Reading Power

Dear friends, sorry I’ve been having issues with the blogger website. Honestly, I don’t think that the problem is with my internet, but with the blogger website itself because other webpages for other websites have been working without problems for me. Here is the full entry that was supposed to be posted this past Sunday 10/14/2012:

This week I have begun a new activity with the students. They struggle a lot with reading and I was talking with Kjirstin about it. We ended up talking about how our teachers used to read to us. That was one of my favorite things when I was in the younger grades. Seriously, as much as I love to read myself, I could listen to someone read to me for hours (if they're a good reader, that is). Thus, I decided that I would begin reading to the students out loud at the beginning of English class. I began with Class VI to see how the activity went over. I was worried that they would try and do other work or play during that time. I picked out a story about pirates because I thought that would be a fun topic for them. It's a book from the Magic Treehouse Series. We have quite a few of those books and I've read a couple here just to see what they're like. They're fun and they also include some facts about history and past world events, so I thought it would be good for them. 

Right away, I noticed that discipline would not be a problem during story time. The students sat with rapt attention. It hit me about half way through chapter one that these students have most likely never been read to before. I don't know what it never occurred to me before, but I guess I never thought about it. I was so busy just trying to get them to read, that I never thought about if anyone has showed them how to do it. Reading the words on the page is one thing, but reading the story is COMPLETELY different. When you really read a story, and can really hear the characters and see in your mind what's happening, it's like experiencing a whole new world. That's what I hope to do for these kids. I want to unlock their brains to explore and think about new ideas and experience the world of imagination!! :D

It has been amazing to witness the students' responses. Class IV always claps after I finish reading a chapter. Class V laughs a lot when I get to the funny parts of the chapter. And, Class VI begs to be read to if they think I'm not going to do it that day. Every time we reach then end of a chapter and I close the book, each one of them has this look on their face that says "don't stop!! Keep going!! I want to know what happens next!!" It warms my heart and gives me so much joy to expose these kids to the wonders of reading. I hope this, along with the Hooked on Phonics activities they're doing with Kjirstin will help the students see reading in a new light.

Other than school, there have been a lot of other activities going on this past week. On Wednesday, Kjirstin and I me a missionary friend of mine in town for dinner because she wanted to meet Kjirstin. On Thursday, Baba Sesi and his wife had invited us over for dinner. It was really fun and we especially had fun playing with the children. It’s so funny how kids don’t care if you can speak their language or not. All the want to do is play and laugh, and that in and of itself, is a language that is enough for them! On Friday night we went to town again for a goodbye dinner at Dragonaire’s. Some friends that I met through volleyball were heading back to their home countries and so they wanted to say goodbye to everyone. It was a bit of a feat trying to arrange the taxi rides, daladala ride, etc. But, everything worked out well in the end. It was kind of nice to go out on a weekend night, something I haven’t done here just because it’s so involved. But, it was nice to have an excuse to get out! On Saturday, there was no Frisbee because so many people were out of town. Thus, I got to do some laundry (there are certain articles of clothing I would rather wash myself), work on graduate school applications, do some cleaning and organizing, and various other things. It was really a blessing to have the extra time and I’m feeling very accomplished and caught up right now!! :D

Well, I think that is all for now!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,

~Christine