"Elsa's Eyes"

You may remember from last year my nine ridiculous boys who I took to the Zambezia English Theater Competition (see post “Mini-Dictionaries and Ugly Jesuses”)

This year instead of just taking a group to the Competition, I organized the whole competition. This involved some fun stuff like going down to the site (Mocuba, one 1.5 hour ride plus one 3 hour ride away) the month before, picking out prizes and ordering 130 egg sandwiches and rice-and-chicken plates. It also involved some not-so-fun stuff, like talking on the phone and sending in a final report afterwards. For my final report I was required to write a “success story.” The first one I wrote was rushed and downright bad (sorry Alden!), so understandably, I was kindly asked to “add more detail.” ie, re-do it.

Here’s the second version:

Elsa's Eyes

Elsa never talked.

Elsa. Photo taken by Nooreen.

Whenever I looked out over the sea of faces in class 9C, my eyes always found hers, because they shone brighter than the rest, staring right back at me. She was always paying attention, trying her best, smiling slightly at the corners of her mouth.

But Elsa was not an exemplary student.

She jumped up without hesitation to write on the board whenever I asked for volunteers, confidently and carefully copying out her answer, gripping the chalk slightly awkwardly – as I did my first few weeks as a teacher. But, she unfailingly got everything wrong.

And she still didn’t speak.

Helping Elsa's pronunciation on the first day of rehearsal.
Photo taken by Nooreen.

When English Theater time came, there was Elsa on the first day, at 7:00 on Saturday morning, at her usual desk towards the back, her gaze unwavering and eager.

And in the second week, there she was again. And the third.

She just kept on coming.

And the chalk in her hand started spilling out correct answers onto the board.

My English theater students wrote a play about a girl who is faced with a decision: get married or continue in school. It was time to assign roles, so I addressed my five boys and five girls, asking who wanted the part of the main character. One hand rose into the air, and two smiling eyes found mine.

Elsa, left, and Antonieta, right, on stage.
Photo taken by Eric.

And with that, Elsa started practicing her lines, three times as many lines as her fellow actors and actresses had. She didn’t just practice them in her head, she spoke them. Her voice was small but clear, young but steady. I had heard it only a few times before, but now I was hearing it more and more often. With each week that passed she pronounced a couple more words correctly, and eventually, almost everything she said could be understood by a native English speaker.

On the day of the competition, I wondered about my kids. Would they get stage fright? Would they forget their lines? Most of them were shy and had never acted before, never mind in English in front of 120 people.

Their turn came and they pranced onto the stage like they were born there. They used ridiculous costumes. They shouted their lines. I couldn’t recognize them from the little mice who had struggled through each word in the script three months ago.

Elsa’s eyes were shining with well-earned pride as they took their final bow.

"The choice is mine, the future is ours!" Elsa third from left.
Photo taken by Eric.