On a whiteboard, Vassilis Papadopoulos has written the word “late” and circled it. Fifty minutes into the class, Sekou Kamara walks in, but Papadopoulos gently pushes him back out the door.
“You wanted to know what late is?” Papadopoulos says to the laughter of the men and women in the classroom. “This is late. My friend,” he says to Kamara. “I will see you tomorrow.”
Kamara smiles, unperturbed, and backs out of the classroom. He may have missed his English class today but he is on time – early, in fact -– for his Greek class just down the hall. For Kamara, learning English, the language spoken by 1.5 billion people, is important; but it’s Greek, a language spoken by 11 million people, that is making a difference to his life.
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