lesson time again

I came to Haiti to teach English - to start an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) at the Liberty Academy. I know that God has called me here for this school year, and I'm not sure what his plans are for who will take my place in the coming one ... I'm still praying that he will make that clear to me, in enough time for me to be able to pass on my curriculum and year's experiences with that new teacher. But God has surprised me in opening up other doors and opportunities for teaching as well!

After several weeks of living in Haiti, I found out that the Gephart family had several guitars that were coming on their truck load of house supplies AND that they would let me borrow one for the year! I also found out that their son, Kai, really wanted to learn the guitar. He'd already had a few lessons, but was eager to learn more. During my first WEEK here, Patrick, one of the guys here on staff, approached me about guitar lessons as well. So I prayed about it and decided that I would try giving group guitar lessons once a week for whoever was interested. Even thought I've never had guitar lessons myself, I love to play, and God had given me confidence and experience in teaching guitar over the last two years as I've taught guitar lessons to students after school at LAMS. So, as I felt God's nudging to do so, I offered to give lessons every Wednesday night at 6:30 pm in my classroom.

The class varies every week. Our first week, there were four young Haitian men from on staff who came, eager to learn the basics of their first ever instrument. Kai and Samuel, missionary kids on the base, also came and even helped me teach some of the first chords that we learned that night. The next week, Lindsay came as well so that she could learn the guitar - something she's always wanted to do. After a few weeks, Eli, one of the students from the Liberty Academy, and one of Samuel's best friends, came as well.

It has been so much fun learning together with this group of budding musicians. I know that God has many plans and purposes for bringing together and raising up so much musical talent on this base. I'm excited to see what some of those plans are =) I'm also praying about how to better use music in my own classroom. Just last week, I had the students learn their first memory verse - to the familiar tune of a Steve Green "Hide 'Em in Your Heart" song that I learned as a child, after Mom purchased the tape to help us learn scripture verses. It was from Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strenghthens me."

What a joy it was, just this past Friday, to hear every ONE of my dear students - confident fifth grader down to little first grader - not saying, but SINGing their memory verse to me. God has already given me another excellent verse for this coming week, and the week after that. I know that he has a reason for each one. I was trying to teach my students that the vocabulary "I can't" is NOT allowed in my classroom. I want them to learn to face life's difficulties with a positive attitude and a confidence that, with God's help, they CAN do so much more than they'd ever hope or imagine. This verse fit perfectly in with that lesson. And apparently, because of our thin blue tarp 'walls,' the entire school has learned this verse along with my students ;) So Shakinah asked me yesterday if her 4th and 5th graders could also learn our memory verses along with us each week - something I was very excited about! It will be great for my kids to hear this children, whose English is much better than theirs, singing the same memory verses week after week. Thank you, Lord, for helping to hide your Word in their hearts!



Week two of guitar class was a small one, but a LOT of fun! Kai, Lindsay, and Eli - getting ready to learn the chords for "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High."



Another opportunity for lessons and teaching that I was NOT expecting during my year down here in Haiti, came to me through Terry Snow. One night at dinner he told me that perhaps we should try giving English lessons to the entire city of St. Marc - on television! Now, he had already proposed (via email) to me the possibility of offering English lessons to adults in the community, perhaps in the evenings or on weekends. But I was concerned about having enough time and energy to do that AND to give what I needed to give to my students at the Liberty Academy each week. So I told him that I wanted to wait until Christmas ...

Well, just weeks after we arrived here in Haiti, during one of our Friday night dinners of fried chicken and rice (when Terry and Ingvild join the staff for dinner in the cafeteria), Terry mentioned this possibility of using the one-hour YWAM slot on Dynasty TV for teaching English lessons to the city of St. Marc! Lindsay and I started to get excited about this opportunity, especially if we could tag-team it and find a way to make the lessons fun and interactive ...

But then Hurricane Hanna struck. All of our time and energies were focused on cleaning up the base and reopening the school. But now, the Liberty Academy has been opened for three full weeks, AND we have aired three short programs on Friday night television! The first week of school, Lindsay and I simply introduced ourselves as Carline (the young woman in the picture) interviewed us. We told the people of St. Marc that we will be offering 15 minute conversational English lessons each Friday, and that they should tune in every week if they are interested in learning! Last week we taught some basic greetings and simple conversation for introducing yourself and getting to know another person. Jean Wilgard, another young Haitian man on staff here, who works for Dynasty TV, does our video recording for us. Carline helps with the introductions and Richard serves as our translator. Kristian Snow then uses this video recording and weaves together a beautiful and somewhat entertaining version of our "English Lessons With Laura and Lindsay" and airs it on Dynasty TV.

This past week we taught how to tell time, and specific greetings (like "Good evening") that are used only at certain times of the day. It is fun having my students come into school on a Monday morning and telling me that they saw me on TV over the weekend! And Lindsay and I have even had the experience of random people walking up to us, sometimes after the church service here on the base, to tell us that they saw us on TV.

As they say here on the base, if you want to be famous, you just have to come to Haiti =)

We use the chalkboard in my classroom to post the words or phrases that we teach each week. It is not very snazzy or tech-savvy, but it works. It is better to do something simply and actually make it happen, then not to do it at all ...

Miss Laura, feeling completely worn out after a day of teaching and trying to get refocused and energized for our recording session. Thankfully, with modern technology, we can rerecord our English lessons to cover up all the bumbles and bloopers we make. This past week was full of them, as Lindsay and I were both exhausted after our day of teaching on Wednesday, when we recorded it. But God came through and gave us the strength and energy we needed.

As we say at the end of our lessons, "This has been English Lessons with Laura and Lindsay. See you next week!"