Tuesday, November 30, 2010

We woke up fairly  early and wondered about our assignment. I’m still fretting and really worried about what I’m going to do. Gene, bless his heart, volunteered to give me a Priesthood Blessing. We got ready and before we went out the door, he did give me a blessing. It helped to calm my nerves. We went to breakfast and again, so fun to see all those missionaries and feel the spirit in this place.

Yesterday was the day the Senior Missionaries come and it was fun to see so many of them here as well. We have talked to some of them and found out where they are going. Lots of different places, quite a few here in the states, some to Africa and one couple to Hawaii. They ask where we are going and it seems we always get the same response.” Wow! What an adventure you will have.”

Today we talked about the importance of listening and reviewed some listening skills. Brother Anderson shared with us a bunch of online resources their grad students had put together and gave us some hands on time to explore them on the web.

Again we had the opportunity to observe a class. These students were a little more advanced. This was the class we would teach in the afternoon. I was still a little nervous but Brother Anderson said that Brother Evans would help us prepare and make sure we would feel confident going in. That was somewhat comforting.

We went to lunch and then went to the bookstore and bought the manual “More Than a Native Speaker”, a book they have used as outline to teach us a lot. Then back to the room to prepare a little more.

When we went back to class this afternoon, Brother Evan talked about context. He talked about the list of 1000 most commonly used words and said if you knew those words you could read a newspaper with 93% accurately . You can’t teach vocabulary, students need to do it on their own. He suggested writing words on flash card and going over and over and over them, again and again – for short periods of time but doing it often.

He did help us with our outlines and we felt pretty good going in to do our mini teaching. There wasn’t a teacher for the class, so Gene took charge and called on someone to pray. We introduced ourselves and asked each of them to tell us where they were going and one thing they did to prepare, using a past tense verb. That went pretty well. There was a pretty young sister from Bolivia who was very quiet and really struggling with English. Before class she asked me for the pronunciation of many different verbs. Oh, the struggles of being here in a different environment and learning a strange new language. My heart went out to her.

My turn – I asked them to turn to a page in Preach My Gospel and read a paragraph about Joseph Smith’s experience as he was pondering which church to join and to look for the past tense verbs. I had them divide into companionships and read it to each other and then we read it together and then to raise their hand when they came across the past tense verb ending in ‘ed’. Now, suddenly, we are out of time. Where did it go? We told them they had the rest of the class period to study their words, and go over their flashcards. It was fun and a good experience for us.

Brother Evans was never too far away and as we finished us, we all went into a classroom and evaluated. Of course there are things we should do better but it was good a learning experience.We will have the opportunity tomorrow to teach those same missionaries again and this time give them opportunity to perform, to get them off their seats and in front of each other. Now, to come up with an idea……We need the Lord’s blessing and some inspiration.

Gene and I with Brother Anderson and Elder and Sister Michel, going to Viet Nam

We went to dinner and met another senior couple who were going to San Diego. They would be working with the Navy base there as support for young LDS men who are in the Navy. It reminded me of Craig and Tracey and the support and help their family and Travis got when he reported to basic training in Missouri. The church is so wonderful and there are so many facets that we don’t even know about.

We had the opportunity after dinner to go to the weekly devotional. They save some seats right at the front for the senior missionaries. We were on about the third row back and again, talked with a couple going to Africa. Their assignment was public affairs and there were going to be traveling about the region there and engaged in public affairs for the church. Another couple from Twin Falls, Idaho, were going to church headquarters and the husband was going to be involved in gas and oil for the church. Everyone seemed interested in what we would be doing and again we are so thankful for our call.

We were grateful for the opportunity to be there. We were privileged to hear Doug Brenchley (one of Gene’s high school classmates) lead the MTC choir. That was powerful. I’m grateful just for that. Then, the speaker for the devotional tonight was Sister Julie Beck, General President of the Relief Society. She talked a lot about missionary work and growing up in Brazil where her father was mission president The church was small in Brazil and she told about visa’s being denied to the American missionaries. Her father was in Salt Lake and President Kimball told him to call native missionaries. That was a foreign thought to the church leaders there and there were many excuses why that wouldn’t work, but one stake president took it seriously and local missionaries started receiving calls and now look at Brazil today. They have their own full time MTC and lots of church units and members and buildings. She ended by saying not to be frightened or concerned about where you might be called to serve, just remember that the Lord has already been there and prepared the way.

We walked back to our room and saw Christmas lights on our way. What a nice way to end a wonderful day. 

 

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I woke up fairly early and read my scriptures on my Ipod Touch. I am liking that a lot. It’s sure easy to flip between scriptures and for example, Preach My Gospel. It makes studying easier for me. I’m still not too comfortable taking it to church. I feel like I need my scriptures in hand.

Gene got up and we got ready and went to breakfast  Again, so fun to see all the missionaries in their suits, white shirts, ties and missionary name tags. And then to see so many senior missionaries. They came in Monday morning and we have had the opportunity to talk to a lot of them at meal times. We are anxious to be here as one of them.

English classes today were a little harder for me. Our assignment was to come up with a teaching plan for this afternoon, continuing to teach past tense verbs with the ‘ed’ ending and making sure the students know if they are voiced or voiceless and the sound they make – whether it is /t/, /d/, or /ed/. I wondered how can I teach that, I’m not sure what it is myself.

Brother Anderson our teacher, told Gene and I if we would study our English materials for an hour each day, we would be prepared when we get to Nepal. The book, More Than a Native Speaker, is a book about concepts. There are no lesson plans or anything. There are some books available and they are trying to get the church to ship them to Nepal and Viet Nam for both us couples. We did learn that Elder and Sister Boreland, the couple presently in Nepal, are using the text titled "Side by Side". When we got to class we asked Brother Anderson if he was familiar with that series. He pulled a couple of old student manuals from his bag and gave them to us. They were in their library but were out of date and he said they might be useful to us. We were happy to have them and be able to look them over. Now, if we just had a teachers manual.

We did have one day when the sun tried to shine and it was a little warmer. Hurray!

We had lunch and then went to our room and tried to put a lesson plan together, but we were having a had time and just didn’t feel comfortable about the whole thing. Needless to say, when it came time to be in the classroom, it showed. We weren’t really sure of some of the voiced and voiceless sounds. I know we should have been better prepared, but it was a good lesson for us. The students were pretty sharp and they helped us. We learned a lot and will be better prepared next time.

We had dinner at the cafeteria one last time and then headed home. The roads were great and we were grateful for that. There was an accident as we were coming through Salt Lake and that slowed us down a little bit, but it was good to get home and sleep in our own beds. It was a wonderful experience and I know the class will really be beneficial to us as we get to the classroom in Nepal. I can’t imagine teaching English in a foreign country and going in without any training at all. We are grateful for Brother Anderson and Brother Evans, two very busy men, for taking time from their already busy schedules to come and teach two couples. It truly was a wonderful learning experience and we are grateful for the opportunity and know it will pay off as we get to Nepal.