Dia del Nino-The Day of the Child

The past few weeks of school have been great. Our kinder kids have finally started to calm down. Part of this is due to them becoming more familair and comfortable with school. However, Amanda and I have also begun incorporating things like 'how to push in your chair' and 'how to walk in a line' into our lessons. At first, it felt silly doing this but I guess someone has to teach them! It's been great seeing the changes in our students. Check out Amanda Bruin's blog at http://amandaatdestino.blogspot.com/2009/09/past-few-weeks.html. She has a great post about one of our students, Michelle. Michelle was one of our biggest troublemakers, especially during the first week of school but her behavior has really turned around. Read about her. It will make you smile!

Prepa(kindergarten), and Primero(first grade) are also doing well. The students in Primero know quite a few English vocabulary words and we've begun to teach them short phrases such as "My name is..." and "I am 7 years old." Most of them love English class and are very enthusiastic. On Monday we introduced a new phrase, "May I go to the bathroom?" We have a student, Marvin, who always has an amazing attitude and really wants to please us. When we introduce a new phrase Bruin and I have the entire class repeat the phrase together and then ask if anyone would like to try saying the phrase by themselves. Marvin immediately raised his arm, he was so excited to try out the phrase he was about to jump out of his seat. So we call on him and he proudly exclaimed, "My name is bathroom!" I tried so hard not to laugh, but I failed. Thankfully when I explained to him what he said he thought it was pretty funny too.

Marvin

A couple weeks ago we celebrated the Honduran holiday called Dia del Nino. This is a day for celebrating children which means that during lunch we went to the playground, ate cake, and busted a pinata! It was a great day!

Diana and Josefa, the Honduran Preschool and Kindergarten teachers!

Jasmine enjoying the playground! Prepatoria(Kindergarten)

During Primero(1st grade) we decided to make class fun and teach the kids about American culture, so we taught them to play Simon Says. It's actually a great way to teach the kids verbs. A great time was had by all!

Josue and Ana, Primero(First Grade)

A Honduran Snow Day

It’s a teacher’s(and students) dream. You’re reading over the next day’s lesson plans and realize you have a few materials to prepare. However, you just don’t feel like it! The day thus far has been spent on others and the last thing you want to do now is work some more! As you begin to brainstorm possible ways to procrastinate you receive a phone call. No class tomorrow because of snow!
A similar situation played out last night and today I enjoyed a relaxing Honduran snow day. At about 7:00 I was sitting in my room looking over the next days lesson plans when my roommates and I received a call that classes at Destino del Reino were canceled for Tuesday. Of course, we really don’t have snow days in Honduras, the country is too close to the equator for snow. However, we do have an interesting political situation and this was the cause of the canceled classes.
If you haven’t been following the situation in Honduras here’s a couple articles to fill you in.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/09/22/honduras.embassy/index.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0922/p90s04-woam.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8268056.stm

We’re fine and so far, this hasn’t dramatically affected our lives here in Siguatepeque. A 6pm- 7am curfew was placed on the country yesterday and was extended to 6pm today. However, you wouldn’t know it in my nieghborhood. People are out and about, all the pulperias(corner stores) are open, and I didn’t see one policeman or military official all day. Of course, it could have been very different at the center of town. There’s a rumor that the electricity might be turned off but so far, we have power. The main impact of the coup(or is it really a coup?) is that I didn’t go to work today and spent it hanging out with my roommates. Time well spent. We just got the call that classes will be canceled tomorrow and that the curfew has been extended. I kind of hope we’d go, I like my students. At least I’ll have plenty of time to update my blog and upload pictures. I've been taking some videos of my students and other things of interest and hope to get some of them up to!
Pray that this time remains peaceful for all of Honduras and that classes resume quickly.

The Teaching Life

I wrote this letter for a Sunday School class that is is supporting me. It provides an overview of what I'm dong so I thought everyone might enjoy it.


Dear Upper Room Sunday School Class of 1st Christian Church,
I want to thank you for supporting my year of service in Honduras. It's hard to believe that I've almost been here a month! Five Americans are serving as teachers at Destino del Reino this year. Zoe Tolson from Augusta, Georgia, Amanda Bruin from Falmouth, KY, Nathaniel and Mallori Diener from Granger, Indiana and myself. Amanda Bruin and I have known each other since middle school and I found out about Destino through her. We are co-teaching English as a Second Language in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Zoe taught at Destino last spring and speaks Spanish so she is a great help and has made the adjustment to living in Honduras much smoother. She teaches ESL in 2nd and 3rd grade. Nathaniel is teaching physical education, and Mallori is teaching music and english in 4th and 5th grade. They also work with another ministry in Siguatepeque that plants churches throughout Honduras.






The Destino English Teachers, Mallori, Zoe, Myself, Amandan Bruin



Our first two weeks in Honduras were spent in training sessions. I'm so glad we had the time to adjust to living in a new environment and culture before classes started! September 1 was the first day of school. Approximately 27 students are in each grade and the Destino school currently has preschool to 5th grade. A new grade is added each year. It's been difficult to learn 85 new names but I am slowly starting to remember. The first week for first grade and kindergarten was spent reviewing the basics such as the english alphabet, counting in English and basic vocabulary. The first week in preschool was quite different. Before we can teach them anything the preschoolers need to learn to sit and listen. Many of Destino's students come from small mountain villages and have been given quite a bit of responsibility at a young age or have grown up with little structure or discipline. When you place these kids in a classroom with two teachers who barely speak any spanish(Bruin and I) things can get hectic. It's probably a good thing that I'm teaching kindergarten and first grade too because it reminds me that eventually....all the preschoolers will master listening and sitting in their chairs. Then we'll be able to teach them some English.




Lunchtime with Preschool







Kindergarteners coloring.




Destino del Reino consists of a children’s home and church in addition to the school. Construction on a medical clinic is currently underway and the ministry also plans VBS and other ministry projects for local villages. Three of my students are Destino kids, Sammy in preschool, and Jonathan and Josue in first grade. You can learn more about Destino by visiting their website. http://www.destinodelreino.org/ddr/home Be sure to read about how Destino was founded.





Sammy, a preschooler, and I.