tao (ta-o) ng Dios.

i spent this morning reading a short story with a boy named ariel. ariel was in a serious car accident in the first grade, and as a result, his mental capacity is not at the level that it should be. well, he is now 17 years old, and since the rest of the students today were at a pretty similar level, they were able to be taught together, but one of the teachers here, asked me if i could read with ariel. so, of course, i agreed. how fun! last time i saw ariel, he was super shy, and he was focused on the computer game he was playing...and i'm pretty sure he did not understand the educational components in it...so the fact that i would have the opportunity to have one-on-one time, YES. however, i did notice that when i was teaching one of the girls some math, he seemed very interested. so, i was happy for this opportunity :)

and so, i helped him read, and tried to actually help him understand what he was reading. he had trouble with many words like, "choose," "check-out line," "strawberries," "aisle" (that dang 's' was throwing him off, of course! oh english language), "happened," various words. so i helped him read, and then i had him write the words, so that we could review them, then i got bored.

but before that, he was also having trouble with the word, "people." so i tried to explain to him people, by telling him the tagalog word, which is tao (accent on the o, like ta-o). the thing ariel does, is i will say something, then he will repeat it, but not really comprehend what he is saying. and so this was not the first time i kept trying to get him to elaborate on the words, so i was like, naming different people, to deliver the message, and he's like, ok, yes. tao. i was like, ok, good...so, naturally, as a teacher, i'm all about repetition, and i was like, so what are people? and he said, "ginawa ng Dios." "Ginawa ng Dios," means, God made them. and THAT, was AWESOME. :)

hahaha, so then i took him outside and made him do stretches...in the best tagalog i could, i tried to explain to him that just as much as he needs to exercise his brain, so that it becomes sharp, it is also important that we exercise our bodies. hahaha, i don't know if we quite got it, except i think he was very confused. but that is ok! :)

so then we get back, and i'm like, hmmm how do you do with math? he said he loves math! so then i started giving him math problems, and i assigned him some math problems to do at home, just simple 4+4 =, 10-3= problems, but he kept asking for more. and so, the teacher in me was more than happy to do it. :)

and then...everyone started getting ready to peace, and naturally i was striking up convos with some of the kids...the next thing you know, i'm telling them they need to come in on wednesday so that i can teach them english. they seemed excited about it, but whether or not they come, i at least got some face time with them, which means...another moment for them to learn to not be so shy with me. woohooo!

it's cherry's birthday today! one of the young women i live with at casa cabrini. woohooo!! which means...delicious food tonight, and the house full of people. YAY! :)