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Scratch and a boy

One day in 2015, I went to a special school to teach programming by Scratch.
I had been asked by a teacher of the school, "Could you teach my students something about computing?".

I recommended Scratch.
It includes elements of language, mathematics, art, music.
So It's good for them, I thought.

The first day I met a 13 years old boy who looks hard to use his tongue.
He said ,"How did they make MARIO?".

"Which things does he want to know about ?", I wondered.
"How was MARIO made by Nintendo?" or just a "MARIO's inside".
I wanted to answer his question but I didn't have anything at that time.

The first day had finished. We made a game program "Chace of cat and mouse".
He enjoyed very much. so do I.

The Second day, I brought two things to him.
One is a list about roles of video game development.
For example, Producer, Playwright, Designer, Artist, Sound engineer, and Programmer, etc.
He was very excited.

"You were all of them yesterday," I told him. "Don't you think awesome? ;-)"
He gazed the list for a long time. He looked happy.

The other is a URL of MARIO on Scratch web site.
And he looked inside.

"Wow!" he screamed. "This is it! I've been wanting to see!".
He found MARIO's inside at last.

"Can I make MARIO?" he asked me."Yes, of course." I said.
He gazed the site again, and was excited.

The end of the second day, he said,"I want to say you thanks." many times.
I was glad very much but,"Why doesn't he just say thank you?" I thought.
It's easier for him to say "Thank you.".

Suddenly I understood.
He wanted to tell me what had come to his mind.

It's that he wants to tell me thanks.
He wanted to tell me that such a thought had come to his mind.
So he said so.

I was very impressed.
"It's my pleasure. I enjoyed very much." I said.
That was wonderful experience.

Thank you Scratch!
Comments
David Coopersmith
Member
That's a great story! Thanks for sharing :)