In school, my kiddies are writing postcards to students in Malaysia. I wrote them a sample, then spent a period with each class writing out drafts. When they shot their short-fingered hands up and shouted "FINISHI!", I went to check their work.
The majority just straight copy-pasted the thing, because they don't believe it's a real letter. Some of them wrote minor treatises on how they want to be interpreters for the UN Secretary General, how their pet hamster is at the vet, how they hope to meet Big Bang (a Kpop boyband) someday.
They wrote sentences like "I like bulgogi. It is beef. Hmm...I like many meats." and "I love this song because it is so rhythm!"
They described themselves with "I like art" and "I have big eyes".
And of course, there were some pretty hilarious grammatical errors. Past, present, continous, subject-verb agreement, plurals...most of these error I left uncorrected. It's slightly perverse considering that I am their English teacher, but the way they write is so darn cute! And besides, I felt like leaving the letters as is, as long as the message could be understood, preserved the authenticity of their voices.
But one, I had to correct.
"Teacher, I'm finish!" He thrust his English notebook at me, smiling. I picked up the flopping pages and began to read:
Dear Malaysia Kid,
Hi! My favorite song is "No More Heart". Do you like "No More Heart?" I like "No More Heart" because it makes me touch.
Stop the tape.
I BURST out laughing. This was one of many times I absolutely could not hold my composure, and chortled in a kid's face.
"Hand me your eraser" I said. I smudged out the offending sentence, then gave him back the book.
"It's touching" I said, indicating the blank space.
"Ah!" He nodded, grinning, "Thanks Teacher!"
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