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.
