Maestra! Maestra!

Today was my first day as a childrens class teacher…in SPANISH! Sure we’ve all taught a Daystar class or a neighborhood childrens class here and there, but this really felt like a real class. Not that it was obsessively compulsive about sticking to the program, but the children are so receptive and cooperative it’s amazing. 

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Aside from the fact that the kids showed up an hour late, I would say it was very successful. As the kids slowly trickled in, our worries disappeared. A few minutes before noon, we had ten gorgeous kids ready for class to begin. To begin, we all moved to the scene of our classroom, an open garage. All we had were 10 plastic chairs, one of which I almost broke by attempting to sit in it. A table, a pack of papel blanco, crayons and well, our high spirits! After a quick introduction about myself, my name, the fact that Im from Estados Unidos, we began class.

photo cred: my kids

Empezamos con un oracion (Lets start with a prayer) and so we did just that! I had written out “O God Guide me” in Espanol on a giant, naranja poster board. It read:

“Oh Dios, guiame, portegeme,

ilumina la lampara de mi corazon

y haz de mi una estrella brillante.

Tue res el Fuerte y el Poderoso.”

-Abdu’l-Baha

So sure at first this sounds like a breeze right? Hold up a poster board, read it, and ask them to recite it along with you. Easy enough right? Umm sure if I could stop sweating bullets! So much for the help Abuelo! I thought this was a team effort! All I got was a smile of encouragement! I continue to encourage the kids to the best of my ability to recite it with me. They do, in hushed tones.

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They are all shy in the beginning. But what’s that they say about each class having a shining star?!? Well we had a firecracker! Soooo sheytoon and adorable! We hate to smile when they’re being disruptive, but we cant resist. They lighten the mood! Anywho, after a few recitations of this prayer, we moved on to a cancion. As you can guess, I don’t exactly know any Bahai songs en Espanol, and so I taught them one in ENGLISH! Te hablas Ingles Maestra? Si! Yo hablo Ingles y solomente un poquito de Espanol. “Eeenggeeeellleeshhh?” Si! 

 Our little firecracker taking pictures of himself!

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So I taught them the words to “We are drops” and to the best of my ability explained the significance of the song, aka translated the lyrics into Spanish. In case you guys are curious this is what it would translate into:

“Somos cotas de un solo oceano,

Somos olas de un solo mar.”

“Somos flores de un solo jardin,

Somos ojas de un solo arbol”

Ok so that might not be what the entire song means, but they caught my drift. I explained to them that the cancion es sobre de unidad de las personas en todo el mundo, and suggested that I would give them un hoja de papel y crayons, and told them to: “Pinte la que apprendieron en la cancion” (To draw me what they understood of the song). They were enthusiastic to start drawing, even the boys!

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As they drew I continued to read over the lyrics and theyre meanings en Espanol, and before I knew it I had Picasos appear before my eyes! An unique collection of oceans, trees, flowers, and rain! If you know the song in English, then you know they understood what I had taught them! And that was such an exciting and rewarding feeling! After they finished their masterpieces, some of the kids asked for more paper to continue drawing while their peers finished up. Some even presented me with works of art! “Para ti maestro!” “Ayyy que bonito, me gusta mucho! Gracias!”

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After a quick water break, we were ready for a story. Or atleast I thought we were, I think the boys used the water break to recharge their engines! But I managed to herd them all back into our classroom area, and once we had all settled into our chairs, I read them a story en Espanol sobre la vida de Abdu’l-Baha as a child and his relationship with his father Baha’u’llah, during times of exile and persecution. A little much for the kids if you ask me, especially since we had just finished drawing flowers, trees and gardens and the like. But they were already asking “Baha’u’llah?” “Si!”

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To wrap up our class, we played a few rounds of “Gato y Raton” which was incredibly entertaining to watch since the kids assembled themselves and explained the game to yours truly.

[insert video of the kids playing, if only the internet was faster]

And thank God they did because I was planning to struggle explaining “Duck Duck Goose” to them in Spanish. We closed our class with one last recitation of “O God Guide me” en Espanol, and this time, I heard the little ninos loud and clear!

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Ready for snack time: Orange Tang? I haven’t seen that stuff since the 90’s! Well Tang and a pack of Oreos later (which turned out to be incredibly popular, my kids have good taste just like me) we were ready to say goodbye. We decided to tell the kids we would move the time for class next week to noon and asked who would come back and all TEN hands shot up! They make mama proud!

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White paper: $2

2 Boxes of Crayons: $2

Poster board: $1

Oreos: $3

3 Packs of Tang: $1

Knowing your 1^st children’s class in Panama was successful: Priceless.
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Just got home from Ruhi Book 6, time to post!