ouch

well, it finally happened; i made one of my university students cry. making students cry is nothing unheard of for me at my past school. some weeks, it seemed like it was happening every day but this is to be expected with young children who are exhausted after a day at public school. a 24 year old student is completely different.
after handing back the mid-term and pronunciation tests monday night, one of the better students in the class came to me during the break and asked me why her grade was so low (she got a 7/10). she told me she thought her english level was much higher then other students in the class and therefore her grade ought to be higher. as i told her that her english was indeed good, that she spoke well and i appreciated her participation in class, she needed to focus on her pronunciation, particularily r and l, an area of extreme difficulty for koreans speaking english. as i gave her my explanation, her face got redder and the tears swelled behind her eyes until she could no longer say anything. i felt so horrible and ready to cave to tell her she could repeat the test again. i had to remind myself how unfair that would be to all the other students and that i felt i marked quite easily as it was. i was surprised at how bad i felt afterwards and its stayed with me til today. i find it hard to mark the students fairly while still instilling confidence in them to be comfortable to speak. ahhhh, the challenges of being a teacher.