My Missions Trip to L.A. and Mexico

I always loved to travel and have seen many different countries over the years.  I began traveling abroad when I was 21, but last summer I embarked on a new adventure.  I went on my first missions trip with a few other members of my church and it was my favorite trip ever.  First, we went to Los Angeles.  In Los Angeles we had the opportunity to work with several Christian ministries that help the poor and the homeless.  We spent our first day at a soup kitchen serving the homeless.  My friend Eric and I were working in the kitchen preparing the meal.  We were cooking alongside of a man who used to be homeless himself.  Now, he has a place to live, but comes back to the soup kitchen to feed others.  He appreciated the warm meals when he was homeless and chose to give back to the people who gave so much to him by becoming a volunteer.  This man had so much great advice to give to us.  We all talked the whole time we prepared the meal and he left a special impression on Eric and I.  We had a great time working with him and we all prepared a great meal for the guests.  After serving the meal, we went back into the kitchen and though our work was over we continued to talk to this man for a considerable amount of time.  He had so much to share about life and we were grateful to hear his views.  We also visited an old motel that had been turned into homes for the homeless.  It was called the Kingdom Center.  Different churches all came together to help the homeless by preparing rooms for several families with all each family would need.  The families are chosen and live there for a small fee and are encouraged to get involved with the church that sponsored them.  It was great to see different people with different views and beliefs working together to help others as God instructs us to do.  Another day we worked at  a different soup kitchen and participated in a prayer group for Hollywood after which we went up to the Hollywood Hills to pray over the city.  We also went to South Central L.A. to help put flooring down in an elderly woman's house.  This woman was a white woman whose husband was a Pastor.  When he died she returned to Texas, but she was very lonely there until an African American Pastor went to bring her back home and gave her this home to live in.  It showed us that even in an area where there was once so much violence done to those of different races, people can live together in peace regardless of the color of their skin.

However, the most amazing part of the trip for me was our weekend spent in Tijuana, Mexico.  It is a sight to see when you cross over the border from California and enter Mexico.  In California you are surrounded by beaches, palm trees, and beautiful houses.  When you enter Mexico you feel like you have gone back a century.  Everyone lives in broken down houses, the majority of the roads are dirt roads, and skinny, starving dogs roam the streets.  We stayed at a missions base at a man named Sergio's house who runs several orphanages, a hospice and a home for the elderly.  While we were there we worked at one of the orphanages.  We were glad to see that the children were well cared for there.  We brought them toys and had a barbecue for them.  The children really enjoyed playing with us.  We painted their nails and they painted ours.  They all wanted to do our hair for us and we let them.  You had to see the hair styles they left us with!  It was quite a sight!  We had so much fun with the kids.  We put tons of packets of gum on the table for them to choose from and they were so excited.  One girl was counting each piece of the gum she chose to see how many days the gum would last. It was sad to learn that many of these kids have families living in the area. However, these families are so poor that they can't afford to take care of their own children.  They leave their children at the orphanage during the week because they know their children will have food to eat and get an education.  On weekends these children go home to see their families.  There were some children in the orphanage who were true orphans, but very few.  However, the highlight of the trip for me was going up into the mountains where the poorest people live.  We brought with us toy cars, gum, toothbrushes and some clothing to pass out.  At first we saw few people, but as people heard that we were there all of a sudden we were surrounded by kids.  All they asked for was one car or one pack of gum.  They were so excited and so were their parents.  I remember a little boy who must have only been about 3 years old.  Someone had given him a toothbrush and he was so excited.  He ran to his mother, shaking the toothbrush, so happy to show her what he had been given.  There was one mother who we gave a couple bars of soap to.  She never stopped smelling the soap or having others smell the soap.  As we walked up and down the mountain we saw houses that were in shambles and small shacks with too many people living in them. However, more than we saw the houses they lived in, we saw the people and how appreciative they were that someone thought of them and thought of their children.  Every time we gave a child something not only would the child's face light up, but the adults with them were also so grateful.  I'll always remember the children who surrounded us all along the mountain just to get a pack of gum.  It's amazing how grateful children are to get something so little, when they often live without getting anything special.  I know if I gave my nieces or nephews a pack of gum or a toothbrush as a gift, they wouldn't be very excited.  These children however, don't have much at all, and we had the opportunity to brighten their day.  I know the kids were thankful for what they received, but I really believed watching them lifted us up more than we lifted them up.  When we had given out all we had come with we were disappointed to not have more to give.  We all learned what a gift it is to give to others and that it is definitely more important to give than to receive.  We learned the next morning that 12 people had been killed in Tijuana the weekend we were there, but never once did we feel unsafe.  All we were thinking of was the people and how we could make just a small difference in their lives.  We may have made a small difference, but in reality it was them who made the biggest difference in us. 

