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November 22 Idioms Hit
the hay...hold your horses...cat got your tongue...pulling my leg...up
the creek without a paddle. All of these are examples of idioms, we
use in everyday life. We don't normally think a lot about them...we
just KNOW what they mean because we've heard them our whole lives. Now
that is not the case with my students here in Cebu and it is hilarious
when they attempt to use them! Last week at a birthday party, Bernardo told me, "Teacher Tammy, you have a book on your nose!" I must have looked a bit confused because he then said, "That means you like to read." He was trying to tell me, "You have your nose stuck in a book." That sparked a conversation about idioms at my table with Leheca (12). Leheca had been learning about idioms in a book she was reading and decided to try some of them out on us. The staff also quizzed her on new ones. These are a few of her attempts at using them... -"You hit the nail on your head." (you hit the nail on THE head) -"Your nose is stuck to your face." (your nose is stuck in a book) -After learning the meaning of "cat got your tongue", she said, "I think a cat has Rael's tongue because he is very quiet." -A few days later, Leheca ran into my class and gave me a big hug, then she said, "Teacher Tammy, you are the apple of my eye!" I love seeing (and hearing) our kids learn new things! November 15 Our YardAt CSC, in between the Eicher and Cherne homes, there is a large grassy area. I love that area because there are not a lot of wide open grassy areas here in Cebu. Most places around the city are covered with buildings, cement, or garbage. That grassy area is our kids playground. Before coming to CSC, most of our kids did not have a safe, clean place to play. For many kids around the city, the streets are their playground. The kids in my neighborhood play in the alley in front of my house. Often times the balls or slippers they are playing with end up in our yard. Driving up to the shelter, we frequently drive right through the middle of kids playing basketball or tag. They normally just pause their game long enough for us to pass by. We are lucky to have such a nice place to play at CSC.
During the day, our playground is always full of activity! Basketball games, tag, foot races, and swinging can be seen on a daily basis. Toddlers get pulled around in wagons. Older kids whizz around on rollerblades and bikes. The preschoolers ride their scooters! Kids pick flowers, dance, and play ping-pong. You can hear their shouts and laughter as soon as you enter the gates of CSC! It is such a beautiful sound!
This week our yard was used for cloud watching. One afternoon, I went down to the shelter to hang out with the kids. It was a beautiful day and before too long, Leheca, Jashly, and I began looking for pictures in the clouds. I love their imaginations! The first thing we saw was a princess- then Jashly noticed a snake. Pretty soon, more kids joined us and we saw a mermaid, a dragon, an eagle, a unicorn, and so much more. Here is a picture of just a few of our kids checking out God's pictures in the clouds! While I love hanging out in the yard with the kids during the day, I also love our yard at night. Standing in the middle of the yard, looking at the dark houses filled with sleeping children, I am always filled with a sense of awe and thankfulness. Even after all these years, I am still amazed that God has called me here to work in the Philippines. I am in awe of the work CSC is doing and how God is using it to change kids lives. I am so thankful that I get to be a part of this ministry. And I am thankful that I have the opportunity to be a part of these kids' lives!
November 08 Memory VersesMany of you read about the reading challenge our school had going during the first quarter. It was a lot of fun for the kids and teachers alike and was a great opportunity to encourage our kids to enjoy reading!
Recently, our school has begun a new challenge...a memory verse challenge. It is a way to encourage our kids to know their Bible well! Each level, all the way down to preschool, has set a goal of a certain number of verses to memorize each week whether it be 1, 2, 3, or 4.. Throughout the week, the kids practice them in class and at home and then share them with their teachers on Friday!
