Landing quietly on the editor's desk, an essay written by my Korean student made quit a splash. It was Monday morning and the editor searched her mail for the student writing that she hoped would arrive and make the fall issue of her magazine a success.
The news about the writing competition had been sent to me the week before. With a stack of student writing in my work folder, the request for writing samples seemed simple to accomplish. I sifted through these carefully searching for the few that matched the criteria for the writing competition. Those that I decided to send were written by good ESL students. They had spent time crafting well written paragraphs.
A student who dislikes English and writing is something that every ESL teacher dreads. That describes one of my students. Sitting and gazing out of the window of the classroom every afternoon, it was obvious through both his actions and words that he questioned his own abilities. Basketball, unlike the path of one of his fellow classmates, was not destined to be his life work despite his futile efforts. Every week I collected his writing samples. Putting them aside into a folder, I felt that one day he would have his chance to shine. The light would be brighter than every other student in his classroom.
The New York City editor read Tao Sun's essay about his early childhood. It was one that had been spent in Korea. Of the several writing entries that I had sent, only his had caught her attention. The rest had been put aside. It was finally time for Tao Sun to shine. And brightly he did.
Shannon Bridget Murphy
Independent Consultant, BEST Plus
Writing Splash
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