What are we doing, actually?

It's a question both Emily and I had a few days after we arrived. I mean, we knew in general what we'd be upto, but discovering the specifics is another thing altogether. So, what are the specifics?

So far, Emily facilitated a training for the teachers at the GEMS elementary school, and I started facilitating a training for some of the staff/graduate students of UniED and CORDE. This was great, as we both got a chance to build some closer friendships with our participants, and got a quick taste of what we might be doing while we're here!

Now Emily's training is over, and the staff are cleaning-up and reorganizing their classrooms, and prepping the materials for the upcoming semester (starts oct.3rd). Emily's also signed up to teach an English language class and a half-day kindergarten class! I helped her move some furniture around, and we discussed the role of classroom design and environment and its effect on the focus and learning of the students. We'll soon see if her class is fit to handle the kiddies.

Oh yeah, we also teach people crib, and learn some
fun Asian card-games like "poh-quat"

The training which I am facilitating is continuing, and may extend further into the future than we'd all first thought (as the participants alert me to prior commitments!). I'm trying to reflect as much as I can on how I can better facilitate, what the needs of the participants are, how to overcome the English-language barrier while studying materials that are in English, what are good examples for the concepts we're exploring, etc. I really want to see the participants enabled to fluently use the language and concepts that we're learning about - which is presenting all of us with a challenging class. I got a few complaints about the difficulty, but also a lot of comments about how much some of the participants are enjoying learning. I'm enjoying learning with them as well, so so far I'm feeling like we're on the right path. Heppy times!

We're still in the process of looking for a more permanent living space. We've seen some ridiculous places so far - places with rooms so small that I had to bend down to get into them. It felt slightly Lord of the Rings-ish. We have a few more leads to follow up on, and are hoping we can find a clean place without excessive mosquitoes. It's not a long list, but it's a bit hard to fill so far. hah.

So that's a brief overview for now. The description of what we do could change tomorrow. We'll likely expand the breadth and depth of our actions as we get to know the community and our institutions better - and see how we can apply and develop ourselves while we serve and develop our new community!