It is so much fun to hear them quoting scripture! Every day at snack time kids run up and tell me, "Teacher Tammy, I know my verse!" They love reciting them to anyone who will listen. The Level A students have even been wearing their verses on a necklace so anyone can stop them and ask them to recite the verse. Yesterday, I stood in the middle of the yard at the shelter with a few kids and all together we ran through the verses we had memorized in the last few weeks! What a beautiful sound that was! November 01 Moving, Moving, Moving It has been a week of movings...last Saturday the entire Eicher house moved into the new Duterte house. Then this Saturday the entire Cherne home transferred to the Eicher house. Moving is a lot of work, but it really was a great morning! I wish you could've seen it all...the whole CSC family went to work moving boxes, clothes, beds, mattresses, cabinets, cribs, couches, and kitchen supplies out of Cherne. It had to be completely empty so that the renovations can be started this week. The aunties, uncles, staff, and all of our kids down to some of the preschoolers pitched in to help out. Melrod made about a million trips back and forth with the little red wagon carrying house supplies. Jashly carried toys one by one across the yard. Jonjon helped Uncle Joel organize the store room. The big boys showed off their muscles by helping with some of the heavier things. But I'd have to say the awards for the best workers would go to Charydyn, Riza Mae, and Rafael. Rafael is small, but he was certainly pulling his weight. I loved watching him carry mattresses! He put them over his head, but he is so short that the mattresses hung nearly to his feet in both the front and the back. That didn't stop him though! As soon as it was deposited in its new location, he would literally run back to find something else to carry. With a lot of teamwork, we were able to completely clear out the Cherne home by mid-afternoon! The shelter is a little confusing at the moment. The Cherne home stands dark, silent, and empty. The Eicher home is now filled up with Cherne kids. (We are calling them "Chicher" kids while their house is being redone.) I'm so used to them living in the Cherne home that I do a double take everytime I see one of them enter the Eicher home. In addition to that, the former Eicher kids are now living in the new Duterte home. All of the kids are still getting used to their new homes...after school many of them have accidentally gone to the wrong houses. But despite being a little confusing, it has been a very exciting week for all! The Duterte kids are thoroughly enjoying their new home and the Cherne kids are excited for their home to get fixed up as well! October 25 This Week's HighlightsWhat a great week it was!
1. One day this week, my math class was working on a program on the internet. I explained that it was just the trial version because we would have to pay to have the full version. John Ray asked me how I would pay for it if I wanted it. When I told him "with a credit card", he responded with, "Where do you put it? In the printer?" I had to laugh- he thought I needed to run my credit card through the printer to pay for it. Funny!
2. On Friday, our school held our annual United Nations Day. The teachers split the school up into different countries and the children travel through them. The kids look forward to this every year! This year, they traveled through Egypt, Jamaica, Korea, Mexico, and Romania. Wrapping each other in toilet paper as mummies, breaking a pinata, and egg painting were just a few of the fun activities this year! Food is always a big hit and the kids got to sample everything from chips and salsa to mashed potatoes to a rice concotion wrapped in seaweed! The day ended with a game of Jeopardy that asked questions from each country. It was fun to see what the kids remembered! The last two days I have heard a lot of greetings in Spanish and Romanian and I have a feeling that will continue for a while!
3. Saturday was an important day at CSC. It was the day of the BIG move! Finally! The kids have been looking forward to this day for months. It started out with a walk through of the house...in each room we gave an orientation and then prayed over it! As soon as that was finished, all of the Eicher kids went tearing back to their house to grab their belongings and make the short trek to the new Duterte home! They were so excited! Smiles were everywhere and they practically ran back and forth grabbing more boxes to carry! Everyone pitched in- even the Cherne house kids. It was so fun to see the kids in their new rooms, checking out their new cubbies, and organizing their belongings! Even when it was time to play outside, many of the kids chose to sit in their new rooms or the living room and just ENJOY their new house. Many of them chose to take showers in the middle of the day just because they wanted to try out their cool new bathrooms! Here is a picture of Rafael and Jeffrey enjoying the new house!
