Show and Tell

Every Thursday, I have my students do "show and tell." They have to bring something meaninful to them and tell a story about it. In my class, almost every student who has already given the presentation did a very good job. Some of them speak fluent English; some of them presented interesting contents. I've enjoyed every student's presentation. However, not until today did I see a really impressive and touching presentation. This presentation was given by a student who is not so good at English. She even got the lowest grade on English mid-term exam in my class. At first, I didn't expect much from her report. And as I had predicted, she couldn't do without her note. However, as her report went on, I as well as all the students sensed the sincerity in her report, or to be more precise, her confession. The class became more silent than usual because everyone was all ears to listen to her story carefully. The first few words she said in her report had already caught everybody's attention. She began like this, "You know that my fingers are different from yours." As soon as these words came out, not only I but also most of the students were confused and a little bit shocked. She held out her right hand, and we could clearly see that her index finger was amputated. Most of the students were shocked because they, like me, knew this for the first time. They have studied together for two months and they hadn't known this until today. Then, the reporter told the story about how she lost her finger. When she was one year old, she accidentally touched a sewing machine. Her finger got injured so badly that the doctor had no choice but to cut her finger off. Despite the defect of her finger, when she was still a child, she decided to learn to play the piano. Her parents tried to find a piano teacher for her, but when piano teachers learned about her problem, they refused to take the challenge of teaching her. However, they finally found a teacher who was willing to teach her. During the report, she didn't mention much about how difficult it was for her to learn playing the piano. She just said that she had to find some other ways or create her own techniques to make up for her defect of her finger. Then, she played a video clip of her playing a number in a concert. In contrast to her calmness when she was speaking, the audience were touched and emotionally affected by her report, including me. I was so touched by her determintaion and enthusiasm for music. Imagine the obstacles she had faced with on her way to pursuing her music dream. Some might have doubted whether she could play music or not. Some might have said something discouraging to her. However, she didn't give up playing the piano. So far, she has learned to play the piano for 10 years. Now, she can play very well. Today, I learned a great lesson from her. Every student has her own story, even if they are still very young. I am grateful that I can be a teacher, whose job involves meeting different types of people. I think I will learn much more from them than they from me.