Our topic for this week was “Hobbies.” We opened up each class session by showing the students what our hobbies are. I shared my drawings, Austin performed juggling in class, Andrew showed videos of him playing piano and tennis, and Matthew showed a picture of himself in a choir! Not only was I happy to get to know more about my teaching partners, but I was glad to be able to engage the students with diverse mediums. Afterward, we showed them a video of vocabulary and practiced reading and translating English phrases. To incorporate art in teaching English, we held short drawing sessions in which students drew their hobbies and shared them in front of the class. Their hobbies ranged from playing basketball, dancing, playing guitar, and drawing. A student said that she likes to play video games, but she does not have time. Some students said their hobby is doing homework. These reminded me of how students lack time for hobbies in certain Asian countries due to immense pressure to pursue higher education.
Despite the program being virtual, I am happy to see how we can build our relationships with the students. A student reached out to me via chat function and wanted to engage with me. I encouraged him that I would love to hear him speak in English, to which the student showed his determination to study hard so that one day he would be able to “go to America and talk with [me] face to face without any problem!” When a student noticed a balloon in my room, I showed him the heart balloon, to which he said, “How lovely, teacher!” These sweet moments brighten my week.