It has been at least 20 years since I learned the alphabet and how to count in English – I have 20+ years of practice and experience. So you can imagine the difficulty I am having trying to teach 7-8-year-old kids English as their second language. All of them can recite their ABC’s and when prompted, most can count to twenty. But if you point to a random number on the board, some can’t tell you what number it is. Or if you point to a random letter, only a few can tell you what letter it is, fewer can tell you what sound that letter makes.
Now try to explain to these kids the word ‘cabbage’ has two b’s, or why the ‘g’ makes a ‘j’ sound, or why the ‘e’ is silent. Or perhaps we should teach them how to add 16 and 2. First, give them coins to count out a group of 16 and a group of 2, and then combine the groups and count the total. But if you say “14, 15, 17, 18…” then you’ll run out of coins before you reach 16.
Of course, there are kids all along the spectrum. There are a few who do very well with spelling, counting, and addition. But the average of the class struggles with the material, and there are a few who simply do not get it. I don’t know what else to do when you give them an exercise like “_lock,” write ‘c’ on the board, and say “write this letter, the letter ‘c,’ in the blank,” and they write ‘p.’ It breaks my heart.
Then I started wondering if this is what God feels like sometimes. He gave us ten rules and even wrote them down for us, but we couldn’t keep them; so He said “ok, let me show you,” and He came down from His throne to live as a man and show us the way. Just to be sure that we would get it, He had some guys write it all down for us. And still we ask “how should I live?”
Fortunately for us, God is much more patient than I am. And I don’t think He’s the sort of Teacher who likes to ask trick questions. When He said “love God, love people” I think He really meant that it indeed is that easy. So why do we struggle so hard to live by that simple principle?
We’re trying to find ways to help the kids learn: practicing our patience, spending extra time with the kids that need it, making flash cards, etc. The reality is that the resources are not here that we take for granted in the States, so we are working to make due with what we have.
Fortunately for us, God is much more patient than I. And His resources are infinite and ubiquitous. All we have to do is recognize that we need the extra help, and ask Him to spend a little more time with us. He’s ready with an encouraging word. Just ask Him.
