Next week is Thanksgiving, and so my thoughts go to some of the many things that bless my life every day. I think of my family, my friends, Maryknoll community, my faith and insights, our neighborhood, living in Tanzania, my students, fellow staff members, neighbors, sunrise in the morning, sunsets in the evening, clouds soon to bring rain, flowers on the baobab trees, breezes in the trees, lizards playing on the walls, water in the taps, electricity, a car to take me places out of the sun, children laughing as they pass the house, my mission vocation, food in the cupboard, books to read, music to listen to, our church community, people who I love and who love me. And that’s just a couple of minutes of thought. Really, life is blessed. One thing I’ve realized lately is how many more people from around here that I know now than I did one year ago. We were at a gathering a few weeks ago and it was nice to be able to recognize, to talk to, to know so many people. That wasn’t true a year ago, and it’s a nice feeling.
Yesterday was the last day of teaching for the year and I can hardly believe that the school year is over. Next week we have examinations, then marking and preparing the report cards, and school closing date is December 4th. It’s really been a good year and I’ve enjoyed the students so much. Yesterday I asked them what they most appreciated about their year of leaning English and what they disliked about it, then asked their advice on how I could do better next year. The great majority were very positive in their responses and there were sentences like “I love my English teacher” (Those are the ones who will get “A’s” !) and lots of expressions of gratitude. Almost everyone wrote about how they liked that I taught them songs in English. They also appreciated that I took time to answer their questions and to help those who didn’t understand. There were a couple comments as to what they disliked, and it was when I became angry (Yes, it happened a few times when I got really annoyed with their behavior ….). Some commented on how I could improve by saying that they would like that I mark ALL their exercises. I’m sure they’d like that but marking every exercise they do for 90 students makes me tired just thinking about it. Most of the time I asked them to mark their own, and gave them weekly quizzes which I marked in order to ascertain their progress. Anyway, it was a good exercise and most of them asked if I would be teaching them again next year. I won’t – I’ll be teaching the new Form I students and hand over these, who will be in Form II, to another teacher.
This morning at our Small Christian Community meeting and as we prayed the gospel of tomorrow, the last Sunday of the church year, it’s amazing to realize that Advent starts next week and Christmas isn’t far behind. 2011 is just around the corner.
Happy Thanksgiving and an enjoyable holiday season to you.
