It seems like my Sabbath is always the day I’m guaranteed to have time to update! This week has been a little crazy just working out all of the ESL stuff, but I’ve really enjoyed the household that I am teaching. I and another short-termer worked with three women from Somalia. They were incredibly sweet, funny, and enthusiastic about learning English, but they knew nothing before my partner and I walked through the door. This week, we were able to get through the basic greeting of:
Hello, how are you?
I am ______.
What is your name?
Where are you from?
along with starting in on colors, numbers, and a few pieces of clothing. We did a lot of acting and pointing because there was nobody in the house who could even translate what we were teaching into Somali.
Still, it was an amazing experience to be able to teach them. They had a lot of humor about the situation. Several times all five of us burst out in laughter at a mispronounced word or my inability to say a phrase in Somali. Who ever knew that the word “purple” could be so difficult to pronounce? I think we spent ten minutes alone on that word, and they still are saying “people” instead of “purple”. If you have any ideas for how to help these women remember English words I would really appreciate it. I’m excited to build a relationship with them over the course of several weeks. Thanks so much for all your prayers!
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