The Class

She said her name was Desislava or Desi. She knew Americans always tripped and fell over her name, “Or you can call me Daisy”, she said, with a friendly smile “it sounds like that. I am from Bulgaria, not Russia.” Apparently, every American she met assumed she was Russian. Her accent was very strong eastern European like you’d hear in an old spy movie. She was pretty in a wide cheekboned, Slavic way. She wore a long black leather coat and her hair was braided in an unfamiliar style. She wore big showy rings on several fingers.

I was one of her teachers in a hybrid ELS and computer skills class. That class was possibly the most fun I’ve ever had as a teacher, we never stopped laughing together. Mistakes made while learning a new language are often funny, and we had an endless supply. As different as they were from each other, the students were all dealing with essentially the same intense situation and they naturally formed a friendly bond. In most classes I teach, the students start as strangers and finish that way too. On the last day of class, as they leave forever, most walk out without glancing at me. (It deserves to be said, though, that there are very few classes without at least one or two warm-hearted students who thank me for the class.) Continue reading →