On judging a student by her cover

I have this student who, even after over 5 months in class, I’m not sure how I feel about. She is a semi-regular member of my Girls Club, but also a member of the group of girls who seek to derail my English class on a regular basis. 

She is not amused by me. But is rather amused by the fact that she can talk about me in her local language while I am standing 3 metres away from her and I won’t understand what she is saying. She has come to visit me twice while I’ve been here, and both times showed an affinity for getting into my things.

So, when I scheduled for my Girls Club to make dinner with me at my house tonight (only after they sat through a lecture on nutrition), she may have been specifically who I had in mind when I spent the afternoon beforehand hiding the things I didn’t want 15 teenage girls asking about or getting into. (This included the copies of the exam they took yesterday that I’ve started correcting.)

This particular student I tried not to let out of my sight for most of the night. When she wandered out my back door, I made sure I was standing at a place in my kitchen where I could see what she was doing.

Turns out what she was doing in my back area was getting water so she could wash all the dishes that accumulated after 17 people made and ate spaghetti. Turns out she was more concerned with washing my oven mitts and towels after dinner than seeing what I wouldn’t notice was missing from my house. Turns out she was one of the last ones to leave, refusing to go home before the dirty water had been tossed and my floor swept.

Turns out, she may not be the student I thought she was.