Benazir Bhutto

I just had the strangest thing happen to me. I opened Yahoo, and the top news story was today's assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Tears filled my eyes as I read.

Who was she, and why is this important? you might ask.

Part of my job as student teacher in the high school placement, was coming up with regular journal assignments for the kids, based on current events. I had them write about natural disasters in the news, and other things, trying to find stories relevant to their lives here and back home.
My last assignment to them was on women world leaders. I gave them brief bios on Hillary R. Clinton, Angela Merkel, Michelle Bachelet, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Benazir Bhutto...all very intelligent, politically powerful women, all very significant on the world scene. In writing these bios, I had to do a lot of research, then boil it down to bite-sized pieces, on 4 different levels (differentiated instruction.) I learned a lot about them, and gained new respect for each.

This morning, when I read the headlines, I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. This woman, educated in Harvard and Oxford, former prime minister of her country, following in her assassinated father's footsteps, with so much to say, and so much yet to do, recently returned from self-imposed exile, who knew she may be killed for coming back, did so anyway, for the betterment of her Pakistan People's Party, and for her people.

And now she's dead.

You see, 6 months ago, she was barely more than just another name in the news to me. But, in becoming an ESL teacher, I am learning in order to teach my students, to make them more knowledgeable about so much more than just English. I am growing as a person, discovering more about this world of ours, from biology to earth science, geometry to algebra, history to current politics.
Now, I wish I was still in that classroom with those kids so we could have a follow-up lesson on Benazir Bhutto. I hope they remembered what we learned about her, and that when they see or hear her name on the news, it will strike a chord.


So this is what being an ESL teacher is all about, huh?