Miracle

My students are from 2 years old to 77 years old.
Every generation has pros and cons to teach English, but for me, the most difficult people are...kids' mothers.
Because:
1. I don't teach the mothers "directly," so it's hard to make a rapport.
2. Most children don't have the motivation to learn English, but mothers pay money. So, mothers tend to require "the result" too much.
3. Some mothers believe the legend "kids can learn English very quickly" on the contrast to themselves who already gave up to learn English.
The mothers don't know how it takes time to acquire the second language, so they expect us too much.

Therefore, my scariest time in the school is "the parents' observation week of kids' classes." This week...is so!!
Especially, today was the most awful day for me because I had three parents' observation classes, and one is 4-5years old class, which is called "the zoo" in my mind!!

Recently, I have been worried about Mamoru, the most troublesome one.
Since two new girls joined the 4-5 years old, my concern was the difference between the fooling wild boys(Mamoru and Takuya) and dedicated good girls.
It was very hard for me to proceed the English activities with the girls and try to stop the boys' rudeness at the same time. Especially, Mamoru was getting disobedient more and more. I felt my stomach hurt when I thought about Mamoru.
Therefore, I sometimes called or sent e-mail to my kids' trainer at the head quarter to consult about him.

Frankly speaking, I even thought "I hope Mamoru has a cold and can't come to the parents' observation day!"
...Call me a terrible teacher!!
But the two girls' mothers were really eager to English education, so they often asked me, "how do you handle the class having these such wild boys?"
...Actually, I couldn't "hadle" the class, especially Mamoru!

However, however...Today, a "miracle" happened!
The wild animal (I mean, Mamoru) became a "human being" today!!
He listened to me, did what I asked, kept the order, spoke English a lot, helped me to set up a game, and even said, "after you" to his friend!!
...Who said "No!" all the time whenever I asked something?
...Who refused to speak English at all during the class?
...Who "broke" my props all the time??
MAMORU did!! He was the WORST one in the class, but he was the "BEST" today!

In the last parents' observation class(in June,) he was terribly bad.
But now...it's surprising improvement!!
Maybe there are some reasons, but I think what my trainer said is correct.
She said," I think he likes you. He is just taking advantage of your kindness.
But he knows what you have been making effort for him. If you continue doing that, he will change someday!"
Well, "someday"...was...today???

The trainer said kids improve very quickly sometimes but it is also easy to go back to the former states. Mamoru may also be a "good boy" next time, or may go back to the "wild animal" again.
But I could recognize his change clearly, and that encouraged me a lot.

Tonight, I feel like making a toast!! Cheers!!!