Vocabulary

1.abroad: overseas: to another country

2. embarked: set forth on; took part

3. adventure:journey; trip

4.opportunity: chance

5. preparing: making

6.appreciated: was glad for

7. impression: impact

8.considerable: long 

9.grateful: glad; thankful for

10.participated: took part in

11.amazing: great, special

12. highlight: best part

13. shambles: destroyed; falling apart

Activity:

Matching Column

1.participated                                             a. destroyed; falling apart

2. embarked                                               b.glad; thankful for

3.shambles                                                 c.overseas; to another country

4.preparing                                                d.took part in

5.grateful                                                    e.best part

6.highlight                                                   f.set forth on; took part

7.abroad                                                    g.making

8.adventure                                                h.great; special

9.considerable                                            i.long

10.opportunity                                            j.chance

11.appreciated                                           k.journey; trip

12.amazing                                                 l. impact

13.impression                                            m. was glad for

Grammar Point:

Throughout the paragraph above I have used adjectives.  Adjectives are words that describe nouns.  An example from the paragraph is: "skinny, starving dogs".  "Skinny" and "starving" are adjectives.  They describe the noun "dog." Can you find more adjectives in the above paragraph?  Please make a list of all the adjectives you find and write a sentence for each. 

On Being a Preschool Teacher Part II

I love my job and absolutely love sharing my experiences at work with others.  Teaching makes me happy. How could you not love working when you are greeted by these little faces each day who walk in the door with big smiles on their faces so happy to be at school.  It makes you think back to those days when you didn't have a care in the world.  I wish we could all be like children.  Do you remember when the only reason you got upset on any given day was because someone was playing with the toy you wanted to play with or because the teacher made you make a project, sing songs, or dance?  If that was all you had to deal with today would your day really be that bad?  It's funny to work with children because they have such joy with everything they do.  My desire in life is to feel that way now.  To have that completeness in myself that I could just wake up with a smile on my face everyday and never worry about the silly things we all so often worry about.  Can we really make a situation better by thinking about it obsessively.  Are we making a difference in our lives by holding on to things and not letting go?  Why can't we be like children, who when they get upset about something one minute, the next minute they are over it and back smiling, laughing and playing. Why can't we be like children who get excited because they just realized they have something called a shadow that looks just like them.  Why can't we just accept everyone regardless of the color of their skin, where they come from, or their socioeconomic background.  Children don't look at life the way we do.  They see life in it's purest form.  Maybe it is because they have the time to just sit and see the world.  Maybe it is because every experience is so new to them.  One day, we were learning about the five senses and I brought in little plastic eggs.  Inside each egg, was something different, either bells, pasta, coins, sand, etc.  I shook each egg and asked the kids what they thought was inside.  They had so many answers, but more than wanting to answer, they wanted to see what was inside.  They were so excited and they all gathered so close to me as I went to open each egg.  Then when they saw what was inside, their excitement wasn't over. Now they wanted to touch it and to hold it and to really experience it all.  Why can't we be like that and see what is inside of others or inside of ourselves and just experience it, because that is when we will really learn to be like children and have the greatest joy in life.

Vocabulary
1. sharing: to tell someone else
2. experiences: what you do ;what you go through
3. greeting: to say hello
4. remember: to think back to the past
5. to deal with: go through
6. joy: to have happiness
7. desire: wish for
8. completeness: to be totally sure of yourself; fullness
9. situation: an experience you are in
10. obsessively:  to do a lot; to do too much
11. difference: a change
12. realized: came to know
13. regardless: without caring about
14. purest: simplest; inexperienced
15. excited: very happy
16. gathered: came together

Activity:
Fill in the blanks using the above vocabulary words.
1. It was Friday and I was very ___________________ to go to my best friend's birthday party.
2. To pass the test I had to ______________________ all the definitions that I studied.
3. She knew, in order to make a __________________________ in the world, she needed to be the best that she could be.
4.  The children ____________________ around to hear the story.
5. She enjoyed ______________________ her travel experiences with her friends.
6. She was full of ____________________ when she found out she was pregnant.
7. She was going to go on the trip ____________________ of the cost of the ticket.
8. She had many good _______________________ from her first year in school.
9.When she saw her teacher in the morning she gave her a nice _________________.
10. Her mother was concerned for her because she was worrying ____________________ about the final exam.
11.  When she was with her friends she didn't want _________________________ her little brother bothering her.
12.When she got to school the bell had already rang.  She _________________________ she was late for class.
13. Her greatest ____________________________ in life was to go to a good college.
14. Little children are very inexperienced in life.  They have the ______________ thoughts.
15. When she graduated from college she felt like she had finally found ____________________ in her life.
16. She didn't know the_____________________________ her friend was in, but after talking to her she knew it was bad.

