A Teacher Like No Other

A teacher’s work does not disappear. It continues in the lives of students. A teacher is like a key that unlocks something dormant within us. Every instrument must be tuned by hand, carefully examining the results, listening for mistakes, correcting them, and offering encouragement.

Teachers should be like this—kind, endlessly patient, attentive, understanding, and accepting; always carrying sweet smiles like little candies in their pockets of kindness.

Marianne jokes with us and lightens the mood. She demonstrates the misplaced verb “stand” instead of “sit” in the sentence “Hun står på en stol” [she stands on a chair], and we all laugh. When someone yawns, we write down “hun gaber.” [she yawns] Someone sneezes—“prosit.” [Bless you] Marianne often uses gestures: she folds her hands in prayer—“vi håber” [we hope]—while waiting for the electronic portal to work, and she crosses her fingers “krydser fingre” before an exam.

A teacher is also an artist. Marianne captivates everyone with her skills. But it’s us who receive the exclamations—“bravo, super, fantastisk”—when we replace our names into “Jeg hedder…” [My name is...] and our countries into “Jeg kommer fra…” [I come from...]

The first lessons begin with the same routine: How do our names sound? Where are we from? What languages do we speak? These repetitive questions don’t just reinforce the material—they bring us closer together. New students join, and we introduce ourselves confidently—it feels like a small victory, especially when we add “Velkommen!” [Welcome] at the end. Such a simple word, yet it always makes us smile.

I often worry: there are so many unknowns—not least mastering this “foggy” language. But I have no doubt we will succeed. We already are, little by little. We just need to practice more. Our favorite word? “Hjemmearbejde.” [Homework] I get confused, make mistakes, and mix up words. I can see and feel how challenging it is for everyone. We all are different, but united by the need to learn, adapt, and find our place here. A happy place!

We will remember our first Danish teacher well—the teacher of Danish happiness. With her, we learned our first simple words, which we now repeat in chorus, just like in the old days. Each day, we add something new to our growing language bank. Do you notice how we are getting richer?