Monday, February 3, 2014

Job Description

     We know that you all have been praying for us and for the ministry at CISP, so I thought I would use this update to tell you more details about my specific classes, and how those classes are going. 

When we first arrived in Prague, I was told that my class would be 7th-9th grade English and 7th grade Bible.  That changed very quickly to 8th grade Bible as the decision was made to let another teacher take the 7th grade class.  After about a week or so, I decided to swap the 8th grade Bible class for 8th grade Ancient Civilizations.  The four classes keep me quite busy as much of the material I am teaching is new.  I often feel like a first year teacher all over again with the planning and preparing of my classes.  But overall I am enjoying the subject matter and the students.

7th Grade – There are 6 students in this class, which is probably the smallest class I have ever taught, but the students are lots of fun and they seem to enjoy learning.  In this class, there are 4 Americans, 1 Italian/Spanish, and 1 Greek/French.  The class is made up of 5 boys and 1 girl.  I spend a lot of time trying to vary the subject matter to include grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, and poetry.  Please pray for these students as 3 of them do not come from Christian homes.  Pray that God would be working in their lives to change them and bring them to Himself.  Also, there are 2 students who struggle with strong learning difficulties.  Pray that I (and the other teachers at CISP) would know how to best meet their specific needs.

8th Grade – This class has 11 students – 4 girls and 7 boys – and is also quite international.  There are 6 Americans, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Czech, 1 Nigerian, 1 Italian/Spanish, and 1 Greek.  Much of the English class - like the 7th grade – covers reading, vocabulary, writing, and grammar.  The Ancient Civilizations class has already gone through the beginnings of civilization, and Egypt.  This next semester the students will study Greece and Rome.  Pray for me as I spend a lot of time with these students that I will be able to model Christ to them, and that I will have a lot of patience with them, as they are a very high energy/high maintenance class.  Pray also for Christiana and me as we will be taking 6 of these students to Rome in April and there is still much planning to do for that.  Lastly pray for some of the boys in this class who have very little motivation and desire to study that God will change their hearts as well.

 

9th Grade – This is the largest class at CISP.  There are 14 students – 5 girls and 8 boys – and their nationalities include 10 Americans, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Czech, and 1 Indian.  This class is also high energy, but also a lot of fun to interact with and to teach.  Most of them are well motivated and seem to enjoy learning.  Please pray for God to raise up Godly student leaders from this class that will lead others to Christ.