Today was another breakthrough! Today fifty high-school students came to Villa to volunteer for the week and to stay in our on-site ‘hotel.’ The hotel is where I’m at during a lot of my free time since it has fans and wifi. But anywho; I will say that I was skeptical about all of them coming, but it actually opened my eyes a little. Since I am one of the only gringas here, I introduced myself to everyone and let them know that I could help with anything. We played soccer (Hondurans and myself versus them) and I saw how excited they were to be helping out for the week. I became filled with their fervor.
I guess I got a little discouraged after being sick and most of the other gringas leaving to go back home. But today the high-school kids looked up to me because I was committing myself to such an experience. They’ll leave in a week, but I will be here teaching every day for 21 days after that. How lucky am I? They also gave me a free shirt; Wohoo New Jersey!
So after reading to the kids, I went home for the night and started planning out a week’s-worth of activities for my classes. And something that I realized was that what my Honduran children want most are things that are tangible. So from now on I will be bringing as many props, worksheets, and crayons to class as possible to keep them engaged. When they were coloring, they were the happiest kids alive. Now if only I can get them to hold a card above their head with a letter from the alphabet… I’ll let you know how it goes!
Another awesome thing that happened today was that a family came into Villa wanting to talk to Kelly (an SHH employee). She called me over and said that they lived a town over and wanted to learn English. So I told them that we could meet every Tuesday and Thursday after my other classes for an hour. So I’m teaching adults now, too. And they’re bringing their friends. Who would have thought? I guess I’m going to be pretty busy down here. :)
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