Quickly, pinch me, I have to be dreaming because this dream is too good to be true. You see, in this dream, I wake up every morning, walk down a dirt street with people yelling Oh Brunei(white person), walk across a wooden plank with the sewer right underneat it, and come to AIS where I have my own classroom and my own students.
Wait a minute, you don't have to pinch me because this indeed is reality. Most days it does feel like a dream because I have worked towards receiving a teaching degree and to actually have my own classroom for so long and that day is finally here. After a week of teaching, I can still say that I love reaching out to my students each day as it is not just a job to me but a passion and a way to serve my Lord and Savior. I will try to recap the week as best as I can. It has been a whirlwind!
Was I nervous on the first day? I actually was very calm, I know God gave that to me because that is normally not me! I brought in the students and helped them put their school supplies away while they colored bookmarks. They were very quiet until one student asked, "Are you going to tell us your name?" I was going to wait for a formal introduction after the bookmarks but I should have said my name right away. I pronounced my name and broke it down in syllables for them so after a week they are now getting better at saying it. At first, some of them wanted to call me Miss S. or even by my first name!(happened to my sister also) However, I told them that they will call me Miss Sopcisak out of respect. Respect is an issue we are still trying to handle in the room but we will get there. I believe that it is my job to teach academics but also to teach life skills and morals. The rest of the day went well and I wasn't even too tired by the end of it! I always have a lot of work to do after school especially picking up my room since I find paper everywhere.
Disclaimer real quick: If anything I describe doesn't portray the best teaching practices, I apologize as I am trying my best. However, please don't blame my professors at college because they did model great teaching strategies.
Anways, day 2. I forgot a little bit about still reminding them all about the routines and helping them practice them. I then got them back on track with this which helped. I love teaching because it is a constant thinking game. You can never stop processing what is going on or you will lose control. I have one boy who just moved here from the states. He struggled on Monday at the end of the day and on Tuesday, his feelings showed right away in the morning. I took him in the hallway and talked to him and told him how we can make it through together as I am new also. He has such a great faith in God so I told him that and then explained to him that he is here for a purpose in this class. Some of the kids in class don't know the Lord so this boy has the opportunity to share his faith in God with others. I can't tell you exactly all I said but it was definitely not me speaking to him as it was God using me to comfort him. It was an amazing moment and helped me realize that I need to take every opporunity to show God's love to these children especially ones who are adjusting to the new culture. I then prayed for the boy and we returned back to class to start the day.
I have some who will test my patience but the director is very supportive and I am learning how to love on these students while setting limits. Since this is public, I cannot talk too much about my students but I do want to continue to share joy spots in my teaching.
Wednesday was amazing because it was chapel day! I was almost in tears watching the students sing praises to God through song(even the shark song, one of my favorites!). This made me see how universal God's church is as these children do come from very different backgrounds. Not all of the students are Christians so please pray that they can see Christ through the teachers and other students so they will feel God's love in action.
Bible time is a joy each day as I have a chance to share about Christ with my students. To be honest, I never saw myelf teaching in a Christian school because Christ needs to be in public schools. However, at this school, not everyone is a Christian as we have all religions represented. I can bring up God whenever I can although I don't want to overdo it. The kids have just great questions and I want to answer them because you never know what the Lord says through me to help the students see Christ.
I can't believe but I have actually survived a week. God is definitely good and I am going back for week two! I can already see the students improving with routines and listening to my directions. Friday, we made flowers out cookies, marshmallows, sticks, plantain chips, and bugles. Try to pick out which ingredient was used for what. Okay, I had to be a little creative here but the kids are adaptable. I then made them label the parts of a flower and write the use of each one. Some of them told me that last year when they made sheep out of marshmallows they didn't have to write about them but I made sure they knew that this was second grade and they are big kids who can write more. Oh, there is never a dull moment! Sorry this isn't the best blog but I had to write a lot this week. I promise they will be better and more often.
One last thing, yesterday night we were invited to a family's house for dinner. Please don't think ahead of me because you don't understand. All of the staff members and faculty members were invited so when we drove into the gate, we saw two blue and white tents set up in their court yard. Their were long tables set up in a square formation that could seat 60 people. The tables were emaculently set with more utensils than I needed and nice comfortable chairs. The food was catered from a Chinese Restaurant and was of course superbe. Now one rule you learn to follow hear is when you are offered free delicious food, you never turn it down and you take more than you should because you never know when you will have free delicious food again. It is a good rule of thumb to follow and has worked well so far. Anyways, they also had a videographer and a photographer during the entire event along with a DJ playing great Christian music. If you are going to throw a party you might as well throw a party! The couple talked on the microphone and told about how they did not have much growing up so now that they do own a company with 2500 workers, they thank God for the opportunity to treat people well and share His message. They told us that it isnt enough to just pay their dues to the school and send their children to AIS but they want to reach out to the teachers to let them know how appreciative they are of our services. What an amazing family! It made me realize that my job at AIS is important becauswe I never know who I will be impacting. I have never been to a party quite like that but again this be Ghana! Again, sorry for the kind of lame blog. I promise they will be better in the future.
Thank you for all of you who are reading my blogs, it helps me be motivated to write them . Thank you also to those who have given financially to AIS and myself. I will be sending an e-mail hopefully soon with an update just in case you don't check the blog but I guess you won't know that unless you check the blog. Also thank you for the prayers and thoughts, l couldn't be here without you all! Thank you also to all of my professors becaue I would probably be pulling out my hair without your guidance. I will keep you posted of week 2! Enjoy the weekend and what the Lord has given us!
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