Islamabad

I can't believe that I have been in Pakistan for two weeks now! Time has just flown by. I will try and post some pictures later, I am just have a little problem figuring out this computer. I am borrowing one of the ladies computers at the school and its all in German...So back to what I have been doing. Yesterday was my last day at the little school in Rahim. They had a little appreciation assembly for me where students from each class presented either a story, song, or poem in English. (most of which I taught to them) It has been very exciting to see how much the students have learned but also the teachers willingness to let me into their class and teach a little differently. I have already seen some of the teachers change some of their teaching methods away from strict memorization to some application.

I flew into Islamabada thismorning and have met most of the teachers at the school. They are from everywhere around the world. I am still not to sure whats all going on. There is a girl arriving from the US tomarow and I am sure I will find out more information then. I know I will be teaching Afgahn refugee girls, which I am very exciting about.

May 15

I have been in Pakistan for almost a week now and have adjusted very well. Everyone keeps commenting on how well I have adjusted to the heat, which is nice to hear. It is very hot to be honest though reaching 40 some days.

Monday- Saturday I am in the classroom teaching kindergarten- grade 8, English. This is going very well. I have been able to use a lot of what I learned in university here. They teach children only through memorization so I find that the children often do not understand what they are learning. I am trying to show the teachers that there are other ways to teach children. Another thing that I am trying to encourage in the school is incorporating fun and variety into the classroom through having interactive lessons. Sometimes however the language barrier gets in the way and neither the teacher nor students fully understand what I am trying to explain. For example the other day in the kindergarten class I wanted to play bingo. I made the cards and asked the children to write one letter from the alphabet in each box. Some of the older children understood this and for the ones that didn’t I filled in the boxes. I then handed out 6 gummy bears to each student and tried explaining that they should put a gummy bear on the letter that I call. That did not work at all, what they did instead was make the shape of the letter with the gummy bears. They did have a lot of fun doing this however.

Yesterday night I ran a workshop for the teachers in the school. This also went very well; the teachers were very responsive and eager to learn some new ways of teaching. It’s very exciting to be using what I just learned in university to help people here.

Teaching

I have made it to Pakistan safely, after over 28 hours of travelling. It was such a blessing to have Rebecca travel with me to London. It made my 7 hour layover go by a lot faster. From London, England I flew to Islamabad where I had a 5 hour layover. My flight from Islamabad to Rahim was just 2 hours which was a nice break from the previous 7 hour flights. The last plane I flew on was very small, it only seated about 30 people and only half of the seats were filled. Before the flight took off, the captain said a little prayer to Allah. This really shocked me and made me aware of just how predominate Islam is in Pakistan. The man sitting beside me on the plane was very eager to talk to me and learn about myself and Canada. He kept telling me how brave I was to travel to Pakistan all alone and for such a long time. I met his wife at the airport once we landed and they invited me to come visit their home some time. I love how warm and welcoming the people here are. I have only been in the country 2 days and there has been numerous occasions where people have really reached out to me whether they invited me into their home for something cold to drink or have given me popsicle because they know I like ice cream.

Today is my second day in Pakistan and also my first day teaching. I am teaching English in a little 5 room school. The school is Christian but also has some Muslim students and teachers. There are 105 students that attend school this school, most of which are boys. The school day starts at 7:15 with an assembly where they sing some songs and go through announcements. The first class of the day is Bible, I sat in the 7-8 class where they sang some songs and read part of Proverbs 24. They asked me to sing a song, so I sang “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” because I thought they would like the actions, they just started at me. After Bible I started my 35 min rotation of teaching English. Because there are only 5 classrooms (one of which is a hallway) there are numerous grades in one room and it can get very loud. I worked with each grade sharing a little about myself and the country I came from and working on improving their English. Teaching was interesting, they memorize everything so when I tied asking the grade one class to sound out the word cat and they couldn’t. I worked with it though and played some word games with them and read some books to the different classes. I am really looking forward to spending more time in the school working with the students. On Monday and Thursday I will be running some teacher training sessions in the evening. I was a little intimidated with this at first but the teachers are so excited about learning some new ways of teaching. I already have a list of things I want to teach them.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for me, It has been very encouraging. I was really scared about coming over here alone but God has been so faithful in bringing people into my life that have encouraged me and really lifted me up in prayer. I am learning about what it really means to all be apart of Christ’s body.

5 days

The count down begins, 5 days from today I will be boarding a plane headed towards South Asia. I really am not sure what to expect, but I am excited to see all that God has in store for me.
I have spent the last couple days in Toronto going through some training to prepare me to go to the place God has called me to for this summer. Through this training orientation week, I have had the chance to meet the most amazing women....Yep, our group is made up of 8 ladies and we are having an amazing super terrific time! Learning, sharing, discovering and growing more and more with eachother's help, we have all been able to see God's hand at work in all our situations.
I would like to ask you all to pray for me as I undergo all the excitement and adjustments that God has in plan for me. Safety of travel and direction once I land are things that are really concerning me right now. God has answered part of my prayers in that regards by allowing for on of the girls from my training group to fly out with me. Rebecca and I will be flying out from Toronto straight to London and part ways there as she heads out to Angola.
Thank you for your prayers...I'll be in touch with you shortly!!!