 October 18 Julieto Today I want to tell you a little about one of my students- Julieto. Julieto is 19 years old and lives in our Teen Home. He has lived at CSC for almost 10 years. It has been amazing to see how much he has grown and changed in those years. Julieto was actually one of my students during my first two years of teaching here. School was really difficult for him and he ended up taking two years off to work. Last year he decided he wanted to go back to school to finish elementary and high school. In order to go to high school, he first needed to finish 6th grade at our school. So in June, Julieto once again began attending Children of Hope School and it has been so much fun having him back in my class! Despite the hardships of his childhood, not being adopted, and struggling with learning, Julieto has a very positive attitude towards life. His huge smile brightens up our room everyday and his sense of humor keeps us all laughing. Even when a concept is difficult, he tries his best and never gives up. He always makes sure he has his homework and loves sharing anything new that he has learned outside of school. This last week Julieto got up in front of our class and gave a short speech on Stonehenge. I was so proud of him! It is hard to get up in front of others, but he stood up their confidently and spoke clearly in English. Right now, Julieto's dream is to finish high school and maybe someday become a cook on a ship. While we don't know what the future holds for him, we know that whatever he ends up doing, it will be done with a big smile on his face and a positive attitude. Please pray for him as he continues on his journey through life. Pray that he will be able to grasp the concepts being learned in school. October 14 Baseball FeverBaseball fever has been running like wild through our older kids at the shelter. They were able to watch the Twins last game against the Tigers and parts of two of their games against the Yankees. Even though the Twins are now out of the race for the pennant, baseball talk is still one of the most popular subjects for conversation amongst our kids.
Baseball is not a very popular sport here in the Philippines. Before last week, most of our kids had never watched a major league baseball game. A few years ago, CSC had a team in a very small baseball league in Cebu. Besides that, the only baseball our kids have witnessed is in games they have played in the yard at the shelter. It was SO much fun watching baseball with the kids and seeing it through their eyes. They had so many questions. Their unique view of the game gave us all some laughs and I want to share some of their thoughts with you!
Those are just a few of the comments the kids made. It was great seeing them gain a much better understanding of the game and really enjoying it too! They are already looking forward to the next year and hoping they will get to watch some more games! October 11 Yao MingEvery week the kids say things that make me laugh. They use English a little incorrectly or pronounce something funny. For example- one day this week, Leheca told me, “Jeneviev had her shirt on OUTSIDE IN.” I have heard many comments such as that over the last few years and they always make me smile. My favorite one this week came from Kyle. During reading class, he asked me, “Is Yao Ming North America?” I answered, “Well…I know he is from China, but he plays basketball in the United States.” Kyle shook his head and said again, “No, is YAO MING North America?” Confused, I responded with, “I’m not really sure which one you want- he lives in either China or the United States.” This time it was Kyle’s turn to look a little confused, “No Teacher Tammy, Yao Ming, the place. Where is it?” We continued like this back and forth a few times with me wracking my brain to try and come up with an answer about Yao Ming’s place that Kyle would accept and Kyle trying in vain to get me to understand what he meant. Finally he said, “The book says the Bighorn Mountains are in YAO MING.” Aha- the light bulb went on in my head…Kyle’s YAO MING was WYOMING! All along he wanted to know where Wyoming was, not where Yao Ming lived. My whole class got a good laugh out of it and a lesson on how to pronounce Wyoming! October 04 PrincessesLike most little girls, the girls at our shelter love princesses! They like to pretend to be them, draw pictures of them, and dress up in fancy "princess" outfits! Another of Jashly's older sisters, June, has really been into princesses lately! She absolutely LOVES them and is always talking about them. She likes to draw pictures of princesses and makes up imaginary stories. On Saturday she decided that I was going to be the princess. I was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk and she held a palm branch over my head to protect me from the sun. Then Juancho, Jocelyn, and Sheena decorated my hair with all kinds of "fancy" princess things (flowers and pieces of a palm branch). It was quite the interesting hairdo, but they loved it!  October 03 Field Day!A few weeks ago I wrote about how we are all a family here at CSC. I was reminded of that again today as all of the staff, houseparents, toddlers, and teachers came out to cheer on our kids during field day. Our P.E. teacher, Teacher Al, had organized for another school to come to CSC in the morning for running races and soccer games.
