broken arm

oh my god, one of my students broke his arm in my class 2 weeks ago. i feel like the worst person ever. i remember him and another boy running into each other during a game and they both came off crying but i did not realize the severity of this boy's injury. i've seen kids bounce back from such ridiculous bodily encounters that this one looked like nothing more than a bump or a bruise. however, it was dangerous enough for me to say that the game was over, at which point the boy who didn't break his arm immediately stopped crying and said he was okay and that we should continue the game. pshh... the boy who broke his arm sits all the way in the back so i guess i didn't check on his condition well enough. there have been so many times where i have shut down class to console one crying kid to no avail, but of course, the one time i don't do it, the kid has a broken arm. how terrible!

last friday i saw him in the hallway and i noticed that his arm was not in his jacket sleeve so i asked him where his arm was. he opened his jacket and revealed his broken arm. i was like oh no! i still did not realize how had had broken it though. class was really chill that day (they were writing me a letter) so i went to the back and asked him how he broke his arm. he asked me if he could tell me in chinese. i was like okay. at first i misunderstood and thought he had broken it outside playing. then he was like no, no, no, remember last week the boy and i got hurt? i was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! i think my reaction scared him a little, he was like it's okay teacher, it's okay!! he is usually a naughty little boy, but now i have a super soft spot in my heart for him. i don't think he would have even told me how he broke his arm if i hadn't asked him! i totally would have guilt tripped the teacher. he just sat there nice and quietly writing his letter to me. sigh...