The Moments We Forget: Mis ninos de Midland Park

Ulises held the door open for me as I followed the end of the line into the classroom.
"¡Que caballero! Gracias." I thanked him for being such a gentleman.
The lights were off and sunlight filtered in through the windows on the opposite side of the classroom. I guess Mrs. Saraf thought this would subdue the kids while they ate their sunchips and apple juice. I walked around chatting about the day, pretending to steal food, ruffling silky black hair and patting backs. As the last sunchip crumbs got dumped from the bags into hungry little mouths, homework time began. I stooped by Jose and showed him a secret way to make adding double digit numbers easier.
"Mees Mamie! Mees Mamie!" A waving hand flagged me over to table five. Yessica wanted to read the story of the hungry bear to me again.
"Yessica let me help Jada with her homework first and then we'll read." I hated to turn her down, but I couldn't just read with her when there were other little hands waving vigorously in the air.
I skipped over to Jada at table 2. She didn't really need help. Her reading is good, her ability to use context clues better, and her knowledge that needing homework help equals attention the best. A smart girl.
I noticed Ulises looking a little bored, twirling a pencil with half smile that has come to mean, "I don't know what I should be doing but I'm content to sit and think."
"Ulises, ¿no tienes tarea?" He shook his head no and smiled. No homework.
"Bueno. Necesitas escribir las palabras en la pizarra tres veces." He looked at the spelling words on the board and set about finding a sheet of paper. His english has improved so much that these days he takes pride in coming up to me, tapping my shoulder and saying "Hello" instead of "Hola."
Chattering behind me made turn. Juan was on his knees in his chair leaning across the table chattering away in Spanish.
"Juan, homework." I pointed. He gave me a big grin and sunk back into his chair. We call him Don Juan. He talks all the time in Spanish or English, whichever language he can get someone to listen in, and laughs even more. When he's excited he trills his tongue. He has a girlfriend but "Miguel kissed his girlfriend on the playground and she liked it .. I know because she laughed." Boy, can he talk.
I have already completed my 45 volunteer hours at Midland Park, but I can't imagine not going back. I'm only in the classroom one afternoon, so most of the time the kids forget my name. Sometimes I forget their names too, but never their faces or their personalities. I know they will forget me when we leave for the summer and that sort of makes me sad. But I will not forget them. I can't forget Ulises touching my spanish writing and hugging me, Jose and I struggling to read sentences together one word at a time, Yessica clutching my hand as I pass her, or Juan giving me a Richard Scary book as a gift that his mom bought "for me to give to a teacher and i am giving it to you."

Of course Juan is leaning across the table trying to tell the Julian, Natalie and Sergio what to do.

Manuel, Ulises and Yessica playing around the world, an adding game. Ulises beams during this game because he might not be perfect in english but he can add.