A glimpse from Delhi Private School Sharjah classroom

There are moments in a teacher’s life that no lesson plan can predict. Some become memories because they are inspiring, some because they are challenging, and some simply because they make everyone laugh. This was one such moment.

It was an observation day, and I was teaching my young learners about Road Safety. With the observer seated at the back of the classroom, I was particularly conscious of making the lesson engaging and meaningful. We discussed traffic signals, zebra crossings, looking both ways before crossing the road, and other important safety rules.

Everything was going perfectly. To make the lesson more interesting, I decided to pose a situation-based question. I looked at the class and asked:

“Imagine you are walking along the road, and suddenly, a dog starts chasing you. What will you do?”

Several hands immediately went up. Then I noticed another hand—a hand that made me particularly happy. It belonged to one of our new admissions, a little boy who had recently joined us from India. He was still settling into his new school and was not yet very comfortable speaking English.

Seeing him raise his hand, I felt delighted. He wants to answer! I smiled and said, “Yes, tell me. What will you do?”

He stood up confidently. There was a moment of silence. The class waited.

The observer watched and then came his unforgettable answer:

“Ma’am, kuch sochne ka nahi… bas jhat se bhagne ka!”

For a second, the classroom was completely silent and then – the whole class burst into laughter!

Children laughed, repeated his words, and some even acted out the imaginary dog chase.

I turned towards the observer, wondering how she had reacted.

To my surprise, she was laughing too – and laughing aloud!

At that moment, the formal atmosphere of the observation simply disappeared. There was no teacher trying to give a perfect lesson and no observer evaluating every little detail. There was just a classroom full of children enjoying a spontaneous, innocent moment.

And the little boy stood there proudly, completely unfazed. What touched me most was not just the humour in his answer, but the confidence behind it. He knew he was new. He knew English was still difficult for him. He could easily have kept his hand down, worried about making a mistake. Instead, he raised his hand and expressed himself in the language he was comfortable with.

That moment reminded me of something very important: children need a classroom where they feel safe to speak, even when their words are not perfect. A child should be able to ask questions, share ideas, make mistakes, and express thoughts without the fear of being judged.

Nobody laughed at him that day. We laughed because his answer was wonderfully spontaneous and because he had expressed it with such confidence. The lesson continued, but that little exchange remained the highlight of the day.

Perhaps the best classrooms are not those where every response is perfectly rehearsed. They are the ones where children feel free to be themselves.

Sometimes, children teach us lessons that are far more valuable than the ones written in our lesson plans and whenever I remember that observation day, I still smile at his wonderfully practical advice:

“Kuch sochne ka nahi… bas jhat se bhagne ka!”

A classroom filled with freedom, laughter, respect and encouragement can create confident learners and sometimes, unforgettable memories too.

NEENA SHARMA