standing at the back of the classroom trying to keep myself awake, worth it.

Almost.

Thank you, Ayumi!

2 comments:

Abbey said...

You have made a difference in kids' lives. That's more than many people can say. Even if it never felt like it, I KNOW there are more Ayumi's out there who haven't written a letter. And all you had to do was be you!

On another note, I'll be looking forward to my complimentary copy of Okinawa Living.

Remy said...

priceless!