One of my students has been in this country for less than six months, and as we all know, English is one of the hardest languages to learn. I help him all I can, and I'm glad that he feels comfortable with me to ask questions that are not necessarily related to math, but to science and ELA as well.
He came up to me after class to ask me what pleasure meant, only he didn't say "pleasure". He made it four syllables with his vowels all long. It sounded something like plee - a - su - ree. It took me a second, because I knew he was saying the word he was reading phonetically. "Oh! Pleasure!" I said, "It's something that you enjoy, makes you feel good, happy."
"Pleasure," he said, a couple of times, trying it out and thinking hard. "Miss?" He paused again, and I could see his wheels turning. And then he gave me a big smile. "Miss, I pleasure this class math."
My favorite student now, hands down.
