i like giraffes.

every once & a while i have beautiful teaching moments with my students. i try to log them in my journal, so i'll be able to remember these sweet occurrences forever. i figure it will be a great reward to read these little stories years down the road & in turn, jog my memory, taking me back to these wild 18 months of teaching english to japanese children. last week i jotted down in my journal a precious instance i had with two of my pre-school students. in fact, it was so wonderful, i decided to share it.

i was finishing up a unit on "i like" or "i don't like" with two of my favorite 4 year old, adorably pigtailed, students. in their workbook, there were several zoo animals scattered over the page. under each animal, there was a check mark & an 'x' mark. the students were to circle the check mark if they liked the animal & circle the 'x' mark if they didn't like the animal. the first animal was a giraffe. they both circled the check & said, "i like giraffes." the next was a lion. they both circled the 'x' & said, "i don't like lions." the next animal was a zebra...& so on. you get the idea.

after the page was finished, one of the little girls drew a picture of me. under my picture she drew a check mark & an 'x' mark. she then circled the check mark, looked at me & said, "i like leah sensei!" it was the greatest moment ever!