In the eyes of a child...

On a weekly basis, I get called Grandma teacher, fat, ugly and still get the occasional Korean curse word thrown my way. My new kids are far from angels. Lately, I feel like I spend most of my days yelling at the kids both in English, and sometimes in the little bit of Korean I have learned. "Sit down," "Be quiet," "Focus," "Get off the table!" "Put the umbrella down," "Stop hitting him!" I could go on but I think you get the point. Most of the time, I feel like my title should be glorified babysitter instead of teacher. I try my best to make sure something, anything, is sticking but it doesn't seem like they are listening to anything I am saying. 

Today, one of my students proved that to be the furthest thing from the truth. 

I have a class of 10 year olds, 4 boys and 2 girls. One of the kids is so smart and so respectful, but he's the only one who doesn't talk over me and continually interrupt me in class. Unlike most of my classes these kids actually understand me and speak pretty good English. Today, we learned about past hero's and discussed the word biography. To keep the kids quiet and give myself a little bit of a break, I gave the kids an assignment to write their own biography.  

One of my kids, Dean, didn't want to write his own biography. He told me he didn't want the other children to know the brilliant invention he would one day be known for. Dean asked if he could write my biography instead. Super hesitant, and fully prepared for a violent death and/or lots of insults, I told him yes. 

Here is what Dean wrote about me. 

"Brandy teacher was very young when she died. She was a great teacher, 

kind to her students and kids like her. She liked to play tennis, 

she was good but not good enough to be on TV. She made a lot of 

money and gave her money to the poor, then she was poor. 

Then the poor got rich and gave her money and she was rich again. 

Brandy teacher prayed to God and she went upstairs when she died."

I was completely blown away and taken aback that this child who I thought never listened to me, listens to everything I say, even the minor details of my life like the fact that I play tennis and I pray to God. It's good to know that even when you can't tell how you are impacting people or in my case, children, your words and actions are making a difference.