There is always time for gratitude and new beginnings.
- J. Robert Moskin
When I lived in Portland, Oregon, I taught English as a Second Language at a local community college. I had adult students in my class from Vietnam, Mexico, Russia and many other countries. Although they came from many lands, they had one thing in common: a desperate yearning to learn English.
Many of the students worked in a factory for twelve hours through the night and took a bus in the morning straight to our 8:00 A.M. class. They waited until after class to go home and sleep. Sometimes I would see them struggling to keep their eyes open during our class, but they were always there working hard, earnest and eager to learn.
Despite their collective lack of sleep and long hours at work, the level of attendance and attentiveness in class was always excellent. Some of the students had as many as three jobs and took the bus everywhere they went because they couldn’t afford cars. Seventy-nine-year-old Valentina from Russia would walk to class every morning, even in the cold or rain.
We developed a wonderful rhythm and rapport during the class. One particularly bright female student from Vietnam later married another student from the class, a young man from Romania.
To teach the course, I needed to use a lot of pictures and hand gestures, since I didn’t know all of their respective languages. One of the things I taught was a simple sequence of dialogue called “Shopping for a New Coat.” They enjoyed standing up and acting out the gestures that accompanied the text of the story.
Sometimes I second-guessed myself and wondered if I was really teaching my students in the best way possible. But I gave my all to this class, and they gave their all to me. If nothing else, they would always remember what to say if they ever went “shopping for a new coat.”
On the last day of class, they threw a terrific party that was brimming with good food and laughter. I was amazed that they had learned enough English to even coordinate such an event with each other. The food was eclectic and delicious, with wonderful dishes from over ten different countries. A Russian woman gave me a dozen roses. A Vietnamese woman gave me a little case of makeup.
Then Alexander from Hungary, one of the most outgoing members of the class, told everyone to be still as he proudly handed me a large, neatly wrapped gift box. After the ribbon was untied and the top was off, I gently pulled back the tissue paper and lifted from the box a beautiful, new, full-length coat.
“We went shopping for a new coat!” they all exclaimed in unison and in wonderfully perfect English. In all my days of teaching college classes, I had never experienced generosity like this. These were people who lived in cramped apartments, sent money back to relatives in their home countries and barely could feed their immediate families. I was simply doing my job, teaching English, and their gratitude was beyond the bounds of what I ever could possibly have expected.
I wear the coat they gave me with pride and gratitude; it’s my favorite. Reversible with a drawstring, it is navy blue on one side with a Navajo design on the other. Every time I wear the coat, I think fondly of them - Valentina from Russia, Mai from Vietnam, Maria from Mexico, Vladimir from Romania, Xavier from Guatemala - all of them and their desire and struggle to start a new life in America full of opportunity, hope, freedom and generosity.
- Krista Koontz Martinelli