What's Your Pleasure?

One thing for sure: people who choose to teach English as a Second or Foreign Language don't do it for the big bucks.  The motivation may be different for different people, but whatever it is -- it ain't the money!

Courtesy of Steven Depolo

I bring this up because sometimes I get home after a lesson and I'm so jazzed that it's hard to do anything functional for a while. Here are some examples of what I mean. They may seem kinda small, but they're better than big bucks to me:

• When a three hour lesson gets to the last 5 minutes and students aren't ready to call it quits -- they keep going, in English, while I pack up my stuff.
• When someone gets up, unbidden, and goes to the board to draw a map or diagram or whatever to illustrate whatever it is that he or she is trying to explain.
• When I see two or three students standing in a group after a lesson has ended and they're exchanging information with each other (giving advice or recommendations about a local shop or service, etc.) ... in English.
• When someone makes a joke in English and everyone else laughs.
• When someone brings something in to the classroom because they noticed that it had something to do with a recent lesson.
• When someone speaks up assertively about something I could do better.  (Yeah, I cringe.  But they're almost always right, it makes me a better teacher, and it means they might do the same outside the classroom.)
• When someone self-corrects on a form from several lessons ago.
•  When someone who has been generally quiet begins to participate more actively and seems to be having fun.
• When someone exclaims after a lesson, "That was a good class!"

What little things delight you about teaching English?