Makes me happy

Last night my ESL lesson went really well. It was a simple lesson. It only lasted 35 minutes and it had a very simple objective, but it went well. The goal was to get the students to speak with a partner and use English to communicate. I did a mind map. I put five words on the board and they interviewed me to learn what those five words have to do with my life. Then they worked in pairs to do the same activity with a partner, and then switched partners and told the second person about the person they interviewed. The students were thoroughly engaged in the lesson and really enjoyed sharing details about their lives.
I like that feeling of enabling a meaningful learning experience. I love it when my students get involved and enjoy the work. I've also been really proud of how I've started teaching vocabulary to two ESL kids I see. I made up a simple little game that they love. The second grade girl begs me to play. All I'm doing is "quizzing" them on the vocabulary we learn by letting them pick whether they want to act out the word, draw it, (then they explain how the picture represents the word) or write it in a sentence, but she loves it. I think she likes the freedom to draw, and I like the opportunity to check that she understands how the words is used rather than just memorizing the definition, which is what she does for class.
It's good for me to notice the pleasure that I get out of teaching. There's a real satisfaction in this helping career.
PS - In case you're interested, here are my five words:
California
MS203
malaria
French
May 2002