Teaching English

As you know, we were trained as English as an International Language teachers before leaving the MTC.  We also have a sponsor who we teach for.  We are very lucky in that our sponsor has "loaned" us out to an NGO in Murun called Tegsh Duuren.  It is an organization that provides a school for handicapped children in Murun.  And we have absolutely loved teaching there.  The kids range in age from 10 to 17 and have a variety of handicaps.  Some of the children had no handicaps and came for the summer. They have stopped coming now that school has started.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the kids we have grown to love.

Here they are putting the alphabet in order using alphabet cards we printed from the computer, they colored and we laminated.  Some of them are pretty good at this while others know of the others know some, but not all the letters.  We are also working on the sounds made by the letters

Mongolians love family pictures and I have used the calendar that Alison made for several classes teaching colors and family relations.  The kids are so cute and loved seeing pictures of our children and their families.

 Mongolian children are really very good students.  They bring their notebooks with them and love writing the new words in the book.  Here, one student is helping another student write in his book.  Augee has a very bright mind and seems to understand all we tell him.  He just has difficult communicating back and in making his hands form the letters. His favorite word is "green."

The ipad is a huge success.  The kids love to form the letters with their fingers and then say the name of the letter.  There are also other games with colors, numbers and words that they really enjoy.  They are also generally very good at taking turns and making sure everyone has the opportunity to form the letter, Bilgee is also very bright and can remember and repeat the letter names.  He is always so excited to see us when we come.

 This is our translator, Pujee, helping Augee form his letter.  She is so good with the kids and they all love her.  Augee's mom told the program supervisor how happy she is with the English class.  Augee, she said, is always very happy when Wednesday rolls around and he can go to school to learn English.  He is another one that is always happy to see us.  He has formed a special attachment to Alan!

 These are the two older girls from the advanced English class that Alan mostly does.  Shuree is on the left and wears sunglasses all the time because she is blind.  She is always very cheerful and thankful for our teaching.  The girl on the right is Enhee, the artist.  She has a friend who has taught her some English and she really understands quite a bit.  It is a little harder to speak English, but she is really quite good at that too.  They just need more opportunity to speak it and so they come to class.

Here we are learning colors.  We worked on that for several weeks and most of them now know at least the most basic colors.  They still have a hard time with yellow, purple and orange.  But they all know black and white for some reason!

This little boy is very bright and already knew most of what we were teaching.  Here we are working on family relationship and he could read the words, say the words and knew the Mongolian word.  So we know he knew what he was talking about.  He goes to school now, but still comes with his brother, Augee.  He can read English books and read Little Red Riding Hood to Alan!  He didn't know quite all the words, but he pretty much knew what was happening in the story and only needed a little help with his pronunciation.

Augee

Bilgee

Basca

Eggy

Dalia

This group of 5 girls came to the center based on an ad on TV telling them about free English classes.  They are all 12 and are all very bright.  They wanted to show us this dance routine they had put together.  They are cute girls, but are all back in their regular schools now.  They called themselves "The Happy Friends."  They were very dedicated students and had pretty good English skills.

This is a picture of Enhee drawing with her feet.  It was so amazing to see!  She uses her toes just like they were fingers.  And she is really very good!  She said she has been learning for about 10 years now.  She had an artist approach her about teaching her other lessons in art work--painting, etc.  It appears that she will be doing some studying with that artist.  She is such a happy and sweet girl and has pretty good English skills.

She colored the flower with our favorite colors--read petals and an orange center.  She also drew a blue bird, the sun and grass in the picture.  Then she signed her name and gave it to us.  We were very touched by her thoughtfulness and her abilities.  She also designs clothing and has quite a portfolio of things she has created.  She is really very talented and said she wants to be a translator some day.

Alan tried to hold a pencil with his toes and failed miserably.  That she can do this and do such a great job is really quite remarkable.

 Here she displays the picture she drew.  Doesn't she just have the cutest smile!

 She is also very good at using scissors and cutting with her toes.  She made this hanging mobile for us and it was amazing to watch how her feet would flip the paper and how her toes would work the scissors.  And she was really quite fast at accomplishing this!  She is truly an amazing young lady!

 This is Shuree taking notes in class using her Braille notebook.  We spell out the words in English while she writes them in her notes.  Then she reads them back to us and tells us how to use the word.  She has been blind since she was 5.  She and Enhee are great friends and make a great team.  Shuree can help Enhee by using her hands and Enhee can be Shuree's eyes.  They are so helpful and thoughtful of each other and of others too!  They are a great example to me of a positive attitude in times of difficulty.  They are both very cheerful and happy young ladies.

Shuree taught herself to play the piano.  Since there was no piano at the school for her to play, we took them both to the church one day after class and she played the piano there.  She could play "Silent Night" and several traditional Mongolian songs and some Korean songs as well.  She is also teaching herself to speak Korean.  What an amazing person!

As you can tell, this has been an extremely rewarding experience for us.  We have grown to love these kids and their optimistic outlook on life.  They have truly taught us some valuable lessons on making the most of what you have.  We feel very humbled to be considered their teachers when they have taught us so much.