Friday, April 13, 2012
Praying Warriors
This week went so fast, and I loved these kids! They
sucked up love like sponges, claiming hugs, high fives, and lots of attention.
Thursday this week was especially special, so I thought I’d share it with you.
A Day at CEI: Thursday
Sleeping in an upstairs room to avoid allergy issues, I
had a quiet room all to myself. It was great, except, I had forgotten my alarm
clock. I prayed that I would wake up in time. Of course, God kept his end of the deal, and I
awoke ready and rested at 6:45. I didn’t have the morning class, so I took my
time taking a shower, reading my Bible, and getting ready for the day.
At a few minutes until 8, I headed up to the office. I
still had a few things to prepare before my 8:50 class on musical instruments.
This is the second time I have taught this class, and it still needs some
creative ideas. The Master Teacher gave me an idea to have the children play Pictionary.
They really enjoyed it, even though it was hard.
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| Wish I had that on video! |
With a “1, 2, 1,2, 1,2, 1, thank you teacher, 1, break
time” the children were out on break time. I hurried to set up my computer in
the classroom. I wanted the special sound effects on my PC. One of the girls, came
up to talk to me. She whispered quietly in my ear. Though I knew some of the words,
I didn’t know enough to put the thought together, so I took her to the office
to find a translator. Instead of telling me what she said, the translator
helped the girl tell me, two or three words at a time, what she wanted to say
in English. “Teacher, I’m sorry. Yesterday, I talked to my classmates and not
attention. Will you forgive me?” “I love you *A, of course I forgive you.” With
a hug to seal the restitution, she skipped off to the classroom. How sweet!
This is the first time I’ve had a student personally apologize for their
behavior in class- and she was not the one I would have picked out as naughty.
I blew the whistle, and the children started trickling in
the classroom. We played the clapping game to get everyone attentive and on the
same page, and then I jumped into the powerpoint. It is fun to click on the instrument
to make it sing and watch the kids’ faces. They know them in Chinese, so they
just have to learn it in English. Then we played Pictionary. At the end of
class, they wrote “I want to play the _____” and drew a picture of the
instrument. They are very good artists!
After break, I returned to my desk to do projects. I worked
on a current Bible study and wrote up a lesson plan for the English teacher’s
file. We also had a meeting to practice music for the TESOL retreat coming up.
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| rope juggling |
Of course, every forty minutes, the students call us to
come play with them. Sometimes, they help me take pictures, or they ask me to
turn a jump rope, or they show me their juggling skills. This week, the boys were rope jugglers and the girls were
block jugglers. They could put on quite a show!
Lunch time came quickly. This week, I’m eating my own
lunches so I can eat fresh fruits and vegetables. I went to my apartment to fix
food and quickly decided I would eat in the office. It has gotten hot, making
our room very humid- about like walking into a spa. If I eat in the office, I
usually work. Today, that is good, because I have to leave work early in the
evening, so make-up hours are good.
Following lunch, I did some writing. Then, at 2:10, the
English teachers went to the fourth floor to put together some tables. Next week
is a double camp week, and we needed a few extra tables, desks, and such like.
Our team leader volunteered us to put the tables together because we are less
busy than the Chinese teachers. It was work, as the legs had to be tapped into
place and then screwed in with a hexagon screw driver only long enough for our
fingertips. It took Jo and I the rest of the work day to put just two tables
together, and the other two teachers put two desks together.
Every Thursday that we have children, we have interviews.
The children are split into three groups, and practice the character they
learned this week by interviewing people. They practice confidence,
responsibility, gratefulness, attentiveness, and positive perspective by being
polite, asking questions, thanking their interviewee, and working together as a
team. Us English teachers get to dress up and act out various fun roles for the
kids. This week, Jo and I were carpenters putting the tables together. ;)
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| I THOUGHT I got the ukulele for the KIDS. Oh well. ;) |
This day has flown! At five o’clock on the dot Susanna
and I leave for our music lessons in ChiaYi. The lessons went well, despite the
interruption of a 7 second earthquake in the middle of class. Praise the Lord for
His safety! For a few weeks, I have thought about getting a violin for the
children to play, as they always want to play mine. Usually I don’t mind, but
they are hard on instruments and I don’t know enough Chinese to communicate my
rules with them. I opted for a Ukulele
instead. I can pick one up for really cheap and it will withstand the children
a little better.
We took the 7:50 train back home, arriving about 8:45.
Thursday nights are the nights we sing to the children a “good night” song.
Well, except this week. They were asleep before we got the chance! So I headed
to my fourth floor room at 9:30 to take a shower, read my Bible, and crawl into
bed. I fell asleep praying…
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