These English lessons I´m teaching are incredibly hard, like I´ve told you all. The first day I tried to teach them colors and they were incredibly cute as they tried to pronounce "purple", which turned out more like "poi poi". I must sound like them when I try to speak Spanish. the one thing they DO know right now, is that "hi" is a greeting, and they do say "hi, Meghan!" to me. Now I´m trying to get them to say it to each other.

I have a set of "Things in My House" flashcards and I go over the most recognizeable things with them and usually have them end up coloring pictures of houses or schools that I have hand drawn for each of them. So we are going over House, School, Window, Door again and again. After hearing kids say these words and try to pronounce them over and over I have begun to realize how funny some of our English words sound. I do prep work for these classes, as my education professor would like to know. However, Dr. Tanner, my classroom management skills don´t really work without knowing the language. I rely fully on Avy for that.

My drawing skills are a lot better than I thought they were. I do a lot of drawing for the girls for their classes. Along with the little pequeños I have been learning colors, fruits, vegetables and the Spanish alphabet. Right now I know that I draw a pretty mean carrot. Which is zanahoria in Spanish. I also drew a tomate, papa and chaluga (?? I think that is wrong) for Avy. I also know the fruits.. piña, fresa, coco, manzana, platano, etc. I also know limon, which i pronounced entirely wrong the first time... emphasizing the last syllable instead of the first, which made it sound more French than Spanish. Ah. I learn. I have made a calendar, helped Avy with a Valentine´s Day display, etc. I am learning that I am pretty good at this stuff and I may have a pretty awesome looking classroom in the future.

There are things they don´t teach you in Spanish class in high school, and that dictionaries and phrase books can´t help you with, really. These phrases include:
´Honey, your hair is too big to fit into this ponytail holder´
´Hey! JoseManuel! Do not take Yoseline´s crayons! That is not very nice.´
´Don´t take the buttons off the phone!!´
"Ulisses!! stop turning the TV on and off and put on your school uniform"
"No, Elizabeth, you already have enough gel in your hair."
I have wanted to say these phrases. One day I was left with all the babies and all the 4 year olds (!!!) and wanted to tell them "Pick up the toys, please, and please be nice to the babies!", but alas, I have not mastered that yet.

Before I left a few people mentioned this trip as a mission sort of thing, or they have mentioned me putting my faith into action or something of the sort. But I´ll be honest and tell you all that that´s not what it feels like. Mostly it is me playing with kids all day, and hanging out with girls my age. I´m getting so much out of this: good food, learning Spanish, a cultural experience, making new friends, etc. And i can´t say I´m giving all that much. I just know that I am really, really loving my time here.