First week as an ESL Teacher

I am seated on my veranda, enjoying the remaining rays of sunshine from the day.  It has been gorgeous, not really warm, but gorgeous none the less.  I've got my afternoon cup of coffee, sunglasses on, and life seems good.

Yesterday (Monday) marked the official start of my ESL career.  I've been involved in ESL for a few years now, but this is the *OFFICIAL* beginning!  Monday was my first staff meeting before the start of classes.  I went to the main offices, trying to hide the fact that I was feeling woefully unprepared for my first class.  The other teachers all seem very nice.  Four of us are new this term.  It was at this meeting that I finally found out the essentials, such as how many students I have (and their names!) and the location I was to teach at Tuesday morning!  I think I'm starting to realize that not everyone in this field feels the need to be hyper-prepared.

After the meeting, I drove back across the Susquehanna to meet with my advisor.  I am blessed with the most incredible advisor I could ask for.  She exceeds advisor and becomes mentor in so many ways.  Dr. E offered to help me by looking over my lesson plans the weekend prior.  Since said lesson plans felt so slapdash to me, I asked if I could come by her office to talk it over in person.

We didn't get right to lesson plans but had some time to chat first.  I think we connect well because we are both TCKs (Third Culture Kids) and additionally, she has raised children overseas and says that I remind her of her daughter.  Given the stories she has told me, we do sound quite similar and I think Dr. E and my mother could start a support group for mothers of Type A TCKs!

Dr. E answered my many questions about my lesson plan and how I should spend the first day of class.   It certainly helped me to feel a little more at ease, but I had some residual butterflies.  It helped to know that I have the support of my family and numerous friends!

I got to my teaching location about 45 minutes early!  I teach a site in H-burg, and I wasn't entirely certain of the location.  One of the other teachers, the one with the key!, had said she would arrive at 8:15 or so if those of us who are new wanted to look at our classrooms and have extra time to set up.  I found the building easily and she showed me to my fairly bare classroom.  Picture chairs, a table, and a whiteboard!   Thankfully, I had my own dry erase markers in my teacher kit!

Classes were to start at 9.  By 8:55, I had two students in my classroom.  I was expecting ten.  I went ahead and started my personal introduction and by 9:10, a third student had arrived.  We had changed the start date of class, and I think more students will show up tomorrow after receiving a reminder call today!

Our unit this term is "Friends and Family."  It is the perfect unit to start off with a new Beginner class, because it is all about relationships!  I took pictures of my family and used those as my introduction of myself but also to introduce the vocabulary.  If you aren't familiar with ESL, it may surprise you to hear  what "Beginner" truly means!  My vocabulary list included "mother, father, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, brother in law..." You get the picture!  This is a very "beginner" class.

Goodness, I already love the three students though!  We took some time to talk about their families and their backgrounds.  I can't wait to get to know them more through the course.  Two of the ladies are quite good at conversational English and not very confident in their reading ability.  The other lady is a wonderful reader but is very hesitant to speak.

After class, I had to go over to our offices to get some more textbooks for my students.  Then, a good friend took me out for lunch to celebrate a wonderful first day of teaching!  After that, my teaching continued with a few hours of homeschooling a friend's children so she could take a break.  I don't mind a few hours here and there but it solidifies for me that I love teaching adults.  I'm not meant to be an elementary teacher!

It's time for homework and tomorrow's lesson plan!  Thanks to all of you who were praying for me today!

The Great Egg Hunt

Our Easter was a little different this year.  My grandparents now have three great-grandchildren, with a fourth expected in July!  The next generation are now the focus of our annual egg hunt.  Emme (1) was more entertained by the fake grass in her egg bucket, so it was really the other two who found the eggs.  

Jer hid the eggs on the back porch, due to the rain.  It ended up working out well.  There were plenty of nooks and crannies to hold the eggs.  

Oh they were so excited!  Anna (who turns two this weekend) kept running around from corner to corner.  She was so sweet and she kept sharing the eggs she found with Kolton and Emme!  I love that little sweetie so much.  She's the best!

My Funny Valentine

I know it isn't February, but this little girl definitely has my heart every day of the year!

What a cutie!  In case you are wondering, she has socks on her hands as "gloves" and a bucket on her head!

Fasnacht Day

Yesterday flew passed in a blur. I started off my day with my first early shift at the bakery.  I had to be there by 7:30.  It's been a long time since I have had to leave my house by 7, so I was a little worried I might oversleep.  As a result, I woke myself up at 5:30, long before I actually needed to be awake.  

I made it work ten minutes early.  

My shift was four hours long.  Considering that it was Fasnacht Day, we sold mostly fasnachts and wow, did we sell them.  I'm pretty sure we served over 400 customers in the four hours I was there.  One woman I helped was picking up a previously placed order of 17 DOZEN fasnachts.  

Overall, I did pretty well.  I'm technically still in training, but Thursday (Valentines Day!) will be my first day completely on my own.  My worst mistake was almost giving a woman incorrect change.  She needed $0.45 change.  I pulled out two dimes and a nickel.  In my mind, the currency was British pounds and the dimes were 20p coins!  Had we been using the currency I thought, my change would have been correct!  Thankfully, someone standing next to me caught it before I handed it to the woman.  

The morning was flat out insane.  By the afternoon, I was struggling to focus on my homework because I really wanted to go to sleep.  At six, I went to a friend's house to babysit her three kids until midnight.  By the time I got home, I wanted my bed so very badly!  Overall, I'm enjoying the bakery.  It is a busy job to have, but that makes time go quickly. 

In other job news, I just called about the teaching English job I mentioned.  I hadn't heard from them beyond a confirmation that they received my resume nearly two weeks ago.  As of this morning, they have not yet selected a teacher for the position.  I don't know that I have a strong change of getting the job, but at least I know it's still an option at this point.  

