Proud

Yesterday I was supposed to have a student at 7 in the evening, but I didn’t because the student has stopped taking my class and will leave for Australia tomorrow to study for half a year. I’m excited for her, and I also feel a little proud.

I know that my students’ improvement is basically and mostly because of their own efforts, and I know my contribution to their growth and progress is as tiny as the period in a very long sentence. But when my students decide, on their own, to do something related to English like going abroad to study or joining a speech or essay contest in school, I cannot help feeling proud.

I feel that way especially for the students that I know well, the students who have told me their aspirations and dreams and their fears and insecurities. But I wish and hope for all my students to be successful and to try things whether it’s something big like moving to another country to study or something as simple as listening to English songs while on the train or bus, not because it makes other people proud but for themselves.