Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

Combining well known passages from the early chapters of Acts with anecdotal stories from Bible times to today, this book seeks to challenge readers to “make a difference”. From young people to the elderly, Max invites readers to make a difference, in one way or another.

When I read the first few chapters of Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado I was a little disappointed. I’ve read most of his other inspirational titles, and this one just didn’t seem destined to have the impact of some of the others. After all, I’m already living and working cross-culturally in a third world country, where I hope that I am making a difference in the lives of the children that I teach. I’ve definitely stepped out of my comfort zone of middle class Australia. Fortunately, having agreed to review this book, I kept on reading and I’m really glad I did because once again God is using Max’s writing to challenge me. Some of the later chapters are definitely touching some sensitive spots. A gentle reminder of the power of prayer, something nothing and no-one can stop us doing, was timely for me. Don’t take my word for it. Get hold of a copy of this book and read it with an open heart. You can make a difference!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com http://BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

Miss Karen I like Maths now!

It's comments like this that just make your day. This came from a little girl in my class who really finds mathematics difficult. She spent the first 5 years of her life in an orphanage, and while I'm sure she was provided with the physical things she needed there is so much that she missed out on. Simple things like counting games in the car on family trips, like helping mummy count the cans of soup to buy in the weekly grocery shop, like playing counting games with big brothers and sisters. Mathematics is all around us in the world, but children in orphanages tend to miss out on much of this. This little girl is fortunate. She was adopted by loving parents who are doing their best, not only to provide her with her current needs, but also to help her make up for some of the things she has missed. I love mathematics, and having my students enjoy it is just one of the many pleasures of being a teacher. It's not always easy to do this, especially when students have not seen successes in the past, but it is worth every minute of preparation that it takes to help the struggling students and at the same time extend the more capable ones. I love this job!

It's too cold!

On Thursday morning this week it was not until I had been at school for about 15 minutes that I realised I'd left my swimsuit at home. Oh no! Swimming is compulsory, and teachers are expected to be in the water with their students. I will admit that I wasn't looking forward to swimming, but I had put all my gear in my swim bag ready to go and then simply forgot about it in the early morning rush. I decided to confess to the principal and see what she wanted me to do. I always prefer being up front about these things. As it turned out, she had been meaning to tell us that, given the usually cool temperatures this week, it would be OK for us not to do swimming this week. Hooray! That got me out of a whole. While some of the students were a little disappointed, the girls all enjoyed our skipping and ball games time. The boys were a little more disappointed on Friday, although not all of them, however by the time they had spent 45 minutes playing UNO in groups of 7 or 8 with a teacher or assistant none were upset by it. Brrr! While I'm enjoying the cooler weather, I do hope it warms up a little before next Thursday, or at least that it is a little less windy than it was on Thursday and Friday. That wind was definitely coming from Arctic regions!

Sharing your writing is so much fun.

One of the fun things that part of my class did this week was to share their writing with some of the students in one of the Kindergarten classes. I mentioned two weeks ago that one of my Language Arts groups had been writing "David" stories. Some of the children didn't get them finished in class, so I gave them a week to finish them, and on Wednesday this week we headed down to Kindergarten to read the stories. First I read the original "David goes to School" to the class, then we paired the children up and they each got to read their stories to several Kindergarten students. The stories have now been placed on display in the school library so other children can enjoy the work of these budding authors.

I learned a lot from this teaching activity. I think the most important thing that I learned is that if you give children a model and a structure they find it much easier to write, than if you just ask them to write you a story. This is especially true for students working in their second or third language. As a teacher, I know that I still have so much to learn, and I hope that I will always be a lifelong learner.

Another fun writing task we have undertaken over the last week has been letter writing. Over the summer we were contacted by a teacher in the UK who wanted to give her students a genuine writing activity, as well as a chance to learn a little more about another country. We received the letters from her students a short time ago (yep, arrived safely through the mail), and hopefully all the replies from my students will be ready to post off on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Most are done, but a few still have pictures to finish. They've asked if we would send them some audio/video, so that will also be on the agenda of things to do on Monday. That will need to go electronically, but it will be fun to do. Hopefully my internet connection will cooperate sufficiently to allow me to send it, or I might just burn it on a CD and send it that way. Either way, it's fun for the children to have this link with children on the other side of the world, and to see some of the ways their penpal's lives are similar and different to their own.

Writing can also be challenging. Children who read widely are also better able to write well. Imagine that you can speak a language, but cannot read or write it. When most of your lessons are in that language, school has just become so much more difficult. Planning meaningful lessons when your student's abilities vary from beginning readers to competent readers reading at or above grade level is especially challenging. That's one of the main challenges of my classroom this year. There's a great resource that I've been trialling the last week, but it requires a subscription for me to continue using it. It allows me to differentiate my reading lessons very well without too much effort, and the program contains a substantial number of non-fiction texts as well as fiction ones, so cultural issues become less of a problem than with other programs. Pray that I will make wise decisions about the best and most ethical use of the limited resources available to me.

A day I could have done without

Life continues to be an adventure. I woke this morning to the sound of thunder and rain. Now that makes it really hard to get up, but I managed to get out of bed and get organised for the day. By the time I left for school the rain had stopped, so I packed the raincoat in my backpack, along with all the other goodies for the day, including my peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and headed off to school. The road at the end of my street was slightly flooded, but nothing major like a week ago, and so I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary as I headed to school. I got part way down my new route (which is about 5 minutes shorter than the old route), and found the road was partially underwater. It was interesting to realise that the concrete blocks down the centre of the road were also providing a mini dam in some places, and fortunately for me I was on the high (dry) side. I did end up going through water for about one block, which was more challenging because of all the potholes that I couldn't see to avoid. I eventually arrived at school only slightly damp to just above the knees and definitely on time.

