"I didn't talk all that much about the election with my students. I guess I assumed they were young and from another country so it wasn't that big of a deal. But when I woke up after election day and the results were still not in, I put all the websites on the interactive board when I arrived to school.
As soon as the kids saw the pictures, they knew exactly who they were. 'Donald Trump!' 'Hillary Clinton!' The names rolled off their tongues as if they were saying their own names. They asked who won and I explained that we were still waiting for the votes to come in. So we started doing the math and they quickly realized it would be much easier for Trump to win than Hillary at that point. I asked them who they wanted to win and they started chanting, 'Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!'
Once the results came out, I was devastated. It was hard not to cry in front of my students. When I saw one of my students later in the day he asked me, 'Teacher, who won?' I just looked at him and before I could say anything, he mumbled 'Trump' and proceeded to slump into his chair.
They must have been talking about the election and candidates at home because one of them announced to the class, 'If Donald Trump wins, he's going to send the Army to all the citizens.' While this is far from the truth, this is where we as citizens of the United States come in. There is so much trash talk and and many rumors circulating all over the world. I quickly set them straight.
They were interested. They were animated. I was wrong to not discuss it earlier. Though they are young and not Americans, it still affects them, just in a different way it would affect a 7-year old American child. They don't even realize how it could affect them in the future.
We have to accept that Trump won. I just hope that we can stop the trash talk and the hate. We have to come together as a team to create a better future. And that starts with teaching our children to be kind, tolerant, and patient. One step at a time."