I arrived at the shelter at about 8 o'clock and the kids were so excited. They were jumping all over, cheering, and practicing for their events. They kept asking when the "enemy" was coming, and I kept trying to explain that you call them "opponents" and not the "enemy". They were very ready to get started...that is until the vehicles from the other school began arriving. As the vehicles kept pouring in our gate, several of them came up and grabbed ahold of my arm saying, "Teacher Tammy, they are MANY." They looked on in awe and a bit of shock as at least 70 strangers trooped out of the cars to meet them. But despite their initial shyness, the kids ended up having a great time!
The events started out with running races. The kids were split into age groups and about 5 kids ran at a time. We were so proud of them! They all tried hard and had fun doing it. June and Charydyn won their races by a landslide while Kyle, Nino, Angelica, Rafael, Christian A., Angillo, Bernardo, Andree Kaye, and Paula also all won first place in their heats! But as fun as that was to watch, my favorite part of the running came from the toddlers. All of the Cherne home toddlers had gathered in a Nipa hut next to where the older kids were running. They had a blast watching their older "brothers" and "sisters" race! Everytime a new group of kids came up to the starting line, the toddlers would begin chanting for the kids from their house. "Go Rael, go! Go Christian, go!" The cutest of all was Jovan. He began cheering for his brother Jonjon and he just kept calling out "Go Jonjon, go!" long after his brother had finished his race!
The running races were followed up by several soccer games, time for the kids to get to know eachother, and an awards ceremony. It was a great morning of fun, fellowship, and family!
 September 27 Highlights from my Week1. Last Monday, we had yet another holiday from school. (There have now been 7 since the beginning of August...crazy) I headed up to the shelter that morning to help Analiza out with some homework. She needed to go to school and research. I decided for lunch I'd take a few kids out to a nearby restaurant. It's never easy to decide who to take with you when you can only choose a few, but I ended up with Birny and Jonjon- two of our 11-year-olds. They were so excited to "eat outside"! Birny did a little jump in the air and pump his fist move. It was really nice to have just two of them along- they each got a chance to ride in the front seat and we had fun at the restaurant talking about school, sports, their weekends, and how none of us really wanted to eat the pickled papaya that was on our plates.
 2. This week in science we've been learning about echinoderms...for those of you who don't know what those are (as I didn't until I read this chapter in our science book) they are the "spiny skinned" animals that live in the ocean. Starfish, brittle stars, basket stars, sea cucumbers, feather stars, sea urchins and sea lilies. About halfway through the chapter I stopped and told my students, "I LOVE teaching you about echinoderms because many of you have seen most of these animals. Kids in Minnesota wouldn't know what many of them are. Do you know why kids in Minnesota don't know what they are?" It took a while, but finally after looking at a map they said, "Because Minnesota is not an island!" I went onto explain that there are not any oceans near Minnesota. I asked them how far they thought I'd need to drive to get to an ocean they guessed between 1-3 hours. When I told them I never saw an ocean until I was 14, they about fell out of their chairs in shock. They even asked me, "How do you know how to swim if there are no oceans in Minnesota?" Ha...I had to laugh at that- none of them have never seen a lake before so that concept is pretty foreign. I love learning more about their perspectives on the world!
3. Our bumpy, rocky road has been graded! If any of you have ever been to CSC, you know what our road is like- it is pretty hard to forget. It had potholes all over the place and it is pretty slow going at times. In my four years here, the road has been graded maybe 2 times. But today when I went up to the shelter there were dump trucks dumping piles of dirt on the road right in front of the school and a grader smoothing it out. I was quite surprised! I drove down the road later and it was AMAZING how smooth it was! I'm going to enjoy it while I can- hopefully it won't rain too hard and wash it all away.
