I didn’t think I was posing a difficult question when I
asked my students in their 9th month of English to write a paragraph
about a childhood experience in the writing portion of their exam. My main goal was to give them a fairly free
writing topic about which everyone would have something to say and get them to
use the past tense. I expected to see
writing about a trip, a birthday celebration, or a time they got hurt, which
were topics they hit on, but barely. The
vast majority of my students surprised me, with their level of writing, as well
as what they told me.
One young man surprised me with his superficiality as he
told me that the best day of his life was when he was five years old and his
parents bought him and his brother a plastic, electric 4x4 car and that he knew
his parents love them because they bought them a cool toy. Others though told terribly sad stories in
their vivid, direct and simple language.
One student told me of the time he looked out a window to see his father
who’d returned after being gone for some time.
His father spent the day having fun with him and he remembers the
beautiful game od soccer they played together.
That was the happiest day of his life and also the last time he saw his
father before he abandoned his mother and him ten years ago.
I am thankful that I gave my students that topic. It gave me a glimpse into their lives, made
reading the many writing pieces interesting, and allowed the students to share
whatever it was that they wanted. I wish
I had more opportunities to get real communication out of them rather than the
standard phrases that they memorize from the books.
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