AC, NJ, USA

The day after Christmas, we packed up and went to Atlantic City for a few days of time away as a family.  However, it did not go as planned.  Unfortunately, everyone except for me was sick from one thing or another and we came home earlier than planned.

My sister and her husband were up with the little Monkey most of the first night.  She seemed to be better by morning, but they were exhausted.  Pap (my Dad) and I were the only ones who seemed ok, given that Gran (my Mom) had also been awake most of the night.  Tia (that's me!) was then put on Monkey watch!

We played peek-a-boo!

And we played with the "wa-wa," which led to some very wet pjs!

I still giggle at this picture!  I think it looks like Monkey is still in the pjs and trying to peek out the window!

After all other toys seemed doomed to bore the Monkey, I made a little makeshift tent from a blanket and two chairs.  Without meaning to sound proud, I'm delighted to say that the "tint" entertained her for the rest of the morning.  I'll have to remember that for future babysitting days!

The last ten days are flashes of memories of endless dirt coating my skin, staring children, a river crossing in a dugout canoe, African sunrises and sunsets, a pet warthog named Pumba, wall to wall people in a small brick church, mutumbu (goat intestines) and rice, and the Beira Hillbillies (I'll explain that later!).  I scribbled pages and pages in my journal as I sat on a painful reed mat in a small village in the province of Tete.  

I'll write more in the days to come, but for now, here a few glimpses.

Our dinner being prepared.  

A friend had peeled a stick of sugar cane for me to eat.  I love sugar cane, but it was challenging to eat gracefully especially with a group of twenty kids just sitting and watching me.

Dad playing with the kids.

Dugout canoe crossing the Shire River

Watching.  This is a small crowd.  At this point, the other thirty kids were off playing football.  

Sunday, Sunday.

This week has gotten off to quite the start.

We began with a celebration.  Our church has a newly completed tin roof.  I can't imagine putting a roof on a building when the first task is to find a ladder.  Dad was finally able to find a ladder in town that could be borrowed/rented for a minimal fee.

We also had several special program elements to our service, with presentations of different certificates of completion and Communion.  Church lasted nearly four hours.  Once church ended, we had the usual chit chat outside of the church.  After that, we headed to the car to go home for lunch, only to see this:

Clearly, lunch was a little bit delayed.  I thought it was wonderful that several of the church men, all in their Sunday best, didn't hesitate to help change the tire.  Eventually, the younger generation became curious and came over to check out the action.  

The spare was put on with minimal difficulty, but the spare needed air because it has a slow leak.  So, we went back to town and stopped at one place to see if the damaged tire could be fixed.  Then we went a second place, because apparently we stopped at the wrong place and needed to go further down the road.  The guys at the second place told us the tire cannot be fixed, but they were able to put air in the spare tire for us.

The only challenge is that Dad was to be leaving early Monday morning to go north for a week of teaching with a group.  Most places are closed on Sundays.  It's really foolish to drive anywhere around here without a spare.  So, he woke up a little earlier on Monday and left the city a little later in order to get a new tire.  A new tire here costs about $290.  Isn't that insane????  We have asked around about the price, but that does seem to the standard price.  It would be possible to get a "used" tire, but given how rough the roads can be, I doubt there would be much benefit.  

Sabado (Saturday)

We took a little drive down to the beach to see the fishermen bringing in their catch of the day.  I didn't take any pictures of that, partly because there weren't many fish and also, I prefer to take pretty pictures.  Dad and I sat on the breakwater for a while, enjoying the sound of the ocean and watching a soccer game.  It was a nice little outing for our Saturday afternoon.  Dad got to practice his Portuguese a bit with the fishermen, who thought we were keen to buy a pipefish (I think it looks like an eel).  

Autumn in London

The English refer to "autumn," not "fall."  But the differences don't stop there.  Sadly, there isn't the dramatic shift of colour in the leaves that we often see in New England.  However, there are some noticeable changes.  This is one such sight on a little residential street I walk along as I go to our office.

Because it's a quiet little back street, the leaves lay on the pavement a little longer than the street sweepers would leave them on the main roads.  It's quite fun to get to shuffle through the crinkly dry ones as I walk.  Yesterday, I saw a little boy enjoying them much the same.  He would look up at his Gran and pick a leaf up, just completely delight by it.  Then he would drop and find another one, and look at her, his expression of utter amazement, as though he were trying to say, "Oh my goodness, there's another one! Can you believe it?"  Such joy in the small things.  It's a good reminder to stop and enjoy the leaves, rather than hurry from point A to B.  

November is upon us!

Friends, I haven't been very regular at posting lately!  It has been hectic, with having a friend visit, and then with the moving of our office and that has entailed.  I can't believe November has arrived, and with it, blustery days and falling leaves.  Christmas decorations are up and I'm tempted to break out the carols!  I love this time of year.

Last night I had the fun of meeting up with some good friends for coffee at a local cafe.  O celebrated her 32 birthday two days ago and L celebrated her 31 on Sunday.  We had a great time chatting.

J, L, and O :)

the Birthday Girls!

Sadly, O isn't feeling very well, so we decided to make dinner plans for when she is better.  In the meantime, I'm about to dash off to dinner with Claire and her kids (Paul is back in the UK on Monday, I think).  Even though we live nearby, it isn't all that often that we get together socially, and the kids have been asking after Hope-nenni. (Paul's family is Hungarian, and "nenni" means aunt...hence, Hope-nenni!  I love it.)

Homework Club

Two of my kids from homework club yesterday :) They may drive me nuts sometimes, but they are pretty cute!