 September 20 Constellations & SardinesMy reading group is learning about astronomy right now. All of our stories lately have been related to that topic in one way or another- stories about Galileo, stars, Mars, and astronomical observatories. Last week we read some myths about how constellations came to be. At the end of the week, the kids had to answer this question, "If you could make anyone into a constellation, who would it be and why?" I want to share two of their answers with you.
1. Christian (John Ray's brother) answered that he wanted to make Uncle Paul into a constellation because that way, even when he grows up, he can still remember CSC just by looking into the sky.
2. Kyle wrote that he would make a constellation of Jesus. Then every night when he looks into the sky, he will see Jesus and be reminded to read his Bible and pray because sometimes he forgets.
On another note, this evening Teacher Michelle, Teacher Shari, Uncle Joel, our visitor Julie, and I took our second group of kids up to the school to play Sardines. It ended up being 9 teenage boys from the Cherne home and then also Joselito (11) because it was his birthday today. As you can imagine, with that many boys, it was a bit wild and crazy, but it was so much fun also! There was lots of laughter and joking as the kids searched through the school to find the hidden person. My favorite of all was when Joselito hid in the garbage can. I was the first to peek in at him and he popped up like a jack-in-the-box. He tumbled out of the can laughing and giggling. We played for a full hour and a half before we all headed home, sweaty and tired, but happy and smiling!
September 13 We are a FamilyAt CSC, we are a family! We spend holidays and birthdays together. We laugh together, help each other with schoolwork, and play together. We share our hurts, our desires, and our joys with each other! And we pray together!
At school, I always start my class off with a time of prayer in the morning. It is a time where we can praise the Lord for things He has done and lift up to him our prayer requests. Often times over the years, I have shared praises and prayer requests about my own family with my students. When my niece was born extremely premature a few years ago, they prayed for her daily. They still like to get updates on her and love seeing her pictures. They have been praying for my brother who needs a kidney transplant, and they prayed for my sister April who was going to have another baby.
Last week some of our prayers were answered when my sister April gave birth to a healthy little girl named Ruby! Being the proud aunt that I am, I announced to my class, "I have a new niece- Ruby!" All of my students gave me a funny look and asked, "Ruby?...I thought it was a girl." When I told them Ruby was a girl, they looked at me funny again, "Ruby? A girl?" I guess they had never heard of that name before so I explained the difference between "Ruby", a girl's name, and "Rudy", a boy's name. After my explanation, Milbert still said, "Well...for me, Ruby is a boy's name."
Then this afternoon, I brought Analiza and Jeneviev, two of our high school students, up to school to do some homework. I proudly showed them some of Ruby's pictures and after looking at about 10 pictures, one popped up of her wearing a pink outfit. Analiza turned to me in shock and said, "Ruby is a girl?" So…I guess it’ll be my job to teach the Filipino kids (at least at CSC) that Ruby is a girl’s name. :) But even with the confusion over her name, I know that they will continue to lift her up in prayer with me. I know that in the months and years to come they will love to look at pictures of her and laugh with me at the funny things she’ll do. Because we are a family and that is what families do together! September 06 Sardines, Dimples, and the "Hoedown Throwdown"This evening Uncle Andrew, Teacher Michelle, and I took some of the kids up to the school to play Sardines. If you've never played it, it is similar to hide-and-seek. One person hides and everyone else has to try and find that person. When they find them, they hide along with them until everyone has found them. It was SO much fun! The kids had never played it before and thought it was hilarious. After finding the hidden person, they would just sit there and giggle- which made it VERY easy for everyone else to find them. Our champion giggler was Kyle, he had a hard time holding his laughter! And that made the rest of us laugh also! Our champion hider was Niño, it was at least 15 minutes of searching before he was first discovered. Kyle was the first to discover him, and then he couldn't stop laughing. It was a great way to spend our Sunday evening! The kids have already been asking when they will get to play again, "Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday? Thursday?..."
