It is already over. I can’t even begin to explain how I feel. It has been such a wonderful experience and as much as I miss people back home, I don’t want to leave. The last week has been hard and emotionally demanding, but I have made the most out of it. While it was extremely sad (and I cried a lot!) to have to say goodbye to my students, I know that we will find a way to see each other again. What I want to talk about for my last blog entry is not directly related to teaching. However, it is all about the students.
My form 6 students out for dinner in Sha Tin
I have developed a very close relationship with my form 6 students. I think that the special circumstances of the stage allowed me to get closer to my students than I could ever have been back home. I went to Ocean Park with half of the class, I went out to lunch with a bunch of them, I went shopping during the Easter break with a few of them, etc. I know that in all of our classes we always say that we can be friendly with our students but not become their friends. Well, they ended up being my friends. They are all 17-18 years old and the fact that I will never ever be their teacher again gave me the chance to become their friend without losing control of my classroom. So, for my last day, I asked them to have dinner with me after school. No one had to come; if they felt like it they could come and if they didn’t want to it was fine. I knew that some of them would come, but I never expected that more than half of my class would show up!
My Hong Kong Family
They brought me to a typically Chinese restaurant in Sha Tin. It looks a lot like a wedding reception: under a huge tent outside with a bunch of round tables and we order different plates that we all share. So we were (with Juanita and me) a total of 21 around the table. For the next few hours, we forgot that we were leaving each other soon, and we just laughed, enjoyed our meal and took a bunch of pictures. Everyone looked so happy and was having such a good time. It was, without the shadow of a doubt, the best night that I’ve had in Hong Kong. It felt like I was sitting with my family that I haven’t seen in a while and everyone was laughing and sharing memories of the good times we’ve spent together. After dinner, we went for typical Chinese dessert. Again, everyone was sitting around the table and having fun. I ended up sending everyone back home at midnight (they all assured me that they would not get in trouble!).
Happy Bunch!
Now, what does all of that have to do with teaching? The next day, they gave me back my book that I had asked them to sign and leave a message if they felt like it. Almost all of them left me a message and they all thanked me for making English interesting by doing stuff outside of school with them. They also write that they will miss me because I was more than just a teacher to them. I can honestly say that I will miss all of them because they have been more than students to me.
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