Conduit

( Intermediate Level )

His English name is Billy and this is what his ESL teacher, Miss Clara, calls him. This is her second year seeing this young boy and his demeanor had changed dramatically since the year before.

Last year, in class, he listened carefully, participated when he could, and usually sat quietly in the classroom. This year it wasn’t so.

It was the beginning of the new school year and Miss Clara saw familiar faces and new ones. Billy’s was one. He made it a point to say hello and greet her with his usual high five and wonderful smile. This is the Billy she remembers.

It takes a few weeks of the new school year to have a permanent teaching schedule given to you. This allows the school time to work out the classroom sizes, and the amount of native English teachers available.

In the first few weeks, Miss Clara hadn’t seen Billy in any of her classes. It wasn’t until the fifth week had she received her permanent schedule and the classes she was responsible for.

As she followed her new schedule and alternating classes she discovered Billy was in her assigned classes along with other familiar faces. He was happy to see her and reached out for his usual high five.

On her first day teaching this class she noticed Billy had kept to himself more than before. She chalked it up to it being the beginning of the school year and everyone, staff and students alike, was adjusting.

It wasn’t until her third or fourth time in his classroom, that she noticed her once quiet student, from last year, was now very disrupted. He would stand up and flail his arms about, mumbling words that no one could understand, sometimes hitting himself about the body and head.

What had happened to make these changes in this student of hers? It is very difficult to get answers from other staff members, especially in a foreign country. Either they don’t question why or they assume he is a special needs student.

Clara was saddened to see this behavior in Billy. How was she to teach him now? She did the best she could. Involving him when she could and leaving him alone when he had his bad days, hoping he was listening when she taught.

As the weeks went by this same behavior continued until an incident happened that shook Clara. She kept her thoughts to herself for a while knowing the world is full of naysayers.

On this particular day, Billy was having a horrible day. He was unusually loud and physical. His homeroom teacher went to his desk not once but twice to quiet him. She motioned for him to get something out of his desk.

There are two students in this class who when they act out are to get out their small desktop whiteboards and write, draw, scribble, or whatever they choose to do. This is what his teacher asked him to retrieve.

Billy followed her instructions and he began to write something with great passion. He stood up and carefully showed the class what he wrote. Turning so as not to miss anyone seeing what was written.

He sat down and the class turned their attention once more to Miss Clara. She looked over at Billy and saw he was intent on what was on his whiteboard.

For the second time but much quieter, Billy stood up showing the class what was on his board. This time he made sure Miss Clara had seen.

What she read was unbelievable and no one knew what it truly meant except for Clara. She remembered seeing those words before.

Her morning teaching assistant and her locked eyes for a moment and she rolled her eyes. Clara thinks she must not truly understand.

For the remaining time of the English class, Billy sat quietly and Clara couldn’t wait to go on break so she could check on the internet to verify.

Tick tick tick the minutes went by. Miss Clara said goodbye to her students making sure to give Billy a high five. She was happy he responded. It was as if he was content with his mission of showing the class and her his message.

Clara sat at her usual bench outside pulling her cell phone out of her bag. She loved sitting there as it was in the sunshine plus the students would come down for their recess time soon., She loved watching them play.

She typed in the words she read on Billy’s whiteboard. She really tried to grasp the fact the words were above his grade level, they were written in English and with amazing penmanship and not a single spelling error.

She typed in the words he wrote “Korean International Flight 801”. Sure enough, this was a devastating plane crash that happened in 1997 before Billy was born.

She sat there just staring at the article. Trying to make sense of it. How can he know of such an event? How did he know how to spell it correctly? We are talking about a young boy at the age of seven soon to be eight. Not to mention his low-level English ability.

She finally shared this incident with her teaching assistant for her upper classes. He listened carefully and added his thoughts, “This student could have come across an article on the internet or heard someone talking about it.

This could all be true but things weren’t adding up. It was not a recent event and she quickly realized the conversation would go nowhere with her assistant. She shrugged it off and changed the subject.

That evening she thought about the incident once more and thinks that maybe it may have been one of the victims of this disastrous flight using Billy as a conduit from the other side. He or she wanted to get a message to someone on this side.

Maybe Billy has a special gift that he doesn’t quite understand. No one will ever know unless he discovers this himself. For now, Miss Clara feels honored that she witnessed this firsthand and shares her story with others that believe.

Written By: Angel

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Thoughts From Angel:

Usually, my writings are about life and circumstances that revolve around us as humans. Today’s story is a situation that hit close to home for me.

This story is 100% true. I was the teacher to this young boy. I have changed the names of those involved and will not share real pictures.

Can I say without a doubt what I think is happening is true? Absolutely not. I believe some people have the gift of spiritual connections and being a conduit for those on the other side.

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Vocabulary:

demeanor – noun: behavior

dramatically – adverb: large extent

participated – verb: take part in an action

chalk (ed ) it up – phrasal verb: to consider something as being caused by something else

flail – verb: to wave or swing arms wildly

mumbling – adjective: speaking in an indistinctive way

naysayers – noun: a person who criticizes, objects to, or opposes something

motioned – verb: direct or command (someone) with a movement of the hand or head

intent – noun: purpose

locked eyes – idiom: used to say that someone is looking at someone or something and not looking at anything else 

content : happiness

devastating – adjective : destructive or damaging

disastrous – adjective: causing great damage

conduit – noun: a channel

firsthand – adjective: personal experience

Question ( s ):

Do you believe?

