Dear Friends and Family,

Once again, it's been too long since I have posted! I've included individual shots of each of the kids, and a few more pictures of my classroom. Pictures of the school and the kids doing activities for Outdoor Education Week will be coming late next week. Thanks for reading!

A view of my classroom during Friday free-time.
The front...

And another view!

This is Pablo - he's one of my mischievous boys! He loves to answer and talk...and has a pretty amazingly loud voice! :)

This is Jenny - she is one of my chatty/struggles to focus girls! She loves to participate in math - and today, she said a whole sentence in English! She was here last year, but she is slower to speak/remember English than some of the other kids.

This is Elaine - she's one of my highest students in math, and speaks really good English as well!

This is Jaquidys - she is the daughter of the high school math teacher here, and is one of my highest students - she loves to come visit after school and be my helper while her dad has planning time!

This is Dorisbel - she is new to Doulos this year, and came from the United States.

David is a new student to Doulos - he is very bright, and is learning so much English, although it is still a huge struggle for him! He told me at the beginning of the year, "Profe (what so many kids call me!), yo no hablo ingles -necesita hablar en Espanol!" (I don't speak English, you need to speak in Spanish!) - I tried to explain that he was here to learn English, and that's why I had to speak in that language! Not that he would understand me any better if I tried to speak my broken Spanish!

Jocabed - another student who is new to Doulos! She is very loving, but hard to engage in the classroom! I think she's starting to shut down because she cannot understand...I need to start some tutoring to help with that!

This is Melisa - she's the best English-speaker in my class. She's fluent in Creole (her family is Haitian), Spanish and English. She always raises her hand to answer every question - she'll make an answer up on the spot if she doesn't know!!

Denisse - she's another one of my new students. She's really been flourishing the last few weeks, and has made a lot of friends - she is really quick at memorizing, and I think she'll be one of my higher students in all subjects once she starts understanding English more!

Frenesi is a really sweet girl (sounds generic...but she really is!) - she was at Doulos last year, and know quite a lot of English, although she's usually pretty quiet!

Marky - he is one of my huggers! He was at Doulos last year, and he is extremely bright! His English keeps getting better and better as the year goes on.

Katherine - she is one of my artistic students - she always takes more time to color or draw pictures than other students, because she is spending so much time doing it perfectly! She is one of my better English-speakers.

So, that's a synopsis of the children in my class - I did get a new student, Layshah (she moved up from kindergarten) who I have not been able to take a picture of yet. That will be coming with my next round of pics! Thanks for looking!

Blessings,

Erica

A few pictures...

Dear Family and Friends,

Here are a few pics of the kids in my class! I haven't been able to get an entire class shot yet - when I tried, they somehow ended up in a pile on top of each other on the floor! (It's amazing how many things happen that I would not think to anticipate!) But, we got some good candid shots! I got individual photos of each child, and included a couple so you can start to put faces with names! Thanks for reading!

This is Weidy, the one I sent an email to pray about today. He is a wonderful kid, but comes from a rough family - which is often evident in his behavior.

This is Gelenita - she is one of my "can't stop moving" kids!! :) She went to Doulos last year, so she understands some English -but I think she's still rusty from the summer! So, it takes some creativity to communicate right now!

This is Roberly! He's adorable...but can be a handful in the classroom, as you know if you've been getting my emails! His new baby sister was born last week, so he's not an only child anymore! He seems to be adjusting well to that...and is doing SO much better in the classroom than he did the first week!

The kids doing puzzles and coloring during their Friday free-time!

David, Melisa and Jocabed - Melisa comes from a Haitian family, and she is fluent in Creole, Spanish and English. She's my biggest talker, and sometimes even translates for me! David and Jocabed are both new, and began the year knowing absolutely no English! But, they are picking more and more up as the weeks go by - it is a huge challenge not being able to communicate well with them.

Katherine, Frenesi, Jesus Miguel, and Denisse - Katherine and Frenesi are two of my students who are always on green (we have green-yellow-red behavior color system), and they speak English well. Denisse is a new student to Doulos - after a rough start (she went to the second grade classroom the first day by accident!), she's adjusting really well! And Jesus Miguel - any of you receiving emails have heard his name - he's one of my tougher students! He loves to move and do his own thing - he's the oldest of three boys, so he's used to calling the shots - he's still learning how he should behave in the classroom.

And, I will post some pictures of the different places I've gotten to visit on weekends later, as well as more pictures of my class and the school. We're having three days of Outdoor Education (September 30-October 2) where the kids will be studying different habitats and creating a worm home and a birdhouse - expect pictures of that!

Thanks so much for reading, and for your prayers!

Blessings,

Erica

First weeks of school...

The past few weeks have been extremely busy - as evidenced by my complete neglect of this blog! I will try to write a post weekly from now on!

I have almost finished three weeks of school. It has been more difficult than I could have anticipated - God has revealed (and continues to reveal!) things about myself that are not pretty - pride, selfishness, lack of trust in Him. All things that were always there - but which I have to face head-on during this experience.

I have 16 students in my classroom - six boys and ten girls. Eleven of them were here last year and know limited English, but most of them (except for about 3) are still pretty rusty in their English skills after speaking only Spanish all summer. Five of them are new to the school this year - two of the new kids speak English and three do not know any English - I had a lot of blank looks the first few days, and the three new children still struggle to follow what is going on in the classroom.

The first week was extremely difficult - I struggled to communicate with the students, and I struggled to understand that some of the "bad behaviors" I was seeing were simply a result of the students living in a more laid-back culture than I am used to. It is normal for students to do exactly what they want during the summer. They have very little structure in many of their homes, and so the structure needed in a classroom is completely foreign to them. All first graders need lots of time to learn routines/procedures in a classroom, but these children need even more time because of the difference in their culture, and because of the language barrier between us. It has gotten better, and I am learning through trial and error what works in my classroom.

Another challenge has been simply my selfish and prideful desire for perfection. I struggle with being so wrapped up in what others think of me and how they perceive me that I put that above simply loving the children. So, anything in the day that did not go perfectly (and there will always be lots of things!) made me question myself and feel angry. The Lord has really been showing me the depth of my own selfishness and pride, and that I need to let that go and allow Him to work through me to love these children, whether they behave well or poorly.

But, it truly is a good group of kids - they are usually very kind and encouraging to each other - and they like each other a lot! That's part of the difficulty I have managing them - they enjoy talking to each other so much, that they don't want to stop! :) When I have a more relaxed attitude and focus on just loving them, the days always go better. So, it's just a matter of daily casting my cares on God and allowing Him to work through me to love the children.

My home-stay has continued to go well - Yudi, Shanell and Alfida (Yudi's mother) are all very welcoming and it is easy to be a part of the household. Learning Spanish is not progressing as quickly as I want it to - but it is progressing! I am still looking for a tutor to help me practice and learn. I need the motivation of a tutor to get me to practice amidst all the other responsibilities that I have here! But, I also need to remember that the language learning process takes a lot of time - it will be months, not weeks, before I can begin to really communicate!

Thank you all so much for reading - and thanks for your prayers! I hope to post pictures of my classroom and students this weekend!

Blessings,
Erica