Education, Part 2

Well, this post is going to be about the elementary school where I'm teaching English and the beautiful children who attend it.

It's right on the campus of the hospital and I'm so blessed to be working there.  Teaching is compartmentalized by subjects with all the teachers changing rooms each period except for the nursery and daycare teachers.

As mentioned in the last post, school hours here in Nepal are from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  This allows the children who walk (most of them) plenty of time and classes run Sunday - Friday.

Every morning school starts with an assembly.  There are exercises

and songs

and then everyone goes to their classes.  I start the day with a worship time with the Nursery/Daycare group, who are so cute I can hardly stand it.  They wait for me and I feel like a movie star when I go in--they literally cheer!

(Of course, some of them fall asleep!)

The first graders are very happy and enthusiastic.  (You may notice a child with the first graders who looks older than the others.  He is older.  He and his brother, who looks and is older than his Nursery classmates, were unable to start school until this year.  I'm so happy they are with us.  Several classes have kids of varying ages in them, depending on when the children were able to start attending.  The nice thing is that no one notices the age differences and all are very happy.)

Second graders are always fun and they try so hard to do well!  Here is their classroom:

They were at recess when I was snapping pics.

The third graders very studious, yet also super fun!

The fourth graders are starting to grow up and enjoying it!

The fifth graders are the "big kids."  After being here since they were in Nursery, they are doing very well in their last year with us.

They were a little camera shy and only one would be in my picture!  However, another one volunteered to demonstrate how they drink water.  This is very common and you even see it in church.  Water that has been put through a filter in inside the pitcher.  This way everyone can share the same pitcher.

The kids are served a nice hot lunch every day

and have one recess.

We're so glad that the rains are lessening so we can play outside!

The couple you see are the volunteers we have now for a few months.  Just as I was snapping this picture, I heard Filip saying, "I told you yesterday, you CAN'T run when someone catches the kicked ball!"  :)

Filip and his wife Elena are a big help around here!

(When they leave, we'll have an opening for some more volunteers..........anyone know anyone who might be interested?????)

Every Friday, we have Movie Time.  Here the kids are watching Charlie Chaplin.

Sometimes the fifth grade girls and some of the Kindergartners opt to play "School" instead of watching the movie.

(By the way, the Kindergarten class is the only class I don't go into.  I wish I could but I don't have time.)

Sometimes we do other fun things on Fridays as well.  Once we had a Spelling Bee.

Once we had a Game Day.  Here is the cheering section:

Instruction time:

And they're off:

Now it's time for the little ones.

"You know what to do.  When I say, 'GO!' you run just like the big kids did!  OK?--On your mark, get set, GO!!!!"

Oops!  Only one is running!  :)  Go on guys, RUN!!!  :)  ~Aren't they adorable?!

The older kids had a fun race...

 and played "Memory."

It was a really nice day.


Another day we had "Story, Joke, Song Time" when anyone could get up and tell a story or a joke or sing a song.  Super fun!

I tell you, it's a real blessing to be working here.  The kids are so loving and sweet, and so eager to learn.  Thank you for your prayers as we continue working here.

(Ramon is very busy at the hospital, as usual.  They recently had patients from a very bad bus accident on a nearby mountain road where two buses collided head-on.  There were many fatalities.  It was very sad for everyone, but at least the survivors made it to the hospital in time.  One of Ramon's patients was a ten-month old baby.  Praise the Lord he and his mother survived.) 

Blessings to you all and more to come soon!