Well, we're in the last nine weeks of the year and the end is in sight. At the beginning of the year, most of my students did not understand a word I said and certainly couldn't respond in any coherent English. Now, I'm finally starting to reap some of all that sowing I've done. My kids are speaking English with reckless abandon and getting better each day. From the countless hours of planning and teaching, I'm finally seeing progress!
Today was a pretty spectacular day at school! Some days just click...and I love that! Afterwards, I went and got a smoothie and sat in some AC and read my book, Three Cups of Tea (an excellent read, by the way) until my parent meeting. What a success! I had a few things to tell the parents (in Spanish) and then one parent stood up and said (in spanish), "Congratulations! We can understand your spanish now....AND you are doing a great job teaching my child. My daughter comes home speaking so much English and I'm even learning from her. Thank you." How wonderful it was to hear such a compliment when all this year I've never felt good enough. My principal was also there and mentioned what an incredible amount of English the first graders know and how much improvement she has seen in their reading and writing. Needless to say, I couldn't contain a smile from sweeping across my face.
So right now I'm feeling encouraged and pleased knowing that I'm making progress in the work that God has called me here to do. This has been a challenging journey, but it's not over yet. I'm giving these last few weeks of school everything I've got and then we'll see where God leads me after that. :)