Story from the week...one day I heard one of our older boys laughing loudly so I asked him what was going on. He pointed to his forehead and said, "We are laughing at my DIMPLES". (pimples)
Since I have now discovered how to add videos onto my blog, I am posting a video of Level C (and a few Level B students) dancing the "Hoedown Throwdown". They performed it at a morning meeting last month! It isn't the clearest video, but I thought you might enjoy seeing it anyways!!
August 30 Buwan Ng Wika & More August is the month to celebrate the national language of the Philippines, Tagalog. The celebration is called "Buwan Ng Wika"! Since it is the end of the month, this week we had our celebrations. On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon playing Filipino games. All of the children were split into groups- I was the leader of the "Puti" group (white group). Even though I was the leader, the kids had to explain everything to me because the directions were in Tagalog. They found it amusing to have to tell the teacher what to do. :-) My favorite comment of the day came from Leheca. As the kids were playing a game, one child got upset because he didn't win. Leheca turned to me and said, "We should be so sportsfest." She meant that we all should have good sportsmanship. Cute! On Saturday, we had our "Buwan Ng Wika" program. The kids sang a Filipino song and danced to another one, and the Filipino teachers performed some traditional dances. Uncle Paul and his band sang a great song about Philippine geography. In addition to that, four of us "Americanos" were asked to dance the Tinikling, a traditional Filipino dance. With the help of "You Tube" we researched traditional Tinikling moves, then we added in a few of our own creative ideas. Check out our video to see our great performance! The kids' band, the WORMS, also performed a Tagalog song. It is so fun to see them get up in front of an audience and perform! My favorite student to watch was Rael. Last year when he started playing guitar, he would literally stand with his back to the audience because he was so shy. Slowly he began to face the side, eventually the front, and yesterday he actually SANG!! This was HUGE for him! Take a look at the band in the video below. Left to right- Christian (keyboard), Kyle (bass guitar), Nino (drums), Milbert (lead guitar/vocalist), Anderson (guitar), and Rael (guitar/vocalist). In addition to our Buwan Ng Wika celebration, we ended our first quarter reading challenge. Since all of our kids had met their reading goals, Uncle Paul, Uncle Joel, and Uncle Andrew had to pay up. The kids got to shave poor Uncle Joel's head and beard, and Uncle Paul and Uncle Andrew each had to go up against some formidable wrestling opponents (don't worry, it was all scripted in advance so no one would get hurt! :-). The kids (and the teachers, and the staff, and the aunties) all cheered and laughed their way through the entire afternoon. It was a GREAT day! August 23 Goodbyes and a "Dirty House"This week we said goodbye to 6 of our kids as they joined their new adoptive families. Goodbyes are bittersweet! They are definitely exciting times because saying goodbye normally means that our hopes and prayers for an adoptive family have come true! But goodbyes are also hard! They are hard for the kids and hard for the staff. It is hard to say goodbye to ones you love- no matter how excited you are for them!
A funny story from this week- one afternoon I was sitting by the picnic tables talking to June (7 years). She began talking about the new house that was just built and how excited she is to move into it. She kept calling the new house the "dirty house". I kind of laughed at that- thinking she meant it wasn't very clean because the workers are still finishing it up. It will definitely need to be cleaned thoroughly before the kids move into it. But after she called it "dirty" a few times I thought I better clarify that the house WILL be cleaned before they move in so it won't be dirty anymore. She told me, "No...that is the name of the house. The DIRTY house!" I laughed- I couldn't help it! The new house is named the "Duterte House"- I wonder how many other kids have been calling it the "dirty house". August 16 My WeekMany weeks I sit down to write my blog and I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to write about. It isn't that nothing of real importance went on during my week- it is normally that so much has happened that I don't even know where to begin or what to focus on. That seems to be the case today...this week was full...so much went on that I can't decide what to tell you about.
