Mary's letter
Embarrassed by my inadequacy as their teacher, I turned to my students to help me, asking them to write an essay titled, "What I want to gain out of oral English class, and how I can best achieve my goals." Through this, I introduced to them the concept of "democracy," in which they, the people, can tell me, the leader, how they want oral English class to be governed.
They responded with a flurry of ideas, a tornado of energy, eyes wide open to this radical idea that they actually have a say in what happens in their own lives.
Each letter is a treasure, but Mary's letter stands out as particularly insightful. It's written in perfect handwriting, with mistakes whited out and rewritten. She wrote it not a sheet of paper but on a fold-out angel piece of stationary. In it, she writes:
"To our Dearest Great Professor Simmons:
Hi, I'm happy to express my feeling in this way, 'cause I'm a girl who is shy indeed, aha!
Last time you asked us to give us some advice about how to improve your class. You know, the weak point of our Chinese students is overmodest. For we have been taught by our parents 'Be modest, be prudent' again and again. So we dare not show ourselves in any of places, including your oral English class.
Now, what we need most is courage. Saying that 'Silence is not golden any longer, you'd better manifest yourself.' If done, we'll be more self-confident. So I suggest we make different scene dialogues such as 'A Disappointing Result,' 'My 1st Lesson,' by ourselves and act it out in front of the classroom. As it can improve our oral English, it will strengthen our courage at the same time.
What are we fond of? The Internet, the friendship between our mates, a sweet memory of our puppy love, computer games (usually popular among the boys) . . . These can be used for the topic in classroom discussions.
Sorry to have bothered you for using a long time to read my uninteresting letter. I'm just a little girl, childish and ridiculous, do not know how to say in serious way, forgive me, please.
Best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Mary"
