Genuine Oakley's

Teaching is always so full of surprises. I am loving it more and more every time i step into a class. I love meeting with the ESL students from all over the world and seeing their outlook on life being from other countries.

There is another perk to teaching too. gifts! i received my very first present for teaching. Sometimes we have students who, before they leave, offer gifts to their teachers as a thank you. Some give mini ornaments and others give cards.

Yesturday i taught my level one class for the last time of the week. One of my students ( the same one with the foot fingers incidednt [ see previous post]) seemed very distracted. I wonderedd over to see if i could figure out what he was whispering about but he saw me coming. He started trying to tell me and then reverted to his spanglish. He took out a pair of sunglasses " You like...?" at this point he had a very confused look on his face because he couldnt find the word 'sunglasses'.

Jose: "its a..."
Perla/Sonia: gift? gift!
Jose: yes, special for me, gift.
[he hands the Oakleys to me]
Katie: oh, they are nice. They were a gift?
Jose: No, gift. you. gift.
Katie: [me looking confused]
You want me to have the glasses?
Jose: yes! gift.

See, Jose is a race car driver. He has a picture on his laoptop of him wearing his Oakleys after driving in a race. He wanted me to have his special Oakleys. This is really not a big deal because they are his sponsor. The next day he came to class and had another pair. But he really wanted me to have his special pair.

I accepted but it was slightly embarrassing. Not the gesture but the action of it in front of the whole class. Some of the students laughed. Im sure i was as red as a tomato... it was so sweet of him. And it was my first present as an ESL teacher. What a gift! I will never wear them but i dont want to give them away when i know they were special to him...