My Students Discovering I Have a Boyfriend

During the first week of classes, I was told by a fellow colleague that my students would ask about my love life. He was right; in almost every class, it was the first question they asked. He recommended that I say nothing, so that is what I did, I kept it a secret, or so I thought…

I live outside of the city I work, it is about 20 minutes by car. There is a shopping mall near my house that I frequently go to with my boyfriend. Well, it just so happens that many of my students also frequent the very same mall…

A few weeks down the road one of my students stopped me in the hall, took me aside, and informed me that she received some “information”. The way she was talking reminded me of some spy movie. She told me that she heard from someone that I was walking with a boy at the mall. She demanded to know who it was. I gave in, I knew that if they saw me once, they would see me again. I told her, and the information spread very very fast to say the least. 

A week later, the town that I teach in had a festival, I wanted to go with my boyfriend, so I figured, why not? I mean, my students already knew about him. All of the girls squealed when they saw him at the festival. I of course heard shy students in the background whispering the word kareshi, as well. It was hilarious how interested they were/still are.

The following day at school, I was met with many more questions. My English teachers even made it into part of class. We worked on past tense form based off of the sentence, “Lacey went to the festival with _______”. I don’t mind, of course, I know that it is all in good fun, but I do find it interesting how much they were interested in my boyfriend and how even just one sentence about it made them really intrigued in English class. 

Making the decision to share personal information with your workplace/students can be a tough decision, but sometimes it gets made for you. Luckily, all of the outcomes have been positive, and since that experience, students have been opening up to me about who they are dating!  

What as your experiences in this realm been?