And these students thought they knew the definition of giving.

Perhaps no one explained to them the definition of karma.

Whatever the state of their teenage minds, confusion was the name of the game as they waited in the hallway, locked outside of Mrs. Jessie Burkle’s AP English class Friday morning at Port Neches-Groves High School.

Their suspicions grew even more wary as the school’s journalism instructor, Janis Ryan, and The News arrived at the front of the line.

Once the door was unlocked and the students entered the room, waiting on each of their desks were individual copies of the Concise Oxford American Dictionary, and a personalized note from the Oxford University Press (OUP).

“About the first of this month, I started receiving these boxes from the OUP with no explanation,” Mrs. Burkle said.

“Inside there were 27 dictionaries and I thought ‘Wow!’ I couldn’t find anything to explain it all — it just said ‘free’, which is always good.”

Back in December, The News reported on a gift Mrs. Burkle’s students gave her in the form of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, which was on Mrs. Burkle’s longtime wishlist to own. The students worked to raise the money to purchase the set, which can cost upward near $1,000, and walked in one-by-one with a gift wrapped volume for Mrs. Burkle to open just before the Christmas break.

“So I called Amy Tiedemann, who’s name was on the sheet. Apparently she was the one who ordered the dictionaries, and she said they’d read the Port Arthur News story and were all so touched, they cried, and they wanted to do something for the kids so they sent the dictionaries.”

The note inside each student’s dictionary read: “A few weeks ago, we read about the story and the amazing gift you gave to your teacher. It touched us all here at the OUP. To return your kindness we would like to give you all your own little piece of the OED. Best regards, the Oxford Reference Team.”

Mrs. Burkle says she had been looking for a way to return the kind gesture and the dictionaries the OUP provided helped provide the solution.

Two of Mrs. Burkle’s students, Shelby Hebert and Nicole Tan, clutched their dictionaries moments after they received them and were all smiles as they hugged their English teacher.

“I’m kind of overwhelmed,” Tan said. “I think they (the OUP) are pretty amazing — first for compiling all those books and now actually giving us one just because we bought a set from them — that’s pretty crazy.”

“Ironically enough, words can’t even explain how I’m feeling right now,” Hebert said. “Its so amazing to see some act of kindness in such a greedy world that we live in —it’s just really touching.”

Mrs. Burkle considers her students very deserving of the gesture, saying that though each class of students she has are wonderful, this year’s have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic and thoughtful.