Triumph

As part of the new school year here in Korea I am no longer tutoring the same little boy twice a week. Instead, for the next six months I will be teaching him along with two of his peers in more a of 'classroom' setting than one-on-one tutoring.

When I found out this change of schedule I was a little worried about my little boy as we were doing so well with our own little technique way of learning English. I didn't want our progress to stop because I all of a sudden had to go by an actual book. So when I made the lesson plan/outline for the upcoming month I approached my boss to try to figure out the exact way she wanted me to approach this class since she had given me free reign over my tutoring sessions before. When I asked her how many units she wanted me to do out of the book each month, and how she wanted me to frame the spelling tests her response was this:

"The progress you have made with your tutoring student is a miracle. He has done so well. The other students are jealous of his progress and that is why I have put them in your class. They want to be better at English like he is now. I know you know how to teach kids like him, so you judge it by whatever you think is best."

I literally blushed. I am blushing now as I write this! Only because it seemed so genuine and she doesn't exactly hand out compliments daily or even monthly to her employees. So when she does.....you are taken aback, and it truly means something.

It is no secret though how much progress I have made with my tutoring kid over the past 6 months though. I knew this, but today I truly saw it in our 'mini-class' that we are now in together. Our little classroom with only four bodies is still very intimate and should make for a great learning environment as we navigate this tricky language. You see, it's very hard for these few kids to learn English and it's my job to make it more fun. Today we just did some basic writing, and went over verb tenses and vocabulary. As we went over this curriculum I noticed a spark in my tutoring child's eyes. His hand would jump up as he remembered something we talked about in tutoring previously, or he would interrupt me as he remembered an answer and was eager to share it with his peers. He had this cheeky grin on his face like, 'I know this stuff guys, watch and learn.'

It was an amazing feeling to see him so confident FOR ONCE in his English. I'm not sure how often it happens for him, or how long it will last, (as the material is quite tricky)  but my goodness this is what triumph looks like! Success at last! Conquering at last! He knows his stuff, and was excited, confident, and eager to share it! I was bursting with my own sense of pride in knowing I had a small part in helping him get to this moment. A moment he worked so hard for, and probably didn't even deem notable, but after all I have seen him do in the past 6 months it was notable for me! He was no longer the lost student unable to put his words together and drawing me pictures of the words he did not know in English. He knew the answer, and was the only one in class who did. I hope he felt proud, I hope he felt triumphant.

I'm so happy to still be teaching him, and it seems his excitement to learn is there too....here's to another 6 months of success.