Friday, July 27, 2012

My first morning in Auki began just like the other days with the sisters in Tenaru and Visale.  Bishop Chris said mass in the chapel at 6:10.  Sr. Loretta and I walked across the road to school for my first day.  Aligegeo Secondary School is a boarding school, so we walked past the student housing before reaching the classrooms and teacher’s room.  I met the Deputy and she instructed me to shadow the Form 4 English classes to prepare to teach them for the next 2 1/2 weeks.  The Form 4 English teacher, John, came over to me with a textbook and some handouts for the students and said, “You will teach today.  Here is where we left off.  Start with this lesson.”  Might as well jump right into things, right?  So I went off to teach a double period English class by myself for both Form 4 sections.  

For the most part, the students are very soft spoken.  I had them go around the room and introduce themselves to me.  I could barely make out what they were saying, but I’ll do this every day and hopefully they will be more confident and assertive.  I taught the students about the incredibly fascinating world of grammar.  We practiced putting the articles a, an, and the into a sentence.  They asked a few questions about my home and I told them all about my family and where I live.  All went well, and I survived my first day.

After school we went to the market and picked up a few fresh vegetables.  Tomorrow the market will be packed with people and products for the weekend rush, so we’ll get most things tomorrow.  The heat was sweltering as we waited for the bus to take us home.  We spent the rest of the afternoon weeding the grounds with Bishop Chris.  It was actually very relaxing and didn’t feel like a chore at all.  Cayla and I got a little exercise in before evening prayer.  We enjoyed dinner with the music ministry group whose program ends on Sunday - lots of delicious fish and vegetables. 

Right now, Sr. Loretta is playing bubble pop on Cayla’s Kindle, and having a great time.  She has been laughing and screaming every time she passes a new level.  We’re all addicted to the game by now.