Week 1 of teaching!

Ok so I made it through the first week at my schools. I work in two schools and i have 11 kiddos. I absolutely adore them. They are from year 2 to 6 which is like 2nd grade to 6th. I spent most of the week watching my supervisors teach them so I could get the idea and lots of time learning how to write lesson plans. By Friday I taught my first lesson alone and am able to write my own plans! I also have had to do lots of IEP which are individualized education plans for each child which take FOREVER! I have a few children with autism, some with severe ADHD and dylexia as well. It is so hard to see them suffering literally to tears wanting so badly to understand but not being able to get it. Almost all of them come from homes where their parents are either never around or are always putting them down. This is why it is so important to continually reassure them about how well they are doing and how special they are to me. Everytime they come for their lesson they are so excited and they tell me it is the best part of their day which brings tears to my eyes! It can be sooo challenging at times when no matter how many times you explain something or teach it they still do not catch on, in these moments I remind myself that I may be the only person in their lives who believes in them and this thought gives me all the patience I could need. Every morning I get up and praise the Lord that I am so lucky to be a part of these children's lives!

Me and one of my housemates are excited to start a nightly devotional together to keep us on track with the Lord and remember to continue to listen to His plans for us! The Lord is doing some pretty amazing things through me and I cannot wait to see how much more is to come!

Missing my Washintonian buddies and loving you all! I think and pray for you all the time! =]

Training!

Today I was in training for working in the schools all day long. It is so interesting to see how vowel sounds and words here are so different sounding from Washington. I am having a particularly hard time pronouncing o and u sounds and have to practice alot! One of the other volunteers says I already have started to sound a bit British and I have barely been here a week! It will be weird to see how I sound when I come back after a year. All I have really been eating still is chicken nuggets which is probably more just a comfort food because it is the only thing that tastes the same over here. My feet are covered in blisters because we walk everywhere and I have not gotten used to that at all. I feel like I have known these people forever and I am so excited to be spending a year with them although we sometimes bicker like siblings =] I have not done a whole lot of sight seeing yet as I am still settling in and I have training all day tomorrow as well. Then next Monday through Thursday I will be at a conference in Northern London and I officially start in the schools next Friday...YAY! I am so excited to meet my kiddos =] Well keep sending those prayers my way and I love and miss you all! Cheers =]