This paper is based on phenomenological interviews with teachers who worked with underachieving students in South Africa, Russia, and the United States. It focuses on the analysis of meanings that teachers constructed while describing their relationship with underachieving students and how metaphors worked to construct such meanings. The researchers also used Buber's "I-Thou" concept as an interpretive lens to further understand the meanings of teacher-student relationships. The study concludes that the teacher-student relationship is one of the fundamental themes of the teaching experience and is common for teachers from different countries.