¡Mi Primera Clase!

beans and flowers in the market/frijoles y flores en el mercado

Well the most exciting 1. noticias to report this time is that my clase de inglés started on lunes. I LOVE teaching English and am so excited to finally have my own clase. I´m not sure how well our advertising worked, because the majority of estudiantes are from la iglesia. Most of the fliers we hung had mysteriously disappeared after a few 2. días, so I´m not sure if that´s from people who were interested taking them down or the local 3. policia or some other grupo. Either way, 4. solamente dos de mis estudiantes so far are from la comunidad (not members of la iglesia). Several others from la comunidad have called or asked me about it, and a few even came for the pre-test I gave, but most of them have not shown up for las clases 5. todavía. But in a way that´s better, because I prefer to have estudiantes 6. serios than estudiantes who just want to come and go as they please. On la primera noche I really tried to stress to 7. todos how 8. importante attendance and punctuality is to their learning. I also told them that it really takes about cinco 9. años to be able 10. hablar una lengua fluently, and we have only tres 11. meses juntos for less than cinco hours a semana. I was very pleased when all but dos of los estudiantes came back 12. la segunda noche and EVERYONE arrived on time. So right now I have about 15 estudiantes, and I think la clase is off to a great start.students in the Hebrews class/estudiantes durante la clase de Hebreos


13. La semana pasada I went and visited our Saturday school in Ococingo, Mexico. Los estudiantes were very happy I had come, but they were also very eager to share 14. algunos of their concerns with me. The escuela in Ococingo is going really well and the director there is doing a great job, but some of los estudiantes who want to come have not been able to. Global Missions had to cut some of the money it was giving, and since then about half of the students who were faithfully attending classes previously can no longer go because they can´t afford it. They live in the jungle, and they have to walk 3 horas to get to the highway, and from there it was another six hour drive to Ococingo. So they were having to leave on viernes en 15. la tarde and return on domingo en la tarde, and it just got to be 16.demasiado difícil for them. Antonio (the director) 17. y algunos de los estudiantes 18.también expressed to me that they would like to have 19. más materiales, so I told J.C. (director of Global Missions), who is already in the process of sending them more. 20.Un problema they have had so far is that muchos de los estudiantes come from different denominations and use other kinds of 21. Biblias, such as the Catholic Bible or the Jehovah´s Witness Bible. So Antonio requested that we send enough Bibles so that 22. todos de los estudiantes can use the same version. There were 16 estudiantes 23. en total--9 muchachos y 7 muchachas. Dos de las muchachas just got baptized as a result of las clases en los sabados. They, along with muchos de los 24. otros estudiantes, do not speak Spanish--only an indiginous language, ¨Sochil¨(or something like that). Sometimes I feel a little 25. extraña when I know more Spanish than some of la gente who live here and cannot even communicate with them in Spanish; but luckily Antonio is fluent in 26. ambos lenguas. After la almuerza en el sabado, he had a short 27. estudio biblico with tres de las muchachas in Sochil to clear up some of the confusion they had.

view of the inside of our house from the door to the roof/vista de a dentro de nuestra casa de la puerta al techo

Another Saturday school also started last Saturday near the Guatemala frontera, and that school also had about 16 estudiantes. Global Missions has plans to open up dos más escuelas de los sabados aquí en México in the near 28. futuro. But the school here in San Cristobal has been struggling to draw new estudiantes. When la escuela first started there were about 20 estudiantes, but now 29. la mayoría of them have graduated and there aren´t many muchachos who are interested in being 30. predicadores. Please continue 31. orar for the success de todas 32. estas escuelas, and especially pray that the school here in San Cristobal will grow and David will not be discouraged.

the computer classroom/sala de computación

33. Ayer I had another 34. experiencia that reminded me just how much we take some palabras for granted. I went to the 35. papelería to buy a few supplies for my clase, and I needed poster board, butcher paper, loose leaf paper, and brads. Well naturally I never learned the words for different kinds of paper--just paper--and have never needed to know them until now. And stores here are mucho diferente. You can´t just go right to what you want and buy it; en la mayoría de lugares, there are 3 or 4 workers waiting to help you as soon as you walk in, and they have to get the items for you from behind a counter. Then you have to pay for the items at una 36. ventana and pick them up at a separate window. So I described what I needed the best I could, but the poor girl who helped me ended up bringing out 3 or 4 different kinds of 37.papel before I finally got exactly what I needed.

My clase de muchachas at church is also going well, but I´ll write more about that 38. la proxima vez.

39. Eso es todo (40.) por el momento,
Elizabeth

1. news
2. days
3. police
4. only
5. still/yet
6. serious
7. everyone
8. important
9. years
10. to speak a language
11. months
12. the second night
13. last week
14. some
15. the afternoon
16. too hard
17. and
18. also
19. more materials
20. one problem/a problem
21. Bibles
22. all
23. in all/in total
24. other
25. strange
26. both
27. Bible study
28. future
29. the majority/most
30. preachers
31. to pray
32. these
33. yesterday
34. experience
35. paper supply store
36. window
37. paper
38. the next time
39. That is all
40. for now/for the moment


our kitchen/nuestra cocina