End-of-Semester Class Party

Since January I have been teaching the LL class ("Low Level") at MSU's ELC, where I work.  It has been both a challenge and a lot of fun to teach true beginners.  Many of the students in this group came into the class knowing very little English, and a couple of them didn't even know the alphabet or how to say "My name is..."

My LL class was very small, made up of all Middle Eastern men: six Saudis and one Iraqi:

Front L to R:  Mohammed, Aziz, Khalid, Fayez, & Ameen
Back L to R:  Faisal & Hamzah

Since the semester is all but finished, I decided to invite them over to our place for an end-of-term party.  Victoria and I made homemade pizza, the other LL teacher (my colleague Akiko) brought fried rice, and Mohammed (who goes by "Jack" to distinguish himself from the half-dozen other Mohammeds in our program) and his wife (not pictured) brought Mandi Chicken, a Middle Eastern rice dish.  Everything was delicious!

Sitting on the floor to eat is the norm in the Middle East, so
our lack of a large dining table wasn't a problem!

Group photo!

Ameen, my Iraqi student, playing with Finley.

As you can see, we are a very serious group!

My students remembered that Finley's birthday was coming up soon and were thoughtful and generous enough to bring a present for him!

Finley loves pushing his new cart!

Anything with wheels = Awesome.

I don't know a single teacher or student who doesn't look forward to the end of the semester, and I am no exception.  But, as a teacher, when you're lucky enough to get a really great bunch of students, it is definitely hard to see them go, knowing full well that the law of averages says you're likely to get a class full of screw-offs next semester to keep the cosmic order in balance!  ;)