Teaching English

(From Amy)

Today was my first attempt at teaching English with the girls. Everything went better than expected, but it was challenging! I have been studying about the Total Physical Response (TPR)method of learning English and it has really improved my teaching skills. We do a lot of movement and learning through doing. I was really pleased with this new method and look forward to seeing good results! All of the girls were having fun and enjoying learning English. Whenever I come to see them they ask, "will pi (older sister) Amy teach English today?" It makes me happy to hear they are excited to learn. There are several girls that are really enjoying it and others that aren't too enthusiastic. Most of the girls are eager to communicate so they will try hard to learn English. It was a joy to watch them learning and "doing" today during class. I hope that every class is this fun and exciting, but I won't expect too much yet.

Teaching English is always harder than it sounds. I thought it would be so easy coming into it, but I have come to find that teaching your own native language is actually quite complicated. Because I have been speaking it for almost 23 years it makes it rather difficult to explain why I say the things I say. That is why I like to TPR method of teaching. Lots of movement, not much writing.

Please pray that God will give me creative ways to introduce new concepts and vocabulary. Also pray for patience as I am working with a very broad range of ages here (between 4 and 15 years). My hope is that through listening and doing they will begin to understand the language as a whole. I also hope to be a godly influence and show them Christ's love.