Jennifer, Morah!

So in case you were wondering, "Morah" is a transliteration of the Hebrew word meaning teacher. I started my new job working in the kindergarten at the Ethiopian Absorption center, and it's amazing. There are 11 ridiculously sweet and adorable Ethiopian children, all 4 and under, and I basically play with them all day. They only speak in Hebrew, but they don't speak all that much period, so it's fine. "Child" is a universal language anyway. In the morning, we played, then breakfast, then more playing and some dancing, then playing with mats and tunnels, then lunch, then washing up and nap time. I helped change diapers, wash hands, prepare food, do dishes, and entertain children. While they slept, we cleaned the whole place, mopping the floors and washing the counters. It was hard work, but it was really amazing and so much fun. I'm so excited that I'll be working there from now on!

When I got back from work at 1:30 pm, I was hungry and tired and really wanted to take a nap. But, after lunch, I ran into Ofra, the Ulpan and Volunteer coordinator. She told me that there was a Bedouin man who wanted his two daughters to be tutored in English and possibly in math and she'd thought of me. So we all met and talked about expectations, etc. He said he knows I'm not a professional and that it won't be completely structured. He pretty much gave me free reign. The older girl is 11 and has started to study English in school, but she only really knows the alphabet and a few words, it seems. The younger one knows a bit of the alphabet, but that's it. The really challenging part is that their Hebrew is barely better than their English, they mostly only speak Arabic.

As it turned out, the man was hoping for the first lesson to be that day! A bit shocked and nervous, I agreed to teach for an hour. My friend Ryan saw me and helped out. It was so much fun. We learned body parts and we walked around the Kibbutz learning objects. I just wanted the first lesson to get them engaged and to see how much they knew, and that's what we did. We played some Simon Says and sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."

Since the Gan (Kindergarten/Daycare) is closed on Fridays, I'll be tutoring the girls then. The plan is that I'll work in the Gan on Mondays and Wednesdays, and tutor on Fridays and one afternoon. (I have class Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday). I woke up this morning full of ideas and plans. Tonight, I'm making alphabet cards and such. I'm going to use words like "A is for America, B is for Be'er Sheva" so that the words are places they know. For the older girl, I'm going to teach the difference between capital and lowercase lectures and get her to match the capital letter cards with the lower case ones. For the younger girl, I'll work on the basics of the alphabet: The sounds of the letters and how to write each one. The dad is fantastic and said he'd buy anything I think they need. I'm going to try to go low-key, but I am going to ask him to buy an English-Arabic dictionary.

I really love children and I'm so excited about my amazing new jobs. All of this has inspired me to consider the possibility of a career in teaching. It's really intimidating and I know I'm just starting, but so far it's fantastic. I did this sort of thing in Nepal and loved it there too. My sister worked as an ESL (English to Speakers of other Languages) teacher before she had children. I'll definitely be e-mailing her for help, I'm sure. Perhaps I'll end up following in her footsteps!