Reasons to Smile

So I have to admit I think it's funny when he says plower instead of flower and fourn instead of four. Every time he says six it comes out like the Thai word for ten (sip) and the poor girl next to him gets confused.

It makes me smile when I go over to check on him and the other fourth grade boy because they are talking over a book in fun reading and I hear him explaining to his friend the Bible stories he recognizes from their pictures in the English Bible. They ask me if the statue in the picture is Christian or Buddhist and they don't quite get that it is neither.

I smile when he brings me a book in the library at break and asks me to read to him. When he excitedly calls a friend over and they hurry to the mats to sit down to hear the story. When it's finished they ask for another and when time is up they say, "Thank you, teacher" in English.

I smile when we're doing addition fact flashcards and he yells out "Seventyhaa." A strange mix between Thai and English which he thinks is so funny. Pretty soon we were all laughing, including my Thai co-teacher as we were going downstairs for the end of the day. He kept repeating it to himself and then giggling in the funniest way.

I smile when the ping pong ball taped on our back bulletin board in a solar system model randomly drops to the floor and makes that distinctive noise when no one is in the classroom and I am walking down the stairs.

I smile when one of my students from last year comes into the room politely, wais, looks confused and says, "I'm sorry teacher...um...I forgot what I'm supposed to ask." Before hurrying out to find Miss Amy again and ask what he is supposed to be getting.

I smile when I see my three third grade girls playing and giggling all together since one is a tomboy and the other has a hard time fitting in.

I smile when one of my dear little boys asks me "How are you?"before I ask him and when I ask him how he is he answers, "I'm fine thank you and you?" I wonder how long we could go in this cycle.

I smile when I am helping one of my students complete a behavior reflection form to help him think through why he got in trouble and how to avoid it in the future. We went through the first part of the Thai form fine with the name, date, grade and then I read him the first question because he can't read in Thai. He answered me and then went to write the answer and then asked me the Thai equvilent of "Now, does that start with an s?" (Which in Thai there are numerous symbols for the /s/ sound.) I looked at him and told him, "I have no idea." And then we both laughed because neither of us could spell.

I smile when they help each other (the one who really struggles helping the one who struggles even more) and encourage each other.

I'm thankful for these many reasons to smile and my thirteen blessings who cause them and the God who carries us all.