It Gets Better

...and then I get cards like this one, from one of my eleven year old Japanese students:

Dear Alex,

Thanks a lot for helping my English. I think I am better in English because of you. If I wasn't met with you, maybe I'm still very shy that I don't have friend except for Japanese.

This girl is moving back to Japan in a few weeks, and I'm so sad. I've been with her one year, and she went from being such a shy girl who would not talk at all to a girl who reads Harry Potter out loud with different character voices and gestures. She was making such strides, and is so much fun to talk to.

I told her to practice English when she got back to Japan, because she has a gift. Then her mom tells me that I have a gift as a teacher, and of course I started crying, and she started crying, and then we took goofy pictures and I promised to visit them in Japan.

Teaching is so rewarding, even when it's challenging. I love it.