A Third Language??

 

For some reason it seems the weeks are flying by much faster than they did in the first term.  I do not know how I managed to write about the children’s progress each week last time, but this term it seems like Friday comes and before I have a chance to breathe I am back at the school again Monday morning.  Well of all the things the children are learning, I must say the one that is the most exciting to teach is sign language.  As most of you know, TONGA is the children’s native language and with them coming to school, being taught in English, the hope is that they pick up enough English to jump start them into primary school.  Well children are capable of learning way more than we give them credit for, so I decided not to stop at just teaching English, but I thought teaching sign language would be an excellent way to assist in teaching English and for the children to have another means of expressing themselves.  The children absolutely LOVE sign language and they are picking up words left and right.  The older children probably have a vocabulary of at least thirty words and often use them to communicate when Tonga and English are not an option.  I can give them commands in sign language like “sit down”, “stand up”, or “jump” and without saying any words the children know exactly what to do.  Last week we learned some emotions and without any prompting this week, the children were working together to remember the signs I taught them last week!  Sign Language is also a great tool in teaching the children the alphabet…each week we learn a new letter and we sign all the letters from “A” to the one we are learning so the children get used to hearing the letters in order and understand what letters are! 

 

 

In addition to learning their third language, the children have been very busy measuring maize in the discovery table.  A few weeks ago, some of the parents donated maize to the school so that we could open the discovery table with maize inside to support the children’s learning.  As soon as the table was full, the children dived right in and began working with measuring cups, bowls, funnels, and trays measuring out various amounts of maize often pretending they were going to town to sell whatever they measured out for the day. 

Along with everything else the children naturally explore, investigate, and discover in the school, one other things sticks out from these past few weeks about the children’s learning.  The children have been preparing to have their moms come to school with them this term.  They have been busy drawing pictures of their mothers and telling the teachers all about the things they enjoy doing with their moms.  The vision is to put up the pictures of the moms with the children's words written underneath for the moms to enjoy when they come and visit the school to do a special art project with their children.  The children can’t wait to bring their moms to school to see their art work, show them around the classroom, and make beads with them.  The teachers are thrilled about the moms coming and being a part of their children's learning…what a wonderful experience for everyone!! 

As for bible lessons this term the children are moving into the third part of the Trinity.  We have spent time in learning about God the Father and God the Son and now we are learning about the third part of God…His Spirit.  As we learn about God’s Spirit, we will be encouraging the children to recognize where God’s Spirit is already working in their lives, as well as, in the community.  I am most excited about this since we will soon be moving into the fruit of the Spirit and teaching the children that if they claim to be a Christian, than their lives will be marked by God’s Spirit of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, gentleness, faith, and love.  Out here it is so easy for a person to claim Christ, but to truly be saved by Christ is a rarity among these people.  Please pray that the Spirit moves in the hearts of all the children who are hearing these truths in the coming weeks and that those who truly believe in Jesus Christ will begin bearing fruit in His name, acting and looking different than those who do not believe in Jesus.