During their conversation test, I hear:
"I want to learn Japanese because I want to go to Japan," she answered when asked about learning other languages.
"Why do you want to go to Japan?"
"Because I love anime! My favorite manga from Japan!"
After the test I said to her, "Rey, I understand why you like Japanese animation. Your style is like an animation character!" If someone were to say this to me, it would be a struggle for me to take it as a complement. Not Rey.
"Thank you teacher!" bursts out of her along with the same laugh you hear from the school girls in anime.
I was not exaggerating: Rey has bright red hair, and lipstick to match. A couple of lip piercings, and a clothing style that is very eccentric compared to my other freshmen. At first I thought she was a bit of a goth, which would also be way out of the norm. But I came to realize that it was mostly the lighting in her room. If we had not been on Zoom all semester, I probably would never have gotten this impression. The complete lack of a tan might have suggested it, but two and a half years of COVID have pushed this nation of sun avoiders to new depths of paleness.
I thanked Rey for always being so cheerful, even when she was sleepy. The class met at 9 a.m. on one day, 2 p.m. the other, and she often had her camera off in the morning.
As far as English ability goes, she wasn't at the bottom of the class. Her grammar and vocabulary were somewhat lacking, but she made up for it with enthusiasm. And to me, a student like that has the potential to be a better communicator than one who constructs very good sentences with a robotish intensity and lack of feeling.
Part of me wants to give students a good grade just for being likeable and bringing the energy. I would rather talk with Rey than some students who speak more accurately and quickly. But a proper class cannot be graded according to how much the teacher likes the student. Though frankly speaking, conversational skill does have some correlation with charisma.
Rey took her test on Zoom, like most of my students. I gave them all the option of coming to my office to test live and in person, strongly implying that their grades would be better for doing so. Three groups took me up on it. Three out of 36.
Seeing those students in person was amazing. It reminded me of why I like this job so much, even though some of them were stressed out and short on sleep because it's final exam season.
