Teaching

I love the tools of my trade. In fact, I love that I actually HAVE a trade. When I tell people that I'm an ESL teacher, it still seems strangely easy. When I was in China I told people "I teach English", not "I'm an English teacher" because I didn't feel like I had either the training or the experience to claim the title. I still don't have the experience, but since I have a teaching degree, it seems reasonable to claim myself as a teacher. I guess.

Anyway, last night as I was planning a lesson for my beginning ESL class, I spent about 25 minutes on the internet looking for a picture or cartoon that I could use to teach body parts. I finally came up with this:

After all that time of finding NOTHING, this picture made me happy. The only word I couldn't teach with it was "back". But 9 out of 10 isn't bad, especially at 10:30 at night. I proceeded to put the picture into a word document and make it into a worksheet.

As I printed out the worksheet to copy before class the next day, Dr. Seaman's (one of my TESOL profs) voice echoed in my head...."cultural sensitivity is really important when you teach ESL, especially when you're teaching students who come from a very different background and tradition."

Suddenly my fantastic body parts man looked very naked and very not-so-kosher for the Ethiopian woman in my class who was raised in a largely Muslim part of the world. Too much skin.

So back to the drawing board I went. But after about 10 more minutes of searching I realized that I wasn't going to find what I wanted. And then a stroke of genius hit me. A few minutes and one light blue post-it note later, I had this:

Ta-dah! Probably still too much leg for the ultra-conservative among us, but at 11pm it was close enough. I was pretty pleased with my creativity.

Tonight I went to work with flash cards that say things like "hand", "ear", and "arm". I also took two flyswatters, for the ESL teacher's greatest tool- the flyswatter game.

I could have a job that requires a copy of the Wall Street Journal or a stethoscope or a tool belt. But I'm happy I have one that involves flashcards, markers, flyswatters, and shaving cream. I'm thankful for my job.

The Button

This morning I took an alternate morning constitutional route, mostly to avoid some of the middle-schoolers groggily making their way to school at 7:30am. I find it odd that the middle school in my neighborhood seems to begin classes about 7:45, but the elementary school, two blocks away, doesn't start until about 9. Weird.

Anyway, in this alternate route I happily noticed a big, beautiful lilac bush, growing right by the road. Its aroma called out to me, "Stop, Leslie! Smell the lilacs!" And so I stopped and smelled. Then I relished. Then I smelled again, as big a lungful of lilac as I could hold, and relished some more. As I began to think I might hyperventilate if I relished too much more, I noticed a shiny, pink circle stuck to the telephone pole in the middle of the bush.

It was a button. Its bright, glossy surface caught my eye and I stepped closer. It read "I am loved" in happy white letters. I was struck by the joy of such a simple phrase. Really, is there anything better than being loved? Nope. At least, not that I can think of.

So I decided that if I ever come across buttons like that for sale I am gonna buy as many as I can afford and give them out to all the people I love because sometimes you forget. That just shouldn't be, because it's hard to be happy if you're not loved, and hard to be sad if you are.

The Testimony

Pre-script: thanks for those who've shown concern for my recent mango poisoning. I'm happy to report that I seem to be well on my way to a full recovery.

This week God has been proving himself to me so much that I just have to pause for a moment of public acknowledgement and praise.

Last Sunday night I bought my plane ticket to Quito. This was my second time to purchase a one-way ticket to a foreign country, and I'm happy to report it being a bit less scary the second time around.

What was NOT less scary, however, was the moment (Monday morning) when I logged onto my online bank account and realized that my savings had dwindled, with the help of the substantial ticket purchase, to nearly nothing. Because I've only been working part time, I had anticipated this happening at some point, but I guess in my head "some point" was a little closer to August than to May. In any case, my mind set to work immediately, analysing any big purchases which would be upcoming between now and my first regular paycheck from my job in Quito.

That industrious organ of mind spun and chugged and steamed its way through lots of figures and estimations and calculations and decided that perhaps I could survive without a grocery run or a gas fill-up for a couple weeks, and manage to hobble back home in June without going bankrupt. I was panicking, and feeling a little let down by my God.

This whole semester I've been praying that if the Lord wanted me to be working more hours, that He would provide another job. When nothing surfaced, I assumed that was His answer- a season of rest. A breather, between a busy season of school and what will in all likelihood be a busy season of teaching. And until the fateful checkbook balance moment, I had rested in that answer.

Suddenly, the numbers were causing me to doubt. Was I just being lazy? Should I have tried harder to find a full-time job? Should I have cut back on my spending and used my savings less quickly? Did I misunderstand?

And God reached down to my brain and stopped the spinning. He said, "Leslie, beloved, after all this time, after years and years of proving myself to you, do you still doubt me? Do you still think I won't meet your needs? Will you let me prove myself faithful to you again?"

And I said, "Oh, yeah....right! I remember! I remember somehow having $800 leftover in my bank account when it was time to leave China- money I can't explain. I remember a friend telling me about a travel agent who got me a ticket home for a few hundred less than I could find online. I remember cards with cash from family members that arrived in time to pay a doctor bill or to pay for school books. I remember the generous gift of a car, sold to me well below its value. I DO remember your faithfulness, God. And I will trust you to be faithful again."

So that day was a battle. Stressing out, remembering, peace....stressing out, remembering, peace. Seventeen years, I've been walking with the Lord. Maybe after 27 or 37 I'll be able to skip the "stressing out" step?

Then they started falling- the blessings. Or rather, the blessings CONTINUED falling, and God opened my eyes to them. My God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and he sold a few for me this week.

First the Spirit opened my eyes to a blessing that had already fallen; I had nearly missed it. I'd been looking for a sub-leaser for June and July, but until last weekend I'd only been able to find someone for the final two weeks. I would still have to pay 3/4 of the rent for the two months I'd be home. But that weekend another girl had called looking for a place beginning June 1st; the day after I will move out. She wants to room for the whole two months. That's two months rent I won't have to come up with.

Then I remembered that a friend owed me a good chunk of money for a shared expense, that I hadn't calculated in. She's paid me back now, and my balance has risen.

Soon after, I realized that I would be getting $100 from my landlords, as a thank-you for finding a replacement for my room in the house (they really like us, and they didn't want to find new leasers). I had forgotten.

Tuesday I got an email from World Relief (I teach ESL through them) begging for help for their annual benefit auction. On Friday I worked there for over 9 hours, at my normal teaching wage.

While I was at the auction, another World Relief teacher asked if I would substitute teach in her class, the Tuesday before I leave town.

Wednesday, a roommate of mine had breakfast with a friend of hers that I had never met. Somehow my tight financial situation came up, and that friend said, "Hey! I'm going to be gone for three weeks at the end of May and I need to find a temp to fill in. It's standard office work stuff- do you think she'd be interested?" My roommate brought me her name and number. This Friday I'm to come in so she can show me around. Next Monday I'll start working there. 20-25 hours per week, for the middle two weeks of May.

Big blessings and little ones. Reminders of my Father's faithfulness. He has promised to meet all my needs. Sometimes I feel like those needs are pretty darn big. But my God is bigger still. I don't understand how it works. It's like magic, but better. It's the power of God- Jehovah Jirah, the God who Provides.