18. Teaching and ¨"The Scare"

Written on 10/11/12

This may have been my favorite day yet!!! First off, because the date is in numerical order!! Secondly, I love my new high school students…so far!! Thirdly, I had a great time talking to my parents in town this afternoon! Ultimately, because I had caused a “international emergency” without lifting a finger!

I teach three English classes each Tuesday and Thursday to the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th graders. They are bundles of energy and laughter. While I made sure to assert myself first thing with a speech and discipline regulations, we had our share of giggles.

Here was my first lesson plan ever:
            Objective: Introduce me and see what they know
            Schedule: Prayer…in Spanish (they were impressed)
                                  Introduction/Speech
                                  Communication Evaluation (I brought each kid up front and had a conversation with them)
                                   Vocab Evaluation/Game (I pointed to something and a person from each team had to run to the front with the answer)
                                  Homework Assignment (Translate 10 words)
                                   Prayer



My nicer classroom



I would have done a few things differently. But…I felt quite confident on the first day. Plus, being able to teach the exact same classes three times in a row (because each class knows the same amount of English) gives me room to improve on the second and third classes. I look forward to next class…even if there is only so much you can teach them in the 1 month left of school.

In the afternoon, I got to go back to town for the third day this week!! However, I was feeling much better so I could enjoy myself and talk to my parents for a while. It was great to see their faces and we talked for exactly 1 hour 0 minutes and 11 seconds. A new record!

The main thing we talked about was “the scare”.

So, apparently, the world though Chad and I were being assassinated while Chad and I were oblivious. Chad’s father received a mysterious, and quite ominous, Skype message at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. It read, “n.help”. A little later, another message reading, "Urgent", was sent. Now, if your son is in a different country, I would have freaked out too.

Being responsible parents, Chad’s dad and my mom went into Mission Impossible mode and contacted the world to find out if we were okay. I am not exaggerating in the slightest. They contacted the police, hotels, GMI, Southern Adventist University, and I am surprised the United Nations was not contacted either. My mom is Super Woman when it comes to contacting people. It must be here secretary ingenious…not to mention the fact that she is Portuguese…and proud of it!!!

Eventually, I was able to Skype and prove that we were okay, but it took them almost a whole day to contact us due to our primitive living conditions. Chad was mortified when we told him the news that night. We still don’t know how that happened.

What a day!!

**Keep adventurizing!...I know I will!**

My not-so-nice classroom...but it works.