It was a busy week, but it was a fun week. Overall I would definitely say it was a GREAT week!
August 09 Some Favorite StoriesA couple of my favorite stories from this week...
My reading class was discussing languages one day this week. My students were talking about how many they each knew. And all of them are far ahead of me- speaking English, Tagalog, and Cebuano. They began asking me what languages I spoke. Kyle asked, "Teacher Tammy, do you speak France?" I explained that it was "French" and I don't speak it. Then Milbert asked, "Do you speak Germany?" Again I explained that it was "German" not Germany and I don't speak it. Then my favorite question- Jenive asked, "Do you speak Texas?" I couldn't help laughing as I told her that they speak English in Texas. It took some time before I could convince her of that- she was certain they spoke another language there.
During American Studies class, we were learning about seasons. It is always interesting to teach about seasons...it is something I just knew growing up in Minnesota. But my students really don't have any first hand experience with any seasons other than "summer". The kids all loved talking about winter the most. Winter is a strange and exciting season that all of our kids long to experience. Snow- what does it feel like? What is sledding? Skiing? You can walk on ice? One of my students, Christine, told me that winter was her favorite season, but she was NOT going to walk on the ice. She was just going to stay inside. When I asked if she was going to sit by a fire inside, she looked at me in shock and said, "No, then I will be HOT!" Hmm...in just a few months, when she fully understands COLD, she may be wishing for that fire! I asked Christine what she thought people wore outside on their feet in the winter...after thinking about it for a little bit- she drew a picture of a Christmas stocking! I was great! August 02 Influence & Bart's DayLittle kids want to be like older kids…they try to follow them, dress like them, and act like them. This week all of our little preschool boys came to school with their hair gelled into all kinds of cool spikes and mohawks- just like the older boys. This week all of the little girls have been working on learning a new dance called the “Hoedown Throwdown” because they have seen the older girls doing it. And that wanting to be like someone older doesn’t just end with the little kids. Teens also watch older “kids” and adults…they also try to dress like them and act like them. It is a little scary sometimes to realize how much influence we, as adults, have in our kids’ lives. They watch how we dress, what we say, how we act, what books we read, and what music we listen to. As a teacher, I can help them love a subject or if I am not careful, make them dislike it. It is scary how much influence we have, but it is also an incredible honor given to us- molding, guiding, and encouraging these precious children! Please pray for all of the staff, workers, and teachers as we try to raise our children in a loving, Christian atmosphere. July 26 Time FliesIt’s hard to believe we have already completed a whole month of school! But time flies when you’re having fun, and my work here is fun! One thing I love about my job is that every morning, we get to open up our class with a short devotional and prayer time. I love it when the kids share their favorite Bible verses and pray together. What a great way to start our day!
Another thing I love about my job is the fun way our kids use English. I love listening to them talk- obviously they are all ESL students. All of them speak Cebuano and many of them have a good understanding of Tagalog- the national language. So in addition to those two languages, they also learn English. How confusing! I am amazed at how well they do speak English, but sometimes they say some pretty cute things. Here are two stories from this week!
-One day this week I was working with Sheila May on an assignment. After a few minutes she told me, “I am so confusing!” (meaning she was so confused) -This week we started our second annual reading challenge. The kids all have a goal of books or pages to read by the middle of August. If they all make their goals, some pretty funny things will happen to Uncle Paul, Uncle Joel, and Uncle Andrew. All of the kids are reading like crazy! They pull out books during every spare minute at school and walk down the hallways reading books. Jenive came up to me after the first day and said, “Teacher Tammy, I borrowed my sister’s watch and I alarmed it for 4 am.” She had actually gotten up at 4 o’clock so that she could read…amazing! At the rate the kids are reading, Uncle Paul, Uncle Joel, and Uncle Andrew have no chance at winning the contest! Hooray for reading!! |
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