10 things I love about teaching ESL (not in any particular order)

1. hearing some of these things: "That's why you're a good teacher, because you work so hard," "Writing is a boring subject, but I'm learning without boring!" "When I talk to my family about school, I always tell them about you," "I wish this class was longer...no, it should still meet everyday, but it should be longer," "I know I should be in a higher class, but I'm glad to be in this class because I met you," "I'm not a good writer in my language either, but maybe after this class, I will write well in English at least," "I know I take too many classes, but I want to learn English so bad so I can be a missionary," "I'm sorry I dropped your class. I didn't have money for the books. But can I still come sometimes to listen?," "You can't do everything, Jenelle. We have to work hard too," and post-its on turned-in assignments that say, "I hope you have a good weekend, Jenelle."
2. seeing the look of confusion on their faces the first time I said, "Pop Quiz!" turn to horror when I explained that "Pop means SURPRISE!"...then again when I said, "Times up! Pencils down." (ya, there will be LOTS more pop quizes to come!)
   
3. getting notes from the tutoring center and getting 3, 4, and 5 drafts because they want so badly to learn
4. students yelling and waving me down from across campus just to say hi
5. asking how they're doing when I come into the classroom and getting genuine answers because they know I care
6. students waiting around everyday after class to talk to me...sometimes to ask questions, sometimes to share concerns, and other times, just to talk
7. asking "Did you guys have any problems with the homework?" and getting bombarded with questions because they actually did the work and are trying so hard to understand it better, and asking for examples and having so many shout them out that I can't distinguish them
   
8. learning grammar (ya, I know, it's nerdy. But hey, if you're going to do something, you should do it well. It's cool knowing I actually understand things better and can better explain them to nonnative speakers who are hungry to learn.)
9. jumping on the table, crawling under things, doing crazy things all over the classroom so they'll have an image in their minds of all those darned prepositions!
10. watching their faces go from "Huh?" to "Ah ha!" and watching the fear and terror about performing in English subside after giving them confidence that they can do it