I teach General English to 25 students at a university in Nagoya, Japan. Of 15 class meetings, I start with two face-to-face class meetings, then teach seven Zoom class meetings, and the last six class meetings are face-to-face.

As I wrote in a previous Think Tank issue (Music), I start and end each class with appropriate music or song. At the beginning of the first class of December, after playing “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen (played from my iPod), I told my students, “although I usually prefer face-to-face classes, during the Zoom class meetings, after playing an ending song, I really appreciated the fact that many students uploaded the heart emoji, with hearts and the student’s name floating to the top of the screen. Not only did I appreciate them, this was the happiest point of the day, even of the week for me.” Then I continued with the lesson, ending it with the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. As the students walked down the aisle to the exit to receive a fist bump from me, one student held her hands in front of her in the shape of a heart, wearing a smile on her face as she passed by me. 

I swear, tears came to my eyes, and I marveled at the inventiveness of the student and how such a simple thing made this particular class ending so memorable for me.