Just came in from yet another football (soccer) game with the boys...Probably the 20th game I've played since arriving (that is just a guess!). We laughed so much, it was hard to stop laughing to actually play!! How one could have so much fun goofing off during a football game? Only me and the boys seem to have figured it out!
These past two weeks have absolutely flown by. It is truly amazing how much the statement "time flies when you're having fun" rings true! I am having such a fantastic time...I cannot even begin to describe it. Carmel is truly my home away from home. These children amaze me each and every day that I am here. I began teaching two days ago (on Thursday) after the children had their quarterly exams and a 10-day quarterly holiday. I am teaching 4th-9th standard; in all, a total of over 300 students. In 5th standard alone, there are 88 students. That is my largest class and probably my most difficult! I am loving every minute of teaching these kids. They know so much and and are so much fun to teach. Never have I been so happy teaching as I am when teaching at Carmel Matriculation School.
God is using me in so many ways here and it has only been two weeks. So far I have done the following:
1. Taught a 5-day teacher training on strategies for teaching spoken English
2. Taught a 2-day spoken class for students in standards 5-9 at the hostel
3. Preached a sermon one Sunday
4. Led chapel each and every morning at 6:30; doing the message about 90% of the time
5. Played football with the boys almost every day
6. Acted as nurse multiple times; I am now a pro in giving first aid!
And that, I hope, is just the beginning. Backie and Freena also want me to lead a spoken class for some of the FKP sponsors here at the hostel in the evenings for 40 days. I think this would be a wonderful opportunity to use what I learned at LEI with the children. I look forward to using specifically those techniques that I learned for that class. I look forward to that class very much!!! I also would really love to start a Bible study with some of the older students; hopefully that will come in due time!
The thing that has most amazed me since I've arrived (and this is just one out of MANY) is the children's schedule. This is the schedule of any weekday (not Saturday or Sunday). On Saturdays, they have school until 3:00 and have an easy day (games, acitivities, playing outside, etc.). Here's what Monday-Friday looks like:
5:00am - Wake up (10th standard students wake up at 4am to study)
5-6:30am - Study
6:30-6:50am - Chapel (devotional time: praise songs and brief message)
6:50-7:15am - Morning duties (chores around the hostel)
7:15-8am - Prepare for school; wash, dress, etc
8-8:15am - Eat breakfast
8:15-9am - Finish preparing for school; study
9am - Leave for school
9:30-5:30 - School (hostel students are the last to leave school because they have to wait for the buses to finish taking home children)
5:30-5:45pm - Change clothes, afternoon duties
5:45-6:30pm - Play
6:30-8:15pm - Study
8:15-8:30pm - Eat dinner
8:30-9:30pm - Study
9:30pm - Go to bed (10th standard students go to bed at 10pm)
Yes. You are seeing correctly. On an average weekday, the children (these are kids ranging in age from 4 years old to 18 years old) get about 45 minutes each day to play. It is one of the most difficult things I have to do, when we have to stop playing at 6:30pm (sometimes 6:20) for them to go and study. These kids inspire me in every way. That is why I am here. I am here because they inspired me to be here.
It is like I said in my Sunday sermon, which I am quite proud of! On my first trip here, I experienced a special kind of love from the children. It was something that I had never quite experienced. I now see that it was God's love shining through precious beautiful faces of sweet and innocent children. The reason that I am here is to give that love back to them. To return it to them and give them even more!!! I am here to love these kids and to show them how much God loves them.
Praise God that I am off to a great start!!!
P.S. To all my family and friends, I'm sorry that it took so long for me to get up my first blog post! I am still waiting to get internet for my own laptop and am currently using Backie and Freena's. I promise pictures will come as soon as I get internet for my own laptop. (Backie and Freena's laptop does not have an SD card slot) Thank you for your prayers and support!!
These past two weeks have absolutely flown by. It is truly amazing how much the statement "time flies when you're having fun" rings true! I am having such a fantastic time...I cannot even begin to describe it. Carmel is truly my home away from home. These children amaze me each and every day that I am here. I began teaching two days ago (on Thursday) after the children had their quarterly exams and a 10-day quarterly holiday. I am teaching 4th-9th standard; in all, a total of over 300 students. In 5th standard alone, there are 88 students. That is my largest class and probably my most difficult! I am loving every minute of teaching these kids. They know so much and and are so much fun to teach. Never have I been so happy teaching as I am when teaching at Carmel Matriculation School.
God is using me in so many ways here and it has only been two weeks. So far I have done the following:
1. Taught a 5-day teacher training on strategies for teaching spoken English
2. Taught a 2-day spoken class for students in standards 5-9 at the hostel
3. Preached a sermon one Sunday
4. Led chapel each and every morning at 6:30; doing the message about 90% of the time
5. Played football with the boys almost every day
6. Acted as nurse multiple times; I am now a pro in giving first aid!
And that, I hope, is just the beginning. Backie and Freena also want me to lead a spoken class for some of the FKP sponsors here at the hostel in the evenings for 40 days. I think this would be a wonderful opportunity to use what I learned at LEI with the children. I look forward to using specifically those techniques that I learned for that class. I look forward to that class very much!!! I also would really love to start a Bible study with some of the older students; hopefully that will come in due time!
The thing that has most amazed me since I've arrived (and this is just one out of MANY) is the children's schedule. This is the schedule of any weekday (not Saturday or Sunday). On Saturdays, they have school until 3:00 and have an easy day (games, acitivities, playing outside, etc.). Here's what Monday-Friday looks like:
5:00am - Wake up (10th standard students wake up at 4am to study)
5-6:30am - Study
6:30-6:50am - Chapel (devotional time: praise songs and brief message)
6:50-7:15am - Morning duties (chores around the hostel)
7:15-8am - Prepare for school; wash, dress, etc
8-8:15am - Eat breakfast
8:15-9am - Finish preparing for school; study
9am - Leave for school
9:30-5:30 - School (hostel students are the last to leave school because they have to wait for the buses to finish taking home children)
5:30-5:45pm - Change clothes, afternoon duties
5:45-6:30pm - Play
6:30-8:15pm - Study
8:15-8:30pm - Eat dinner
8:30-9:30pm - Study
9:30pm - Go to bed (10th standard students go to bed at 10pm)
Yes. You are seeing correctly. On an average weekday, the children (these are kids ranging in age from 4 years old to 18 years old) get about 45 minutes each day to play. It is one of the most difficult things I have to do, when we have to stop playing at 6:30pm (sometimes 6:20) for them to go and study. These kids inspire me in every way. That is why I am here. I am here because they inspired me to be here.
It is like I said in my Sunday sermon, which I am quite proud of! On my first trip here, I experienced a special kind of love from the children. It was something that I had never quite experienced. I now see that it was God's love shining through precious beautiful faces of sweet and innocent children. The reason that I am here is to give that love back to them. To return it to them and give them even more!!! I am here to love these kids and to show them how much God loves them.
Praise God that I am off to a great start!!!
P.S. To all my family and friends, I'm sorry that it took so long for me to get up my first blog post! I am still waiting to get internet for my own laptop and am currently using Backie and Freena's. I promise pictures will come as soon as I get internet for my own laptop. (Backie and Freena's laptop does not have an SD card slot) Thank you for your prayers and support!!
Thankyou for remembering my carmel old days.....
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoying this trip in our village