CLA English

Wow, two months have gone by.  I think that is the longest we have ever gone without posting on our blog since we started it, almost three years ago.  It's high time we updated you on what has been going on around here.

The main reason we haven't been writing lately is that we have been swamped.  The regular semester ended on June 6, but it was followed by a 3-week course that was a follow up to my Culture and Language Acquisition class.

From June 9 to 27, the seven students worked full time at learning . . . English!

Most  of our English-speaking coworkers were going to be gone, so we made an invitation for some people to come join us as "natives."  Three ladies responded to the call and Donna, Mary, and Donya showed up to give us a hand.  They were a tremendous help with the program as they spent time with our learners doing everyday tasks while speaking English.  The students were continually in their "home," a house next to ours looking for someone with whom to listen and practice.  

They also had a chance to experience some of Bolivia with the students.

Bolivian breakfast: Api and buñuelos with Eliana and Eli

 

Donna and Mary getting some produce at our market

Donya, Donna, and Mary try out some pacumutos at the market

Kaylee was a major help as a language helper and hostess.  Even Anne, Addison, and Lydia played an important role as little native speakers.  Some of the students spent a lot of time with them.

Our first dinner party

 

Addi and Lydia went to ask Matias if he could come over to play

We did a lot of shared activities such as:

Go to the zoo

Game nights

Matias is watching rodeo in the background while we play cards

Visit the library of an American-style Christian school

"Don't put the books back on the shelf unless you know the Dewey Decimal system!"

Home church (we were on guard duty)

Camping

It was a lot of work, especially because I was overseeing all of it, continually giving advice and answering questions.  We had fun, but we're glad it is done!  We are now in our fourth week of winter break and are gearing up for classes to start up again next week!

(as usual, there are more photos here: https://picasaweb.google.com/111523008579163861983/CLAEnglishPracticum?authuser=0&feat=directlink)

So . . . what do you do?

"Profe"

That's what I get called more than anything when outside of the house these days.  "Profe" is short for "profesor" in Spanish, and I'm sure you can guess what that means in English.  Try pronouncing PDO-fay, light on the "d" (just a flip, really) and heavy on the "o" and you'll be pretty close.

I haven't taken the time to really write about what we are doing here now that we've changed gears.  Here's a look at what we're up to:

As a "profe," I spend five hours per week teaching two different classes: Culture and Language Acquisition and Spanish Grammar.  Most of the rest of my work week is spent preparing for those classes and spending time with staff/students.

I am not a language teacher in the sense that I am teaching about language rather than teaching language itself.  Call it Applied Linguistics, I guess.  The fundamental principle of my current role is to prepare the Etnos students for their future language learning.

As an organization, we highly value native languages.  Our focus is planting churches among ethnic groups where the indigenous language is strong, yet the people have not been taught God's Word, or have been taught in a trade language, resulting in a lack of understanding and, thereby, lack of fruitful ministry.  The purpose of the Culture and Language Acquisition program is to prepare these trainees to be able to move into a village and learn the heart language of their target people group without the aid of dictionaries and classrooms, all while building relationships and gaining an understanding of the worldview and culture of their new friends.

CLA Class

In Spanish Grammar, I am indeed teaching the grammar of the language, but to people that already speak it.  Three of our current students are Bolivian, two are Argentinian, and the other two are Chilean.  Although some also speak other languages (Quechua, Aymara, and English), Spanish is their heart language.  While the class does reinforce their knowledge of their own language, the principal goal of the class is to teach the structure of their grammar and the reasons behind the forms.  Then, armed with this new understanding and terminology, next semester we will be teaching Grammar Analysis to apply the same principles to other languages.

Thankfully, all of the groundwork has been done for these classes and I was essentially handed the curricula at the beginning of the semester.  However, I have to assimilate the material in Spanish and make it my own in order to teach it properly.  I have added a lot of my own stories and experiences to the mix which makes it easier and more natural to teach.

When I have extra time, I am preparing for a one-week practical technology module that I will be teaching at the beginning of next semester with another faculty member.  The focus is on passive solar such as solar ovens and water heaters.  I am doing a lot of research on various types of projects that we could do and am starting to think about preparations we will have to make to be able to build some of them.

I have also been given the opportunity to preach on occasion at the church we attend.

The bulk of Kaylee's time is taken up with household duties and homeschooling the girls, but she is involved in the inner workings of campus as well.  She has taken on the cleaning of the offices and classroom and is working on getting to know the student gals better, to be able to have input in their lives.

Together, we host the weekly staff meeting in our home and have a student couple that comes over a few hours a week for mentoring/counseling.

One of our student lunches

Kaylee has also been an indispensable help to me in my CLA class as well.  Not only does she help me think things through as I talk about my class prep with her, but with some of the class elements themselves.  As part of the practical training of language learning, we have hosted the students in our home to demonstrate what it is like to experience another culture and language.  In June, we will be having a 3-week language practice time which Kaylee will also be heavily involved in.

 And mixed into all of this craziness, we try to spend some time together and with our funny children.