English and Ordinary Things

In January Layne and I were asked to take over an English as a Second Language class for a group of refugees.  We have been teaching there and now we are in charge of what is being taught.  That has taken over our lives for now.  There is English....and more English...and even more as we work to organize the mountain of material we've inherited and write up a curriculum through the end of April, when we will stop for the summer.  Gerald helped clear my mind regarding curriculum.  I've decided that the thing to do is concentrate on conversation rather than grammar.  Understanding and speaking are the most important things I think, and the first language skills to acquire.  So I've come up with an outline of conversations to take us to May.  We teach at an apartment complex that rents mostly to refugees.  We have up to 15 students and I love them all!  I want very much to give them the best possible experience with English.

I can hardly think of anything else.

Here is a shot of the apartment complex where we teach. You can see Layne unloading some of our English materials.

Seth and Angelica just get more and more involved with things.  Seth is on a community basketball team now.  Here he is at one of his games.  Practices and games means lots of driving.  He's got his learners permit but not his license so Layne keeps busy transporting him.

Angelica is involved with even more things; piano, dancing and now track.  Getting her to events means even more driving. Wow, keeping up with kids takes some doing.  But we enjoy them and feel grateful to have them in our lives. 

Angelica performed in a piano recital this past week.  She did a great job.

Having the kids with us brings lots more activity and upkeep.  But they are pretty good at helping.  Here's Angelica busy with dish duty and Seth enjoying the happy task of dumping the garbage on the compost pile, in the cold and snow.  Note his bare feet!  Notice also how straight Angelica's hair is.  She's having fun flat ironing her lovely curvy hair into stick straight.  

And so there are no great adventures of late, just ordinary, challenging but rewarding life.