True Life: I Am a Teacher

After two full weeks of teaching I have realized something. I am a teacher. A real life teacher. How did that happen? I am pretty sure I remember weighing the options as a kid. "Hmmm, I could be school teacher like Mom or a doctor like Dad." For some reason, being a physician sounded a heck of lot easier. Don't get me wrong, I remember the year I went to the same elementary school that my mom taught in. Getting to sit in on her third grade class when my first grade class was at recess and hang out with the older kids. She thrived in that room, with those students, and they loved her. But I also saw the late nights, heard the drama with parents and students; witnessed multiple things stress her out. As much as I knew my mom loved her job and was great at it, I didn't think I could cut it. Instead I opted for a life of math, science, and anatomy but we all know that didn't happen either. (Or at least it hasn't just yet.) Somehow, three years of journalism now qualifies me to teach English at a grade school and a youth center that would be the equivalent to a community college. I honestly have no clue how I got here. I have been silently struggling to reconcile the fact that I never saw myself as a teacher or a speaker, but now I am doing both. I used to doubt that I was creative, yet without it lessons and students would fail. What is slightly harder for me to accept, is the fact that I am pretty good at all of this. I finally admitted to myself that I like being called, 'Teacher' whether my students are 5 years old or 25. Whether we're in class playing games all day or trudging through phrasal verbs, my job is awesome and I thoroughly enjoy it even on the hardest days.

This is my Grade 1 Bible class. They barely speak any English. Vatha, the teacher that assists, knows very little also. He knows enough to translate and when we don't know how to communicate with each other we figure it out. This is one of my first classes with them at Salaa Hope Christian School. Most of the kids who go there are not believers, but the school has a great reputation in the community and that's why parents send their kids there to get an education. I teach this class on Mondays and Thursdays for 45 min in the morning. On this day, we learned the Creation story from Genesis 1 and I came up with some memory moves to help the kids remember each day. After the lesson, they wanted to demonstrate for their classmates. A few students came up one by one and then I had this idea for 7 volunteers to reinact each day:) It was the cutest thing ever and they had a ton of fun.