Teachers witness extraordinary acts of bravery on a daily basis. A student might volunteer an answer to a question that would have never made sense to a fluent English speaker. A student might excitedly sit next to the monolingual English teacher on a six-hour bus ride instead of with their friends. A student might decide to leave everything they know behind and study abroad for 10 months in Paris (twice the amount of time the average American college student studies abroad!) A student might even sing the US National Anthem in front of their 35 peers. This latter act was particularly brave and generous. This student put himself out there at the expense of peer ridicule in order to make the monolingual English teacher feel welcome. It was brave and beautiful and entirely genuine (perhaps unlike the charged National Anthem sung in the US today.) His classmates clapped and cheered and he returned to his seat red in the face but with the smile that made ETA Kiyoko “Kiki” Nakamura-Koyama’s entire month. Pictured here are a few students who sat next to the monolingual English teacher instead of next to their friends on a six-hour bus ride to and from Muntok for a choir retreat. If home is where the brave live than Kiki has found it.

Kiyoko “Kiki” Nakamura-Koyama is currently teaching at SMA Santo Yosef Pangkalpinang, Bangka-Belitung

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All articles from August 2018 edition
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