Things Are Happening!

What an uncharacteristically productive week I had this week! 

 To piggy back off the post about all the emotions I've been known to experience on a daily basis, there are also times were I am certainly NOT into teaching.  This was not one of those weeks.

I actually co-planned with my counterpart at the end of last week and spent many hours preparing visuals for our lessons.  (I love to make visuals, especially since I have brand new QUALITY markers--thanks Mom & Dad!)  Dinah and I taught our lessons together and it went super well.  It was easy to let our success in the classroom fire up my passion for teaching.  Even though the kids were completely engaged in my activities, I think they're still having trouble understanding me at times... but we're making progress together!  (Anything will be better than their grades from the first grading period this year... terrible!)  

I'm really enjoying Dinah's class ("Diamond"), which is the class I work with the most.  It's so nice to see kids on a daily basis so I can actually get to know them and vice versa.  The novelty of the 'new American teacher' has worn off a lot with them so they're not constantly surrounding my desk to stare at me or asking me what my favorite color is.  Don't get me wrong, I still catch some kids staring at me occasionally, but I'm  not nearly as distracting to them anymore.  

Part of our lessons this week involved some vocabulary from a story in their books.  It's very rare, I've noticed, for the kids to get anything other than a word definition (usually above their comprehension level) to help them understand a new word.  My goal has been to make visuals so the kids can actually understand these new words.  One of their new words was "shabby".  After reading the definition, I looked around the room to find something that was "shabby".  (Maybe I shouldn't have, but) I picked up a kid's backpack that had fallen apart and was stitched back together.  "This bag is shabby", I said.  "Who else has something that is shabby?"  At that moment, almost every kid was holding something in the air saying, "this ____ is shabby"!  It was such a funny, but proud moment.  With the definition only, they had no idea what it meant, but with one concrete example, they all understood.  Plus, later in the week, I was at my desk cutting cardboard to make flashcards and some of the students had crowded around to watch.  One of the girls picked up my worn out ruler with the sales tag all gross looking, and said "Ma'am Melissa, your ruler is shabby!"  I cracked up!  They learned something!

I think I've mentioned before that I am trying to start a "Book Buddies" program to improve the reading abilities (currently non-existent) in some grade 2 pupils.  I want to match them up with a grade 5 pupil and have them meet on Saturday mornings to work together.  It'll give the grade 2 kids some 1-on-1 instruction and we'll, hopefully, make it fun, too!  Anyway, it's been in the works for a while but this week my proposal was finally approved!! I also sent out parental permission letters and we're planning to start training the tutors this week!  I'm thinking we'll do 2 weeks of training then we'll start having Saturday morning sessions together with the grade 2 kids.

My second, and much bigger, more exciting piece of news, is that I finished my library proposal and also had that approved by my supervisor!!  FINALLY!  So my budget and everything is finished and the next step will be to finish the grant application which will be sent to the Peace Corps.  After about a month of editing and revisions (to be suggested by our grant committee), my project will go up online to be funded!  This feels like such a huge step in the process and although I realize there's still a long way to go, I feel good about what has happened already! :) 

Yesterday, Hunter and I attended a joint birthday party for some of her host family members.  So fun!

Lechon!

Hunter and me with the birthday boy!

Hanging out with Ate Janet

Fooooooood!  

Missing this kind of food is definitely one of the down sides to living by yourself...

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, Ate Janet is pregnant!! I think she's only about 2 months along but we're super excited since we'll still be here for the birth of the new baby!  

If it's going to be natural, Hunter and I have already been invited to attend the home birth...

This little sassy pants was the center of attention for a while.  She was dancing all out to every song.

When she arrived at first, she ran right over to Hunter, all excited to see her.  Hunter gave me the "I have no idea who this is" face (which we exchange quite often) so I asked the little girl her name.  

Her: "YOU DON'T REMEMBER MY NAME?!?!?!?"  

Me: "I've never met you!  Do you know my name?"

Her (shyly): "No..."

She told us her name is Stacy and she started talking to Hunter about some cartoon she had been watching.  Stacy to Hunter: "Do you speak English?"

Everyone around us starts cracking up

Hunter: "Konti lang..." ("only a little" in Tagalog)

A couple minutes later, Stacy asks Hunter another question and Hunter must have taken too long to answer because Stacy said, "It's OK, you have nose bleed!"

We cracked up!

**"Nose bleed" is what Filipinos say (and cover their mouths) when they can't think of how to say something in English.

What a sassy pants!