David

David is 17 years old. He likes to basketball and football (soccer). He tells me that his favorite basketball star is Lebron James. Most of the things he wrote to me involved either basketball or computer games.

However, David is also very studious and wants to do well in school. Here is a letter he wrote me.
“Miss Jane,
This summer camb is very good for our English study. First, it makes me understand American teacher. And second, that teacher are very friendly, we can study relax. So, I like is activity. It improve our English result. And we can make a friendly friend. I like study English. So, I like you.
Yours,
David”

Here, David (right) and Matthew (left) work on an activity called "Create-a-Celebrity"

I think what he was referring to in this letter was the typical Chinese teacher-student barrier. Usually, in China, your teacher is your teacher, not your friend (although there are definitely exceptions). The teacher is in an elevated position, and students do not play games or have fun with them. I think at first, I scared my students when I did things like sit on my desk, or draw pictures, or sing songs. But after, the seemed to loosen up and enjoy themselves, as evidenced in David’s letter. And as a result, they enjoyed studying English more. Mission accomplished!

David is very shy and quiet. He did not often have a lot of things to say. But I’m glad that I was able to open him up a little bit. Maybe I didn’t teach him English very well, but I at least was able to teach him that learning can be fun.