Last Day of Class

It was over almost as soon as it began.

Today marked Day 6 -- the last day -- of Yakitori 101's English component. We spent much of the period working on being persuasive, both in written and spoken English. The way this group of students has opened up has been amazing to me. When the English component began, there were one or two who were confident about their English ability. Everyone could speak well, and most of them could write and read fairly well, but most of them were nowhere near as confident as they were knowledgable.

I asked them, at the end of class, what the most important thing they had learned was. Almost without exception, they said that they now felt comfortable speaking and writing English.

"To me, or to anyone?" I asked.

"To anyone," was the reply.

Class was over, I gave a little "good job during the past six days" pep talk, and then the class surprised me with four sets of performances in my honor: original poems, a great song-and-dance routine, a "letter to Greg" and a short, one-act play about our first class in which, quite hilariously, the star of the show mimicked me perfectly.

Never has any class I've taught, whether English in Japan or taxes in Maryland, paid so much attention to what I was saying.

Here's one of the poems...

Once in my life, i met this guy,
I thought he was just passing by
They said he's our english teacher
I can't help but smile, "i thought he was a jester."

He walks funny as it may seem
But deep inside he is a king.
A king named Greg, that's who he is
For he has a lot of good deeds
He shares to us what he knows
A kind, unselfish heart it shows.

You us what we need to know
Even if it makes our minds blow
Self confidence we never had before
Then you said to us, "speak in english more."

For all the times we shared together
And the knowledge you impart to us
Rest assured that we will always treasure
And forever we are always greatful.

Today you'll be saying goodbye
I hope nobody will cry
For we will surely miss you, Gregory,
And seeing you, we hope this is not the last.

I'll be back for their graduation ceremony next month, I hope.