the moon beach and other natural phenomenon

There is so much going on right now that I need to start blogging everyday!

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY! Wish you were here for a Haitian Celebration Sensation!

Second, we are in the middle of my favorite English unit of the year, Space Exploration! Why this is in the Unit 1 Christian English text book, I do not know, but it is SUCH a blast, and we all know how important it is that beginning English speakers know vocabulary such as "lunar module" and the difference between "space shuttle" and "rocket."

The students are SO interested in EVERYTHING space-centered, and have had SO little education regarding the universe (or the WRONG education) that it is always highly amusing for me, as well.

Yesterday's big discussion was the moon. "Why" I asked, "Is the moon sometimes big and sometimes little?" Last year, my class was convinced that the moon actually shrinks and grows, but this year's class had a different theory. "It is the BEACH!" my one female student said.
"Oh, yes yes." everyone agreed.

"The beach?" I asked. "WHAT?"

"It is the beach on the moon!" She explained. "When the water comes up, it covers most of the moon, and sometimes covers ALL of the moon, and when the water goes back, we see more of the moon. All the oceans on the moon cover it!"

So, without saying, "Um...NO. That is wrong" I managed to just say, "OR, maybe it is because..." and explained the line of the moon and the sun and the earth.

We have an ongoing joke in our class...Whenever someone is able to answer a really difficult question correctly, or asks a really good question in perfect English, I "high-five" them and say: "Bonus points!" Everyone laughs, realizing now that they've earned no points for these episodes. But yesterday, when I finished explaining the phases of the moon, and "understanding" began to dawn on their faces, my quickest student jumped up and ran over to my desk, hand outstretched, rather startling me.

"OH, Teacher!" he exclaimed. "VERY GOOD. Bonus points!!!"

We also watched a video today about Apollo 11's trip to the moon and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldriges first steps...Wish you all could have been there to see everyone's faces and hear the questions and comments. They saw for themselves the absence of a moon beach, and one thing they ALL agreed on when it was over: they would NEVER go to the moon, even if someone paid them, not in an airplane that shoots fire everywhere.

Then today was our very first English chapel service in the history of Emmaus Biblical Seminary (as far as I know!) Every student has taken at least 6 months of English and are always asking for more English exposure, so we decided to give it a try. It was SO FUN! Luke printed out a program for everyone, and led the service, refusing to speak any Creole.

The first song we sang was "It Is Well With My Soul." While we had to sing it 10 times too slow in order to keep together as the students labored through each line, everyone was so pleased to be able to sing in English that they sang as loudly as possible, almost deafening me and waking Lily. It was such a blessing to hear these beautiful voices rise in harmony for the millionth time, but THIS time, in MY language...

Then, it is traditional to have a reading of the Scripture. There is ONE translation of the Bible in Haiti: Creole. So, each day, the leader chooses a passage, and he will read verse one, and we will all read verse two, back and forth.

Even though most of the students had English Bibles, however, there were 10 different translations. So, today, Luke read verse one, and then everyone read THEIR version of verse two, and so on...Talk about chaotic :)

The whole service was a lot of fun, and while my students admitted afterwards to having understood very little, they enjoyed it, and each shook Lily's outstretched hand heartily as they filed out the door, commenting on how good it was to have a chapel service that she could understand!