ESL

This is, by far, the most exciting thing that happened this week.

After being covered in snow and ice for a month,

We had a heat wave and I can see my road again.

I am very happy about that even if it is covered in snow as I write this.

We have had some college students working with us at school.

They are from a small college in Washington and as part of their ESL training,

they had to do some field experience. 

Their teacher used to work with us, and she arranged for them to come for a visit.

I have grown to love and abuse these students.

I will miss them when they are gone, okay, mostly, because they have been so much help.

Here a few things they have learned.

1.  Sometimes when a student is new from Mexico, the teacher will think they are retarded.

--- that is their language, not mine ---
I am also shocked by this, because one of the first things I tell teachers is that new students block out everything, because it is overwhelming to them.

2.  The difference in expectations from one teacher to another.

We have two 4th grade girls -- both from Mexico in the last year.

One teacher has an AR goal of 26 points for her student, while the other has a goal of 2.

??????????

Often the ESL teachers are an advocate for the child.

3.  There is so much to teach a newbie -- and we have two that came the same day the college students came.

vocab - phonics - math vocab - reading - writing - life skills

4.  You have to factor culture into teaching.  

It is impossible to teach ESL without understanding where they have come from.

5.  Playing games is essential to learning.

Life is not always about worksheets and testing.

6.  I hope that they have learned to have some fun with it.

It has been fun having them around,

but I still think it is funny that them came to Wendell Idaho for field experience. 

Talk about culture shock.

Sooooo Cooooold

It has been so cold here.

I mean really cold; like highs of 18 degrees.

And we are not going to talk about the lows.

For a really long time.

-There, I'm done complaining.-

So we were very happy when our new granddaughter arrived.

It made our hearts warm.

Welcome Annabelle!

The Day After

I lived through my snow day.

1.  The bedding is washed and the guest room is clean and ready to be used.

Feel free to stop by.

2.  I have been thinking about sourdough bread all week.

It is in the bread machine now.  

I sure hope it turns out.

3.  I made pumpkin muffins.  I freeze them so they stay fresh.

There are only 6 left....Richard????

4.  Since there were 3 of us home, we all had a bathroom duty.

I cleaned the shower.  It looks great.

5.  I finished this not so little table runner.  

That is the second thing I have finished this year.

I'm a little surprised. 

I just wanted a snow day because I was sick of driving to and from work in the snow.

The forecast looks like a lot cold days ahead...but no snow.

Snow Day

Anyone who lives in the Magic Valley, knows the words, snow and drifting snow, are a sure sign of

  S*N*O*W* D*A*Y* 

So we have a snow day and I have been making a list all week of things I want to do

1st ---  wash bedding

2nd ---  figure out how to make sour dough bread

3rd --- make muffins

4th --- clean bathrooms

5th --- quilt my snowman table runner.

I will let you know how this works out.