"I feel loved."

Today, the middle school students learned about emotions and feelings. The purpose of this lesson was to expand their vocabulary a little bit, and teach them better ways to express themselves. I started off by asking them what words they knew when referring to emotions and feelings. We ended up with a pretty basic list: happy, sad, angry...I gave them a few scenarios and asked them how they would feel if they were in that situation. I was hoping to probe more words out of them. We were pretty successful. We added a few complex words to our list: jealous, worried, afraid, embarrassed. I wanted to begin the lesson by creating a word list to help them with their presentation assignment for the day. I asked each student to choose an emotion or feeling, and write a letter to a friend, telling them how they felt. I read my example to the class: my emotion/feeling was PROUD.

"Dear Aleah,

I'm so PROUD of you for getting a teaching job in America! That's great! I know how hard you have worked, and how much you wanted this job. You deserve it! I've been telling all my friends about your new job. I wish you the best of luck this school year. I just wanted to tell you how PROUD I am of you.

Your friend,
Jamie"

(By the way, this is a true story. One of my best friends in Orlando just got her first teaching job. Shout-out to Aleah!!) :)

I gave the students 20 minutes to write their letters. I encouraged them to come up with a different emotion or feeling, and not just choose a word from the board. I walked around the room and helped students with their grammar or helped them come up with a word they were trying to think of. There was one particular student who was really struggling with his letter. He had written a few lines and knew what he wanted to say, but he didn't know what emotion or feeling it was. I asked him who he was writing his letter to, but he didn't say. He just said he didn't need help. He was taking this assignment very seriously, and I could tell he wanted to do well. I moved on to other students, but told him to ask for help if he needed it.

Presentation time rolled around, and the students ended up really surprising me! I told them they could use their Korean/English dictionaries to assist them in their writing, but I didn't expect such a great outcome. One student talked about feeling BRAVE when he had to go the hospital. Another student talked about being DISAPPOINTED when his team lost the championship game. Finally, it came time for the struggling student to present. He was the last presentation of the day, and I didn't know what to expect. (I ended up bringing his paper home with me so I could copy down exactly what he wrote.) This is what he said to the class:

"Dear Jemmy Teacher, (that's me!)

You have teach us many things. You have teach us English very well. You speak English very well. You come to school every day and even sometimes in rain. You care so much about people and about student. I feel an emotion. I feel loved. Thank you.

Your student,
Kim Chung-Ho"

I was SHOCKED!! and flattered and proud! :) He ended up not wanting my help because he didn't want me to know he was writing the letter to me. I thanked him for the sweet letter. Overall, this lesson was a success! I think the students expanded their vocabulary a little more and seemed to enjoy it. And I felt very appreciated, too. That letter was very unexpected. :)