How many times have we heard that teaching is a very thankless job but it is, believe it or not, very rewarding? 
I just got to share this…

THE JOY OF TEACHING AND THE REWARD OF LEARNING (from your student)

Two days ago, my language partner and I agreed to take our English – Italian lessons to a higher level. In addition to our typical written and spoken conversation exchanges, I suggested that we do a little bit of photojournalism/photo essay writing to evaluate our proficiency levels, mine in italian, and his, in English. My challenge was to take a photo of anything and discuss it in English (for him), and in Italian (for me). He readily agreed to this challenge.

When I got home tonight, I was surprised to receive a text message containing a photo of a mouthwatering pizza along with a short essay. It read:

“Pizza:
Simple, universal and so tasty!
I liked pizza since I was one month old or even before!
So many combination you can do with just water, flour and a bit of salt. Of course you need fantasy too, but the result always will exceed you expectation if you do it with love and passion.

For those like me that don’t know how to make an excellent pizza, don’t worry! You always can do what most of us do, just order one and enjoy it.

Pizza is good for any occasion, probably my favorite is when you are with your best friends talking about almost everything, trying change the world, at the end, even if you do not do it, you will always feel that you have change to a better person, thanks also to the Pizza! 🙂

If you don’t believe me, do it and then tell me about the look on your friends’ faces when you put the Pizza in the middle of the table!;)
…….. I told you, it’s universal 🙂
-Ariel Salord

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I never thought of Pizza this way. I never expected that my language exchange challenge will result in a very rewarding experience for ME. I was the ONE who learned more from this exercise. Oh, and by the way, I have not submitted my photo essay which is supposed to be written in Italian. I’m chicken! Clearly, my language partner beat me to the deadline. His passion for learning the English language is so immense that he took my challenge and even beat me! I’m so proud of you!

Ah, and like Pizza, folks, English is universal!

**My language partner never studied English formally in school. He learned English from watching English movies, TV shows, reading and listening to English songs. He is a native Italian speaker and states that when he dreams, he dreams in Italian. Aww. *