I am an English teacher. And a Ukrainian/Russian translator!

Two days of teaching done, and am I tired! I love teaching though...we were planning lessons this morning, and I smiled when I realized how happy I was to be trying to figure out how best to present the material. Today we did a lesson with the pre-intermediate group about travel and one with the beginner group about food. The beginners are so much fun--they know that their English is bad, but they don't get all self-conscious about it.

My students are fascinating and varied people, and their reasons for learning English are varied as well. There's Ben, one of 12 kids in a family in Odesa, who's living here with a sister for two weeks so he can learn English well enough to visit his sister in England over the winter holidays. There are Ivan and Anna, siblings ages 17 and 22, who, along with Anna's husband and three daughters, are moving to Pennsylvania in September. There's Angela, whose husband is an Orthodox priest; and Galyna, who works at an orphanage in the next town and is here "so she doesn't get bored while the kids are off at camp". And so many more people...

We do conversations with 3-4 students every day to give them one on one practice...I'm amused to notice that a lot of the beginner students sign up for my slots. I think it's because they know I'll understand them and can help translate. For myself, I find it hard not to just go off into Ukrainian with them!

As a side note, the students all like that I speak Ukrainian/Russian, the DCU staff members are pleasantly surprised, and the other Americans are happy because I can translate things...like how not to save your password on the computer! I'm useful!

Emmalea: yes, they tried to play the Mennonite Game with me, but I saw a prime example of it when we all went out for dinner with a missionary here who is a Mennonite. Oh, and I'm supposed to ask you what Jeremy's dad's name is. And do you know Gordon and Bonnie Zook? I guess he used to be a Mennonite pastor in Lancaster County.