By Neena Strichart
Nearly two months ago Steven Piper, our intern turned staff writer, embarked upon a new adventure. Leaving his friends, family and familiar surroundings behind, he made the long journey to the country of Indonesia to teach English as a second language to elementary school-age children. Keeping in touch by email and Facebook has made his absence a bit easier to bear— but not by much. He is a fabulous young man, and I miss having him at the office.
I received an update from Steven a few days ago that he later agreed to let me share with our readers. I believe this young man has found his calling as a teacher. He may not have a teaching degree— he graduated with a bachelors degree in journalism— but Steven seems to be a natural when it comes to teaching. As you will determine from his message below, Steven discovered rather quickly that using humor as a teaching tool makes learning fun for students no matter where they live! I am so very proud of him. Enjoy his email below:
It’s Saturday morning, and I’m at home, which is a rare occurrence.
I’ve only been working since my last email, so that’s really the only thing I can report on. Some days are good and some days are bad. I’m going to share about one of the good days.
In the year 5/6 class that I’m team-teaching with another more experienced instructor, Sophie, we are learning about the differences between autobiographies and biographies, first-person and third-person pronouns, and how to tell stories in general. To introduce the topic, I shared an autobiographical account of “my most embarrassing moment.” Never in my life would I have thought that I’d be sharing this story with a class full of fifth- and sixth-graders, nor all of you.
One sentence at a time, each student taking turns, we read the story together while the events vividly replayed in my head. I couldn’t help but to crack up at hearing these kids read my own embarrassing story to me. We all had a good laugh, and I think it was an effective method to introduce the topic. It was the first time that I think both the students and I were genuinely enjoying ourselves while learning. It was also rewarding to have created the content of a lesson plan, whereas most of the material comes from a prefabricated lesson plan. The story is pasted below. I hope you enjoy.
—Steven
“Inch by Inch”
 I remember my most embarrassing moment as if it happened yesterday. Just thinking about it makes my face burn hot and red.
During my childhood, I used to go to a summer camp, Junior Lifeguards, with my friends. The camp was at the beach, and we would run, swim, surf and learn about healthy living.
Sometimes we would ride on the Long Beach lifeguards’ speedboat, and if we were lucky, then we would get to be dragged behind the boat, holding on to a rope with a handle on it— similar to the handle that jet skiers hold on to. Well, on one of those days, it was my turn to get dragged behind the boat. It looked like a lot of fun, so I eagerly hopped into the salty water, holding on to the rope.
Slowly, the boat began to slice through the water, and as it gained speed, my body smoothly slid through the water. Everything was going great. My friends and the lifeguards, watching me from the comfort of the boat, were cheering me on, and they started waving their hands in a circular motion. At first, I was confused. Eventually I realized what they were trying to communicate. They wanted me to twist and roll around while getting dragged by the boat!
Even though I was already nervous, I did not want to look scared in front of my friends. So, I twisted and rolled. It was so much fun, but something unexpected and unwanted started to happen. My swim shorts, inch by inch, were sliding off. Still rolling around in the water, my shorts quickly slid down to my ankles and completely off, and I was getting dragged behind a boat with nothing on! Remember, all of my friends were watching.
“Let go of the rope! Let go,” yelled the people on the boat.
After I abandoned the rope, my friends were forced to search for my swim shorts, which were floating around somewhere in the open ocean. It took a few minutes to find them. Luckily for me, they were found, and I pulled them back on before rejoining my fellow junior lifeguards.
Yes, it was very embarrassing, but I think it makes for a funny story.Â
