What Really Matters?

So, it has been a busy week starting up at a new school and therefore gaining about 300 new students! Yikes! It has been an overwhelming week but also one with incredible blessings. I now get the opportunity to teach alongside a dear friend of mine.

I wanted to share with you all about my little English play group, which has been meeting twice a month since October. There were 6 kids present yesterday but for some reason none of them were interested in our 45 minutes of English-time. I have come to realize with this group to come with ideas but to not stress if we don't do everything planned. Sounds like a big lesson on being a teacher, huh? The kids really just wanted to play with each other. I decided to not fight it but just do what I could to bring out my creativeness. As soon as we finished, one 3-year-old girl said (in Japanese), "Is it finished? I am hungry!" as she practically drooled over all the yummy food that was prepared for dinner. So, a table was set up for the kids and another table was set up for the moms (and Amy:-) As we enjoyed this delicious meal, prepared by Manaka's mom, the kids started singing! It was so precious! The best part....they were singing 2 of the songs we sing at every play group, "Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star" and a "What's your name?" song. It made me so thankful for this time and make me think about what really matters. What do I hope to accomplish with this play group? My desire for these kids is that they somehow remember this experience, continue to study English, and have wonderful opportunities to travel because of it. I know I am learning a lot from them as well.