Three Weeks & Counting!

I had to post today. In exactly 3 weeks I will be on a plane to Romania! Wow!

So I’ve added a few things to my preparations. Besides trying to finish going over all the material I’ll be teaching, I also am making it a goal to walk at least 30 minutes every day. It was recommended since I will be walking virtually everywhere for the two week trip. By the way, I really look forward to this! I’ve always wondered what its like to walk down the street to the market, catch a bus across town to go shopping, etc, etc. It’s what I love about Chicago. You don’t need a car at all. Don’t get me wrong; I love the independence of driving, and I LOVE my mini cooper. But it’s a hassle sometimes, and a painful expense, especially when it comes to gas prices and maintenance. So yeah, two weeks of walking will do both body and soul some good 🙂

I also want to get into the habit of blogging every day since I have made it a goal to do so for every day of my trip. So as I realized today that I only have 3 more weeks to prepare, I figured today was the best day to start these two habits of walking every day and blogging every day. Hooray! I accomplished both today!

In other news, I’m finally getting serious about the material I will be using for the trip. WEI has these booklets that use an abbreviated version of the Bible to teach English. Each day my students will be expected to complete a lesson in grammar and reading, and complete the homework. I will then check their homework the following day, and then give them a new assignment. So I have to go through the material myself, make sure I understand what I will be trying to teach them, and fill out the answers in my own copies so I can check there work.

Well this may come as a shock, but these simple lessons in English have made me realize how little I remember from all those years of studying English and all the technicalities that govern the language I use everyday. I’m fairly certain that there are 9^th graders who could complete these lessons faster than me right now because I’ve had to go back a brush up on definitions and types of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, you name it. It’s made me a feel a little pathetic, but in the end I know there are a lot of things I say and write naturally and correctly after all these years. Shout out to all those good English teachers I had!

So today has been a successful day of progression in my preparations. Thanks for reading, and more to come soon!