My Brother Samuel

( Intermediate Level )

My brother Samuel often received stares from others when we were out in public. People concluded there was something different about him and shied away.

Many made the assumption that mom must have used alcohol or drugs when she was pregnant with him. This is not the case at all. Sam was born with an intellectual disability.

In the past, this was dubbed mental retardation, bringing much hurtful slang towards the ones with these disabilities. These slangs upset my mom terribly.

My son is just like all others” she argued. “He laughs. plays and does everything your child does. It may take him a little longer to understand but he eventually does.”

I always protected my brother when we were at school. We were 3 grades apart from one another and thankfully, we are at the same school. He always knew where to look for me after school . We would meet up and walk home together.

Some days he would have to wait for me. I was the editor of the school’s newspaper and sometimes we had a short meeting after school. He never minded. He always found something to keep him busy as he waited.

As the school year pressed on, Samuel was more quiet than usual. He was never really quiet around me as he was with strangers. I chuckled somedays as he chattered on about his day . It was hard to keep up with what he was talking about.

“Hey Sam, why are you so quiet? Something bothering you? I asked. Samuel looked up at him “No.” I knew this was not true. Something was. In his own time he would tell me.

I guess a week or so had passed and Samuel wasn’t waiting for me in his usual spot after school. I waited for a few minutes and began to look for him.

I asked a few teachers, when I passed them in the hall, “Have you seen my brother?” and each resounded a “No, they hadn’t.

It was the last place I looked where I found him. He was huddled up next to the bleachers in the gym. He was covering his head and you could hear him sobbing.

I yelled out, “Sam, what’s wrong?” He looked up at me and you could see a mark on his face which obviously looked as if he was hit. Tears running down his cheeks.

A bunch of boys kept pushing me around and calling me a retard. I tried to leave but they kept following me. I came in here and one hit me.” I was so angry at this point. I helped him to his feet and wiped off his face. His brother looked at him, ” Am I a …retard?”

“Don’t be silly Sam. You are you. Things in life are a little more difficult for you and may take you longer to do but you are not a retard. Now let’s go home.”

The brothers arrived home and explained everything to their mother. Of course she immediately called the school to alert them on what happened to her son.

A couple of weeks had passed and Samuel was back to himself. The school authorities suspended the students for the rest of the school year for what they did to my brother. I was happy the school took this step towards this type of bullying but I wanted others to know what I felt.

I had asked the principal if I could publish an article, in our school newspaper, regarding this incident. He agreed to allow as long as he approved the contents before it went to publication.

I began writing right away and finished so it could go out in our monthly newspaper. I immediately took it to our principal for him to read the next day.

I knocked on his door and entered. “I have finished my article. Can you read it over so I can make sure it gets published?”

He handed his heartfelt article to the principal and he began to read.

Dear Readers,

Most of you know who my brother Samuel is but do you know him? Have you ever stopped to say hello or have a conversation with him?

Let me tell you about my brother Sam. He is the kindest person I know. He finds good in everything and has the purest heart. If he is capable he would do anything for you.

He has an innocence about him that many do not have. He never judges anyone nor says anything bad about anyone. This is more than I can say about most, including myself.

When my brother was born, I was three, I had no idea of his disability nor do I really see one now. He is my brother. We had our fights growing up but we also shared secrets.

We enjoy playing sports and watching scary movies on TV, even though Mom gets mad at us because we do not go to sleep afterwards.

Does any of this sound different from you?

No.

I do not want to go into details but when Samuel was tormented and hurt by fellow classmates it saddened me more than it made me mad. How could a person do this to another? How could they do this without really knowing Samuel?

Next time you happen to pass my brother in the hallway, why don’t you say hello to him. Get to know him. You will discover what I have about him. He is the best person I know and has taught me a lot. I am proud he is my brother.

Editor / Samuel’s brother

Caleb

The principal finished the article and handed it back to Caleb. “You did a wonderful job with this. Absolutely, send this to print.”

The newspaper came out and Caleb took two copies home with him. He shared one with his Mom and the other with Samuel. He knew Samuel wouldn’t be able to read it so he read the article to him.

As Caleb finished the article and looked up, Samuel leaned in with a bear hug. “I love you too!”

Written by: Angel

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Thoughts From Angel:

Is this behavior due to the lack of understanding? Who is to blame for such actions? Is it the parents? The education system?

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Vocabulary:

stares – noun: a long fixed look at someone or something

assumption – noun: accepted as true without proof

concluded – verb: arrive at a judgement

shied – verb: avoid

intellectual disability – noun: limits to a person’s ability to learn at an expected level and function in daily life

dubbed – verb: to give an unofficial name or nickname

slang – noun: very informal words or language used mostly by the younger generation

pressed on – phrasal verb: to continue moving forward in a forceful or steady way 

chuckled – verb: laugh quietly

chattered – verb: rapid talking

resounded – verb: echo

huddled up – adjective: to sit in a bent position with your arms and legs close to your body

bleachers – noun: bench seat at a sports arena or gym

sobbing – noun: noisy crying

suspended – verb: to stop someone from going to school whether temporarily or permanently

publication – noun: the act of making an article available for others to read

heartfelt – adjective: sincere

innocence – noun: being innocent

tormented – adjective: physical or mental suffering

bear hug – noun: tight embrace

Question ( s ):

Do you find yourself staring at someone who looks different? Maybe dressed differently or in a wheelchair?

Why do you think we do this?