Life, the Universe, and Lani

I received my first love note on Friday. I’m not saying there will be more but it certainly was surprising, flattering and weird.

The lesson started off with me being aggressive towards S because he was being a wee bit too chatty.  Thankfully he sits right next to me, for some odd reason. The comedians in my old school always sat in the back, but alas, this is Thailand. I stood in front of him, laughed at his antics and told him I would send him to “Matt Foley’s” classroom all in the span of one activity.

Jokers need attention and I don’t mind sharing the stage, but it’s still my circus and I need the spotlight on me! ME!

Overall I have a male dominated class. S, along with a few other boys are loud, smart and lively. But I also have boys who laugh along with their friends but still remain great students, which for some reason I find amazing. I like the independence, you know? Kids can be so easily swept into thinking they have to be cool and accepted, but these kids are like, yeah, I can be fun but be a good student too.

Love – it.

Ah, but you know, boys.

I decided to mix up my students, so the boys weren’t always together, hence this paper airplane from the back of the class.

I had just handed out a worksheet and then I see the handout paper airplane on the floor. I feared it was one of those, “I’m bored” airplanes like the ones I used to throw in high school. (*sorry!*) But when I open it up, I notice Thai words and the word: LOVE.

“Who threw this?”

“It’s for the teacher,” the students explained.

I stared at the word LOVE and felt mixed feelings. What was I supposed to do?

“Who threw this?” I asked again.

“J.”

I looked at the boy in question. He’s talkative but overall a great student. I have to remind him to get to work on occasion but I don’t mind doing this. I think it’s because I was a spacy student, forever daydreaming, and god forbid if there was a window in the classroom because I’d be looking out it. (To this day I prefer to not be near a window if any work is to be done.)

“J!” I said in my very good exasperated tone.

The words LOVE stared back at me again and for some reason I decided to let the matter drop. For a moment I considered sending him to “Matt Foley’s” room but I’m glad I didn’t. After I got the students working on their worksheet activity which involved commingling, I asked again, “What does this mean?”

My written Thai skills are at the “I know how to spell my name” level and learning the alphabet. D fished around in her mind for the words, “It says ‘For the teacher’.” Another student was reading it and I knew enough Thai to know that “hai” can mean “to give”. So I felt safe that they weren’t lying, and then the realization that J sent me a love note finally hit me over the head.

I looked at him again, and smiled.