Grammar Point
In my paragraph, I wrote several statements that ended in a question mark.  These statements are questions. In English, we use grammar to make the distinction between a statement and a question. When we use am,  is, are, or were  we reverse the normal order of subject and verb. When we use can or have, we reverse the order of the subject and the first auxiliary word.  With  single word verb phrases we add do , does, or did  to make the question. Can you find all the questions in the above paragraph and then form three of your own questions for your classmates to answer.

On Being a Preschool Teacher

It is so fun being a preschool teacher, but also a frustrating position at times.  I absolutely love my kids.  They are the best!  I teach toddlers on Tuesday and Thursday and the three year old class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I love my job and was so excited to have a teaching position right after graduating with my Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education.  However, I don't think I knew fully what I was getting myself into.  My first months teaching and being a Graduate student were completely stressful and crazy!  Now, I have finally learned how to really teach and I feel like a teacher.  Student teaching did help me feel prepared, but when I walked into my classroom I realized that it was sink or swim. This was where I was really going to learn to be a teacher.  I had never had experience teaching this age group except on rare occasions at church during Sunday School or Vacation Bible School. This was all new to me.  I had one child who refused to participate in any activity that we did that day.  She was very stubborn and strong willed.  She would just sit in the middle of the floor and refuse to move.  Her mother had warned us about this behavior.  It is interesting to note, that after the first week this child became very cooperative and is one of the sweetest of my students.  She loves to participate in all activities and loves school.  According to her mother she always comes home talking about all that we have accomplished in school that day.  When talking to her mom I learned that she also talks about me all the time and tells her mom things like, "Ms. Cathy wouldn't like that, so I just won't do it,"!  Now, let me go back to the end of my first day! Near the end of my first day, my aide left during lunch to do her bus run and I still had over an hour left with my kids. I was glad when some of the students took a long time eating lunch!  I quickly found out that I hadn't planned enough for the whole day.  I began to wonder how to occupy the attention of three year old's and ended up deciding it was time to do more music.  I took out our instruments and hoped it would keep them occupied until it was time to get ready to pack up.   Needless to say, I got through my first day, but went home exhausted!  It had been a long day.  Now that I have been a teacher for 6 months I am glad I perservered. It was a difficult time at the beginning, but I have come to find a fondness for my students, even the difficult ones.  I also have reorganized our daily schedule and I am never left at the end of the day with nothing left to do.  In fact, there are days when I have things planned that we don't even get around to. Then it is the kids who are asking me, "Ms. Cathy? Aren't we going to do ...... today?"  The best part is, even on the bad days in my life, when I get to school and my children come in the classroom, anything that is bothering me just goes away and I just focus on my kids and doing what I love.

Vocabulary
1. frustrating: hard to handle
2.absolutely: definitely
3 excited: very happy
4. completely: totally
5. stressful: difficult, hard
6. prepared: ready for
7. rare: few
8. occasions: times
9. participate: take part
10. stubborn: strong willed, hard to get to do something
11. cooperative: easy to handle or get along with
12. accomplished: achieved, got through, completed
13. exhausted: very tired
14. perservered: didn't give up, continued even though it was difficult
15. fondness: to like, have a good feeling about

Activity
Word Find:  Find the words from the vocabulary list in the Word Find below.

agthydoiofrustratingoklnkedllebgj

fhtighitinnglldiosongstubbornpdwe

serperserveredjonoifondnessnoert

terarefyhunjcooperativejkoklgnfty

rasesaccomplishederwqxgmilpgkm

edfxrgcujmostyguwcghkawjlgbmyu

sdfhparticipateetymbfszfhpwdhlsw

sseawemkrtufdiwxioguiwrklperydi

fhourtyuiihiiojprowqguopdnyrsdus

uersabsolutelyadgrazbgeukgssdk

ltyjtwftgkolgxschowtioanlgodoefn

huiedngodisowenosglodpcpasiowd

gtydadhoeiosndiegondioansoedog

Grammar Point:

Throughout my paragraph I capitalized certain words.  We capitalize words even when they are not at the beginning of  sentence when they are proper noun.  Some nouns that are considered proper nouns are names of people, places, months and days of the week or of institutions.  For example, I capitalized the word Tuesday because it is a day of the week and, therefore, a proper noun.   Please find all the proper nouns in the paragraph and write why the word is capitalized.  Then write a paragraph about yourself using at least five proper nouns.