The first part of the morning went well, with story time, handwriting, changing library books, and problem solving. I also had the fun task of playing postman for my children. Over the summer break we had arranged to exchange letters with students in an English school in Great Britain. The letters arrived last week, and so today I distributed them to the children. This was very exciting for most of them, since generally they had never received any mail before. Later this week we will be writing replies, which will be fun.

Recess saw me on duty in the playground, and the children having lots of fun! I haven't forgotten I promised photos of them skipping, and had actually hoped to get some good ones today, but the skippers were in a different area of the playground to where I was supervising. They are coming.

After recess we have our Language Arts time, and the first part of the lesson went really well. The children were busily planning their stories when I was summoned to the office. Late last week we were asked to bring out passports to school today, and somehow I forgot. I arrived along with the other teachers who for various reasons had also been summoned to the office. After considerable time we were interviewed, and answered some questions. Just before lunch time, myself and a colleague were asked to go with the officials, and so began a lengthy visit to a local police station. That gave me a chance to get to know my colleague a little better than I might otherwise have. We answered questions, and thumb printed the interview record, and eventually we were allowed to leave, and by 3pm we were back at school. I praise God that He kept us safe, and that He kept us calm and patient. I think that the thing that I was most concerned about my absence was what my students would be thinking, and I pray that they will not have been worried by the whole situation (in reality they probably knew very little). God is good. I could have been alone, but not only was I with a colleague, but I was with a colleague who shared my faith. It could have been a very hot day, but it was overcast and relatively cool, so we were not as uncomfortable as we could have been. Lunch was definitely very much enjoyed when I eventually got it at 3pm this afternoon.

Well, that's it for today. I praise God that He was with me through this experience, and that it ended in freedom. The experience has certainly made me appreciate our Khmer staff. I'm not sure what God's purpose in today's events was or is, but I do know that He will use it for His good.

What's happening in Grade 3K?

This week some of my students have had a lot of fun writing "David" stories. No, I'm not talking about David and Goliath. I'm talking about a very normal, naughty little boy. The first story in the series is called No, David, and the second, which we had lots of fun reading this week, is called David Goes To School.

Imagine if you can, all the things a little boy could get up to which would be unhelpful in the classroom, and you have David. After we read the story together, several times, I challenged my students to write me a David story. Possible topics were David Goes to the Farm, David Goes to the Market, and David Goes to the Zoo. They had a great deal of fun doing this, and are now at the point where they are publishing their stories. Next week, we will take our stories down to the Kindergarten classes, so the children can read them to a real audience. Some of these students have very little English, or at least limited reading and writing ability, and so the task has really challenged them, but they have risen to the challenge

Tomorrow, I plan to share one of my favourite books with the children: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Have you had days like that? I know I have, but tomorrow is not going to be one of them. How do I know that? I know it will be a good day, because I'm giving it to God, and I know He will guide me through the day. There's a possibility "bad" things could happen, but I know that God can use whatever happens for good, so long as I let Him. I hope that my students have a great day.

It's also going to be a good day because I have a new bell for my classroom, which I plan to teach the children about. If the bell dings once, it will mean be a little quieter. If it dings twice, it will mean be a lot quieter, and if it dings three times then everyone must stop talking until the bell dings again. Hopefully I won't have to get to three dings! This also means that my clapping pattern can be used consistently when I want the children to stop talking, put their pencils down, and look at me. This will usually be because I need to give further instructions or because it is time to transition.

Well, it's time I stopped rambling on, and finished some planning for tomorrow so I can go to bed!

It's an adventure following Jesus

Some of you might recognise the title of this post as a children's song that was popular at STBC for a number of years. Following Jesus in Cambodia is definitely an adventure. Some days are more adventurous than others. This afternoon, while I was at the gym, I had a chance to see some Australia news, and I noted with interest that South East Queensland has been deluged again. I just checked the TRC website, and it's great to see the dam levels slowly increasing (even if some of it is coming from the Wivenhoe Dam). Why was this so interesting? Because the rain has been the cause of adventures for me today!

I headed down to school about 8.45am this morning, noting that traffic was back to its normal chaotic self, after several peaceful days over the holidays. It was overcast when I left, but not raining, and I arrived safely. I'd been there about an hour when the heavens opened, and we received a torrential downpour. It eased after about an hour or so, and I was able to get down to the photocopy shop about 2.30pm without getting too damp. When I left there, I put my raincoat on, and headed up to the gym through reasonably gentle rain. I spent about an hour at the gym and by the time I left it was raining heavily again. Based on past experience, I felt it would be best to take the long way home (it's higher ground), which I did, and so I didn't have to go through any flood waters until I was about one block from home. The semi main road which runs parallel to my street was still OK, but once I turned off it, I was in water (over a foot deep in places) all the way home. In fact there had been so much rain that the water was up to the top of our driveway. The photo below was taken previously, and gives you some idea of just how much rain we have had. The whole street was a river this afternoon. The day this photo was taken there was at least some road visible in front of our house.
When I got in to my apartment, it was to be greeted by pools of water across the kitchen floor. Fortunately the floor is tiled, and it just requires mopping, but I've just mopped it for the 3rd time, and it's likely to continue accumulating all night! Where does it come from? It appears to seep through the wall, which may have been waterproofed at some time in the past, but it no longer is! At least it's clean water.
So my prayer for tonight is that it will stop raining long enough for the water to drain away. I can handle going through dirty water (often mixed with sewerage) on the way home, but I really don't like doing it on the way to start the day.
I also feel for those people, and there are many of them, whose homes are flooded with this dirty water, or who don't have a decent roof over their heads, and so will have a very damp night tonight.