Wednesday, January 20

Today I had my kids write lines saying they would respect me and their classmates when we are talking by listening. This came about because of what they wrote about: talking when I was talking and talking when their classmates were asking questions. I remind them if they want their question to be heard or want others to listen to them when they talk, they need to listen when others are talking, including me. So that was fun. We also finished our oral reading tests today and when they’re not reading out loud to me they can read books I got from the library. Since we started that, when they have free time after tests or something, they usually pull out a book and start reading. It’s so awesome to see that because hopefully their reading skills as well as English will be improved. I also found out this morning that one of our students parents had died the day before; he was shot and was involved in the drug business. This was crazy to me; I guess I was just naïve to think that our kids’ lives aren’t like that. I know some kids here are poor, but those who have money don’t always get it by reputable means. So Julia had to go to the funeral, which was quite an experience for her to see one of her third graders just shut down with his dad now gone. It just makes me realize that I can really make a difference in some of these kids lives so they hopefully they don’t get mixed up in that way of life. I trust that the things they learn, the examples and models they see in the teachers and in the administration will be something God uses to keep them on the straight and narrow and dream of something more. We did our town run today again with Rodrigo in the truck; no nasty turpentine stuff spilling this time! On the way up he and Jacki were talking about the differences between different Latin American’s attitudes; like Hondurans, Guatemalans and El Salvadorans are this way, Costa Ricans are this way, Puerto Ricans are this way, etc. It was really interesting and funny to hear what Rodrigo had to say about all the different places and entertaining conversation for the ride up the mountain.