December 20, 2007

Here’s one of the nicest Christmas greetings I’ve ever gotten. It was written in a card by a small class of pre-intermediate students and given to me after our last class on the 13th.

The front of the card said, “Christmas Greetings for Someone Special,” and inside was one of those innocuous card poems no one ever reads. Then they wrote, “Merry Christmas Mr. Peter… We love you… We always miss you Sir… We are sorry, because we always made many mistakes. Thank you to teach us with very patient. God bless you!! Wish you have a wonderful Christmas with your family & wife.”

Isn’t that sweet?

I also had two classes of 6- and 7-year-olds just finish the other day too. Their last test had some of my favorite mistakes. Our latest unit covered pets and animals, and they had to answer questions about their pets. Here a few especially good ones.

For the question, What does it look like? one said of her dog, “it look like a cat.”

Also for, What does it look like? one boy said of his fish, “it look like medium.” Hmm.

Entering the world of magic realism and poetry… For, Where does it sleep? one boy answered of his pet dinosaur, “it’s sleep of ocean.” Quite beautifully put.

For, What does it do? one boy answered of his cat, “it do like a thief.” Yes. Don’t they all.

And there were two really good answers for, What does it like to eat? “it like to eat plankton,” one boy very logically said of his fish. And another said of his hamster, “it eat born.” Yes. Even this close to Christmas the harsh realities of life have not escaped this child.

Hope your Christmas season isn’t too stressed out. For those of you in retail… my heart goes out to you. I feel your pain all the way across the oceans and hemispheres. For those of you who aren’t in retail, be nice and tip well to those who are. Santa and the baby Jesus are watching.

We miss you all. Merry Christmas!