Monthly Give and Take

Click here to listen to the podcast May is National Asian Pacific Heritage Month!  I didn't know it at the time, but this new kid to our class would soon become one of my best friends growing up. In the 5th grade, Gia Phu Phan (pronounce ya fu fon) showed up to class one day and I can remember this quiet, if not steely-eyed figure trying to understand what was going on. Gestures and crude sign language were how we helped him navigate our strange American school ways. Nothing seemed to phase him. He just looked intently at all that was happening to him, taking it all in. Classroom work was difficult because of the language barrier, but the playground was where he shown. He could do things with a soccer ball that none of us could do. To hear him laugh and see him have fun was wonderful. Eventually, he started trying out the language. Pronunciation would always be difficult for him, but he was determined like nothing I had ever seen. I don't think I have ever heard him say my actu