De kita ne.

I stood in front her. Towering over her smallness. She was sitting on a chair in front of the whiteboard and me.

I can see her eyes starting to water and turn a red, signalling that she is going to cry and that she is trying her best for it not to show. But it did show. Two tears, one on each eye, flowed from her eyes and she had it dried by running the back of her hands on each side of her face.

"Mou ikkai." (One more time.)

I told her to repeat her sentence, this time clearer. She oblidged. Then, I smiled.

"De kita ne!" (You did it.)

She smiled as well. We continued with our lesson.

"Kyou wa subarashikatta yo." (Today, you did very well.)
"Arigatou, sensei." (Thank you teacher.)

**********
Tough love. I would always be an advocate of tough love.

When the kid started showing signs that she wanted to cry, deep in me, I was already scared. But I had to stick to that teacher face and stand that I had started with at that time. I knew that she can do it and there is no way that I would want to see her showing off her weak side.

Sometimes, all we need is someone who would believe in us.

I didn't do anything else but tell her to do it one more time. And keep telling her to do it again and again until she sounded better.

I can only hope that she can keep the confidence in her on our next lessons and even outside the classroom because I know she can.