Been sick. Down with flu. Apparently the flu jab lasts only a year. Boy, how true that is. I took my flu jab Dec 2005. Jan 2007 the flu bug hit me. Was on mc from mon to wed last week. Thursday saw me crawling out of bed unwillingly. On some level, I think I was trying to convince myself that I was still too sick to go to work. I was NOT looking forward to my lesson with my third batch of 4NT students. 4 years into teaching and I've had to take a graduating class EVERY SINGLE YEAR! And 3 of these 4 years, I've had to take 4NT. Anyone who knows anything about NT students will know they are not easy to handle. Seriously. For those who've been keeping up with my life in the past few years would know too. Hence, I was definitely not looking forward to seeing them on my first day back in school after 3 long days of mc. I wasn't exactly in the pink of health, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, the short of it was, THEY WERE SUCH DARLINGS in class that day =) I was pleasantly surprised honestly. I didn't say a single word in that lesson. Everything I had to say, I wrote out or gestured. They were so quiet and attentive, it was amazing. One of the noisy ones even volunteered to help me give out their files because I couldn't shout out their names loud enough. It was really heartwarming. So I praised them and promised them sweets the next day. I wrote them compliments on the board in big letters and beamed at them.

The next day I walked into class, I noticed that the compliments I paid them the day before were still on the board. Ha! Bet they get praised so little that this was one of the few occasions someone wrote something good about them. One of the boys was quick to remind me that I promised them sweets. I assured them that I didn't forget. Most of them were pretty well behaved that Friday too. But some of the more mischievous ones were back to their usual antics. Which I kinda expected. But I was still glad for that one day that showed me what good they were capable of, and how they could, in spite of their far-from-desirable track records, warm my heart with their goodwill and consideration.

I think I know why they were so good. You know why? Cos I prayed that God would give me special grace with that class, especially for that morning =) Thank you God!