... Four Months Later

It is almost incomprehensible how quickly time has passed over the last few months. And, if I may be cliche, it seems like only yesterday that myself and the rest of the orientees were sitting in a classroom bleary-eyed, sleep deprived, and hungover from jet lag. Now four months later it is time for some members to depart from our midst. When it comes to good-byes, there are usually so many things that I feel should be said, but when it comes down to it, thank you is really all there is to say. Thank you for being a part of my life and thank you for letting me be a part of yours. 'Til we meet again.

On a happier note, here is a couple of pictures of my middle school students. In America, most teachers would probably consider being mimicked by students to be insolent and disrespectful behavior. However when teaching ESL, that is the major mode of learning. Listening and Repeating. Sounds simple enough and it is until...

The room is filled with 38 children happily chattering away. I attempt to get there attention by any means available to me. This is a little of the dialogue that takes place.

Round 1

Teacher: Please be quiet
Students: Please be quiet

Teacher: No talking
Students: No talking

Teacher: (puts finger against mouth) Shhh
Students: (puts finger against mouth) Shhh

Teacher: helpless and frustrated laughter
Students: devilish grins and snickers (they know what they are doing)

Round 2: see Round 1

Yeah, I am still working on that one.




This picture is on here just because I told Joel that it was going on the blog.

One final note, if you would like to see some pictures from the Ablaze Summit that our team attended over Thanksgiving, visit Chris's blog http://macauchris.blogspot.com He is a super photographer.