Bribery Works!

Nearly 7 ½ months have passed. Teaching these students must be a teacher’s worst nightmare. It’s like talking to a stone wall in an empty room, but still that may be better than 60 blank faces. Asking questions only seems to a complete silence amongst my students. Asking them to be creative and write or draw brings a small sound and offers me a ray of hope until I process the quiet whisper, “Miss, I don’t know.”

I wonder if they understand my English or if our culture barrier is just too far to stretch. As I lecture in front of the dumb crowd I wonder if maybe it’s not them with the problem but maybe me... Until today. I’ll tell you a trick, bribery works! I walked into my 9th grade Bible class this morning with a small black bag full of candy and my notes full of short stories and questions. I read a short story aloud from the Gospels then told them to raise their hand if they knew the answers to my questions concerning the story. It took a lot of prompting, but finally my front row, A+ students, caught on and were filling their table with candy. I was so pleased! During the first two or three short stories the quieter ones in the back must have been working up the nerves to answer a question for a piece of American chocolate (which in reality is much tastier and less chalkier than Indian chocolate), because after my fourth story a boy in the last row jumped out of his seat with his hand in the air and a wide grin on his face. When I said his name he more than whispered the answer with a quick shout. Oh, what a surprise! I wanted to give him my whole bag of goodies. It's days like this that assure me God has called me for such a job.