Hey! ^.^
I must apologize for not blogging recently. You see, back in February, I meant to upload a vlog, but things kept getting in my way. I am finally getting settled down here in Tegucigalpa - the capital city of Honduras. Since moving to Honduras in December, I got to spend some time with my mamá and papá. I am now at my aunt's place. She isn't charging me for using one of her bedrooms for the time I'm here - I'm so thankful to her. She also feeds me breakfast and dinner - which is super cool.
Most of you know that I've been working at a school called Amor en Accion (which is translated Love in Action). I've been teaching Spanish. I was supposed to teach math as well, but they decided that I can only teach Spanish. I wanted to teach Spanish anyway... so that's great. I've been teaching Spanish for the past three weeks now. It has been a challenge fo sho. I recently realized that I'm not only teaching Spanish, but I have to go back to the foundations of teaching language, which for these Deaf kids is LESHO. LESHO is the acronym for Honduran Sign Language - or more accurately translated " LEngua de Signos de HOnduras"
I've noticed that the 12 students in the 1st and 2nd grade (up to around age 12, and I'll classify them as the "younger students") don't have parents that use LESHO at home. Therefore, they tend to use basic gestures and home signs.
Before I can even teach them to read and write Spanish, I have to take a step back and start with teaching LESHO. Last week, I decided to buy a collection of short stories for children. I showed the kids the book, and I signed the story for them. They seemed to enjoy that. Then the next day, I took words from the book, and made them into dotted lines. This way, the kids could practice writing the words by tracing over them. I also drew some pictures that matched the story to make worksheets for the kids. The kids seemed really motivated by these color worksheets.
The classroom environment as a whole was much better too! When I tried to just teach them how to read and write Spanish, they would come up to me with all kinds of questions, and it was difficult to manage the learning environment. They would get frustrated or bored and simply refuse to do anything since they didn't understand. It was interesting to see the change in their attitudes since they are able to connect the story to the worksheets. I was amazed at how much better I felt too because it was like the peace of God fell on me. Of course, the girls and the boys still picked on each other - like all little kids do, but overall it was an improvement.
I also teach another group of the "older students" who are 18 and above (with about a 3rd grade reading level so far). They have a similar problem with the development of language. These older students are fluent in LESHO. However, if it comes to translating LESHO into Spanish, they are not able to perform that task. If, say, they needed to communicate with a hearing person - maybe they want to go to the mall, but they need to take a taxi to get there - how would they navigate that situation? Or if there was an emergency, how would they be able to convey what happened to those who came to help? I tried to explain these different situations to the older students, but they still are having a difficult time grasping the concept of "needing to learn Spanish to communicate with hearing people." They have yet to realize that LESHO is only for Deaf people, and they need to use Spanish with hearing people. I've been trying to figure out how better to explain this concept to them, but I've not yet found the solution. LESHO is a beautiful language, used among Deaf Hondurans. I am in full support of this language. However, I'm struggling to help them understand that with hearing people, you have to add "filler words" and learn the grammatical rules of Spanish to be able to communicate with them.
My experience teaching thus far has been an amazing, eye-opening time for me. I really need your prayers that God would give me the discipline to use my time wisely to plan for my lessons (and not be distracted by FB or surfing the web). I want to take advantage of the time he gives me. I desire that "whatever I do, to work at it with all my heart, as working for the Lord and not for men." I want to raise up these deaf students to be the leaders of the future Deaf generation here in Honduras.
I also ask that you would pray with me; that I would have a compassionate heart. I feel like I came to Amor en Acción as a "Revolutionist" - with the mindset that I could take what I knew from the American education system for the Deaf to "save the day" by revolutionizing their system. However, I was humbly reminded by someone, that revolutions do not begin with men alone, but only by the Bible. The wisdom from the Bible transform people, which will eventually improve the system. I have to remember that I can't just come in and change everything. I'm new here - I just "joined the party" so to say. Thus I need to be humble and compassionate. When I am asked to do things, or make changes - I need to evaluate the situation first, and ask God for His grace to know how to proceed. My prayer is to offer others His love first, and to follow it with grace, and a gentle spirit - Oh, and patience. Would you mind joining me in this prayer.
That's all. I am going to try to start blogging weekly about the most significant lesson of the previous week.
Thanks for watching. Alright. Take care!^.^
