inti ptarfi ingleesi?

we have just finished our first two english classes at the al wihda center here in amman. for those of you who don't know, we are teaching english as a second language as volunteers at a english center near our home. jessey is teaching a level 5 class (which translates to about 1st or 2nd grade level) and i am teaching a level 4 class (which, of course, is slightly lower than her class). our students are mostly in their 20's, just normal people of the struggle, hoping to learn english as a way to get better jobs and provide for their future families. the classes are two nights a week, from 6-8pm, for 8 weeks. we spend about 4 hours a week preparing, and 4 hours actually teaching, 2 hours each night. i have re-discovered my passion for teaching, and am loving the task and the mandatory creativity that teaching requires of me. jessey is having a similar experience... although she was freaking out a bit before the first class. to be honest, we both were.

in my first class (9 men, 3 women) on sunday night, i taught on the grammar involved in "there is & there" are for the whole 2 hours. it turns out, english isn't the easiest language to learn. and it requires that kind of time to communicate some of the things that we take for granted so much. also, it requires us to re-learn our own language, because we can't plan for every question, and we need to know "why" the language works the way it does.

for instance, do you know what an uncount noun is? can you explain the difference between count and uncount nouns, or the reasons why you can't just add "s" and make every noun plural? why you can't say, "There are 3 breads"? that was jessey's first lesson in her class (which consists of 14 men, no women).
don't worry, i am keeping her safe.

i have some very bright students and some who are not so bright, but they are all at the center for the same reason: to learn. so, classes are fun and everyone wants to be there. plus, it only costs 18JD for the entire 8 week course, which is a steal if you have a good teacher (insha' allah we are good ones), given that rich families pay 20+JDs per hour for a tutor. its quite a ministry, and we are loving the heck out of it.

may Allah richly bless this opportunity, and give us more opportunities with our students outside of class
to connect and show them our love.