Deb Alexander, Teacher

I had a wonderful time with the students in the junior high.

One of the activities I did with the students was to read a fairy tale to them and ask them if they had a similar story. I chose “Cinderella.”

The children were truly captivated with the story and pictures.  After we discussed the story, I asked them if they had a similar story.  They told me they did and, yes, it was very similar.

I then introduced the story for our reader’s theater. It was titled “Cinderella Big Foot.” When I told them the name of the story, they all laughed, and then I pulled out my size 9 1/2 sneaker. A little boy in the back made the comment: “like a boat.” The whole class laughed at this, which I had to laugh at, too. I then assigned parts, and we practiced. I explained to them that they needed to really pay attention to the lines and how they would present.  Reader’s theater teaches the students to use inflection, expression, and it builds fluency. They were all so excited and loved doing the readers theater.  It was a great activity.

During break, one young boy, John, came up to me in the hall. He asked me if I would accept his gift. I said I would be honored, and he held out a beautiful stone on a red silk-like cord. He slipped it over my head as I bent down. I told him, “xie, xie,” which means “thank you” in Chinese. I’ve worn his gift every day since it was given to me. When I showed our interpreter the necklace, she explained to me that it was very rare for a student to give a gift to a teacher. For a Chinese student to give a gift means that he truly loves me.

Sincerely,

Cinderella Big Foot
a.k.a., Deb Alexander