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Published: March 13th 2013
Where am I?????
Do you remember me telling you about the guy who walked with us to our apartment last night? Well, I ran into him on my way to the bus stop this morning. We started chatting and he ensured me that the #27 bus went to the terminal HD (which is where I needed to go). #27 just happened to be the bus that he was taking as well (no small coincidence). So, we got on the bus together and chatted until it his stop. It was only after this that I really studied the map and learned that this bus did NOT go to the terminal HD! Great!!! L I got off at the last stop because I had to get off there. I was in the middle of nowhere and it was freezing cold outside. I walked to the nearest bus stop and realized that the bus I needed to get to Jane’s school also started at this stop. Fantastic! But, I was still going to be late because I was in the middle of nowhere. I sent Jane a text and she said not to worry because the first class would just be observation
for me anyway. The #12 came quickly and I was only about 8 minutes late for the lesson I would observe. I figured out how to use the call box to get into the school and a teacher took me to Jane’s classroom. I sat with her while a student teacher did some activities with the children. One of them was the Dominoes activity that Sara Okello demonstrated at MITESOL. So, I thought it was neat to see the students do it in person.
After this, the freshmen piled into the classroom and said hello to me as the entered. It was time for MY show! I decided last night to do a jigsaw activity. The students are talking about how they spend money in their lesson this week. I separated them into groups of 3 and had them write the top ten ways they spend their money. Then they were put into 3 groups to make a collaborative list. After this, 3 students from those groups wrote their top 3 answers on the board. We compared their answers to the list I found on a website and they had listed half of that site’s top ten. They
told me that the reason they did not list things like music and video games were that they illegally downloaded them for free instead of spending money on them. This made sense to me.
I told them to get out pieces of paper to take notes and talked for about 5 minutes about my first job. Then I had them write the answers to 10 questions I made up on the fly and had them submit the answers to me. As homework, I asked them to write 8-10 sentences explaining how they spend their money and another 8-10 sentences explaining how they would spend $1,000,000. I asked them if they had ever heard the song “If I had a million dollars” and they said they hadn’t. I asked them to write down the title and that The Bare Naked Ladies sang the song. They really loved the band’s title. They need to listen to it on Youtube as part of their homework. Jane told me that she was very happy with the lesson and that she is looking forward to seeing what I will do for the next lesson.
Then, it was time to go to
the next school to meet Katka for the first time. I took a nice walk to the bus stop, but walked too far. So, I took some nice photos of the city while I walked. I made it to the bus stop with a few minutes to spare and Katka was waiting for me when I arrived at her school. Like Jane, she is wonderful and extremely welcoming. Her middle school is really big! The English room comes equipped with a smartboard. I observed two of her classes and only gave a brief introduction at the beginning of each class. Katka has an excellent connection with her students and it makes me nervous to take over because I have a lot to live up to. After the two sessions, we went back to her office and chatted for a while. Like Jane, she said that it was fine if Ava came to the classes with me if I am unable to find a kindergarten for her. This was a real relief! And it is also nice because the school is right around the corner from my apartment.
When I got home, I helped mom clean our room and
updated you with the last three blogs. Ahhh… I’m up-to-date on my blogs. Now, it’s time to write lesson plans and them most likely go to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight. I hope everything is going well in the U.S. and that all of you are also doing well. Enjoy the photos!
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Pastor Carl
non-member comment
Wo!
You guys do get around! Tell your Mom I was at the Gaylord hospital for a surgical visit. Stopped in to see if she was there and that's how I found out she's retired! Some sister, doesn't even tell me (ha, ha!). You guys keep safe. Very interesting to read your adventures.