The one thing that struck me the first day of school was the growth of the students we had last year, not only physical, but the maturity and confidence they had.  Quite a few new children were having a hard time being separated from their parents.  Our old students were “owning” the playground while the new ones were timid and just stared or were crying.  In class, while the new children were quiet, it was the ones that we had the previous year that were the ones who were shouting out the answers to the questions and using the English they learned last year.  How proud we are of them!

The one thing that really warmed my heart was that the children we had with us last year were even able to help us teachers by keeping some of the new children calm.  J I remember there was a child who would not stop crying and we sat him on a rocking horse out on the playground.  One of our children that we had last year began to talk to him and soon they were both happily rocking together.  During snack time, another child took the hand of his crying cousin and led him out to the playground and there were no more tears after that.  Imagining that just last year they were in the same shoes as these new kids, I was just amazed at the change over just one year