Gratitude...appreciation...so good!

As I came out of my first year undergraduate English class, I could barely hide my emotions. It was my last class with them for the semester. While the beginning of the semester gets me all excited, the end of semester leaves me with a feeling of nostalgia. But this time, the feeling of nostalgia ran deep and in the coming weeks you'll understand why. But back to the present....

Before I left the classroom, I had wished my students good luck with their examinations. Then a few students raised their hands to ask questions. I signalled to one to go ahead.

"Ma'am, we've enjoyed having you as our lecturer, we learned so much from you and hope you'll teach us again in the second semester."
It's a general EAP course and different lecturers taught different groups.
Before I could respond, there was a chorus of  "Yes." The entire class seemed to be waiting with abated breath for my response.

I knew I had to say something. " I don't want to let the cat out of the bag...." This was greeted with sounds of disappointment since I wasn't giving them a straight answer.

Well, I got away without making any commitment but their appreciation of my hard work was most satisfying. When it comes to the evaluation of my teaching and personality, I consider my students' views very important. By showing appreciation, they just made my day.

What's the lesson here? You might say, "Must there be one? You teachers... always too analytical... seeing something where there's nothing."

Okay, we have microscopic eyes and in this case there's something to note.

Gratitude is like the sunshine on a cold winter day. Remember:

• show gratitude always. There's so much to be thankful for. Take time to count your blessings and a feeling of gratitude will overwhelm you;
• be generous with compliment. It motivates the receiver to do more good deeds. Anyway, it does good to the sender and the receiver - it cheers both up;
• someone somewhere appreciates you and what you're doing. So keep up the good work!
• a selfless effort is never a waste;
• make someone's day with a word of appreciation!

Be back soon on knowledgekeyz