First Day of Class

Today was a day of nerves... mostly for me. I did not expect to be so nervous, but I was! The kids were nervous, too; especially the youngest ones.

Everything went well. I have two low level classes and two upper level classes.
The lower levels are basically middle  school students with 1st grade to 7th grade English levels. This is the  challenge, especially as the Reading Comprehension teacher. How do I teach that many grade levels?? So I am working on getting some books that they can go at independently more or less. The kids are  very darling, some excited to practice/show off their  English... others have to be coaxed to even read a few sentences. I hope they will discover that my classroom is an open and encouraging place. We had a good, long chuckle about me suggesting and demonstrating jumping jacks during our reading break. I think 90 minutes is a bit long to just read and read and read... I am excited for them to gain more confidence in conversation.

The upper levels are high school age, with reading levels at 6th-9th grade levels. This is  not quite as challenging because there are  so many new words in our books that everyone is learning. The curriculum uses random chapters from different subject textbooks (history, English lit, geography, etc). Today we studied the Code of Hammurabi. I think I will be learning too in some of these chapters! The students are gearing up to leave for the States in just 2 weeks. This, of course, is a lot to think about in addition to new studies. I got to use my experiences in Mali and Spain to help them talk about their expectations, nerves, and excitement for studying abroad. It is contagious, the enthusiasm to travel and experience new things! Teaching high schoolers is still one of my favorite things, hopefully they can tell!

Please pray for our Teacher Aides. They work very very hard... (much harder than me!). They have many many jobs besides just helping us in class, they lead worship services, study-halls, dorm floors, geography and Bible classes, and are in charge of many small tasks. I  am so impressed by their work ethic... up before us at 6:30AM, and not done working until 3 or 4 AM!  I have never met a group of more servant-hearted young people!

My Korean has not improved. This is sad  for me, because I do want to learn. I am "trading words" with Phillip and Justin, the Tae Kwon Do masters here. They have very basic English and are so excited about learning a few "everyday things." This swap should work out for both of us. :)

In daily life news, they have decided to bless us with American breakfasts!! Not going to lie, this rice 3 times a day is really .... harsh. So now Esther (Thank you, God, for Esther!) has dry cereal and milk for us. Of course, if we have a strong desire for rice, we can choose Korean Cafeteria breakfast... or just wait for lunch. BONUS: Tonight we had a PIZZA surprise!! It was from "Pizza School." It was just like Cici's Pizza, but they but CORN in their sauce!! It was... interesting. We had one potato and  bacon topped pizza. Yes, potato wedges and bacon strips on pizza. Of course, there was "spicy chicken" pizza too... wow. My lips tingle just thinking about it! :) The Korean staff was very interested in our facial expressions as we ate. Nothing intimidating about 6 Koreans watch you eat a potato-topped pizza.  Hahaha!

It was a good, good day.
Thanks again for your notes and prayers!
-e