My ESL Teachers

Last Friday evening, a friend sent an old photo of myself taken when I was a scrawny, eleven- or twelve-year-old immigrant. My friend got the photo from one of our ESL teachers. He also sent me a picture he took with the two ESL teachers and his old classmates. I am so glad to see both of the ESL teachers who are in their late sixties and early eighties are still looking great.

I wanted to meet with them and to thank them deeply from the bottom of my heart for what they had done for the immigrated kids like us. In addition to teaching us English, they welcomed us with open arms. Their love and kindness helped us get through the early days of our lives in a foreign country. When the school closed because of the snow, they called each of us to make sure we did not go out in the cold. When we had after school party for ESL students, they drove each of us home in their own car. The little things they did beyond their teaching responsibility made a long-lasting impact on me.

At time when privileged white men claimed that immigrants make America dirtier and the current administration wanted to deport immigrants, I thought of white people like my ESL teachers. They are the reason I still believe America is a nation in which love trumps hate.