Where you go, I will go; where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people for your God is my God.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Spelling, English and Learning.

Lunch is cooking again.  Seems like that is pretty much always the case when I sit down to write.  Morning chores finished, lunch on its way to being done, and wondering when the man will be home. 

These moments are ones that I often find myself with pen in hand, journal and bible open in front of me.   I have never been disciplined enough to spend time in quietness first thing in the morning.  My mind gets distracted too quickly with the to-do list for the day.  Laundry started before the sun is high and warm, quick trips to the produce stand, and that sort of thing.  But these quite moments before lunch and then again in the evening, are precious, reviving the soul. 

My days are busy now.  Well I should say *busier*.  They are still far from busy, but rather full and joy filled.  Since school has started back up, I have been teaching English classes more frequently.  I teach 4-5 times a week in the late afternoons.  The average age of the class is 7-years-old, and the majority are male.  There has not been a boring class yet! Between answering questions like “How do you say, "’His apple makes me want to puke?!’”  and “How do you say ‘I dare you to kiss her?’” I think they are actually learning something. 

I am as well.  Anyone who knows me knows about my lack of spelling skills. They have greatly improved over the past few years, but they are still not where they should be.   Normally this is not too much of an issue thanks to things like spell check.  But when you are teaching your language to someone else, you *should*  be able to spell words correctly.  Each class I have a time for questions.  The other day one of the boys asked to say “parrot”  in English. I told him, then dictated letter by letter as he wrote it in his notebook.  One of the older students looked at me funny and questioned, “Then what does p-a-r-r-o-t spell?”  I looked down at how I had told the other boy to spell “parrot” and realized it was misspelled.  Go figure.  So Mexican children are teaching me to spell in English.  Lovely.  Like I said we are all learning :) 

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