May Day!

Some of the adorable preschoolers on campus. 

The end of another wonderful week...time flies! How is it May already??

Susan invited us to her school on Thursday evening for Stargazing Night. Susan teaches second grade at the Italian International School. She organized this great event for her class for the conclusion of their solar system unit. Molly, Kelsi, and I came along to offer some assistance with her thirty children (super adorable but quite a handful!). The event started off with a game of moon rock tag, then progressed into a jet propulsion experiment, an alien craft, and stargazing through Pastor Birner's telescope. Overall, Susan's hard work paid off, and the night was a huge success. The little children were so cute, and you can't beat their instant love and adoration, but I was exhausted after a few hours! Kelsi was in seventh heaven, though, and the kids flocked to her. Every time I looked at her, a child was hanging off of her or stroking her arm. Her future students are going to be very blessed!

On Friday (May Day - a holiday here) the three missionaries' wives, Molly, Kelsi, and I went to Jackal and Hyde for Lisa's birthday. This was our second time at this great restaurant/shop, and this occasion was equally as wonderful as the first. We browsed through their jewelry, purses, artwork, and textiles before and after a delicious lunch. It was a great treat to enjoy conversation and laughter by the beautiful garden, and we were thankful we were invited along to celebrate for Lisa! :)

As our time dwindles down, Kelsi and I have been answering the following question more often: "Are the women getting a lot better at English?" Kelsi and I would love to respond with a resounding "Yes!" But the truth is, we aren't sure how much they've improved. When we first started teaching, the women were very shy. It took at least two weeks for most of them to open up and really show us how much English they knew. To an outsider, it looked like they had improved leaps and bounds in a short amount of time! Although we aren't sure how much they've learned, we do know a few things.

-They have gained confidence speaking English.
Although they used to be shy when they were asked to speak in front of the class, most of them are now eager to participate in speaking activities. One game that they really enjoy is describing a vocabulary word and trying to get their team to guess it.

The spelling game we played on Thursday. It was a big hit!

-Their ability to sound out words has improved.
Thanks to Kelsi for this one! She introduced a chant that we do every day with them. "Banana banana b-b-buh. B says buh!" We have been adding a letter each class, and Monday will be our final letter - Z! Phonics instruction has been a major focus of our instruction, and we have seen our ladies improve in both their pronunciation and reading as a result.

-They have been exposed to (and are hopefully retaining) new vocabulary words and grammatical rules.

Best of all, our relationships with them have grown and strengthened to the point that Kelsi and I cannot imagine saying good bye in three weeks.

Kelsi and I have been so blessed to be able to work with our funny, sweet, and hard-working students. We continue to pray that God blesses our work, and that he works through us to help the ladies and the children.

Notice the women "reading the Bible" in the middle? Nice posing, ladies! :)

God's blessings on your weekend!