The last two weeks in Ukraine we spent preparing and
teaching an ESL class. There were so many amazing students that had such an
eagerness to learn. The class Alyssa and I were in charge of was the beginners.
These students have very little understanding of English, which makes it very
interesting when you are trying to have a conversation with them. I mean, there
are only so many questions you can use hand motions to portray what you are
trying to say. If you were walking down the street and saw me do all my hand
motions, you would think that I had to go to the bathroom with all of the crazy
faces I made. This made for many laughs. I can’t count the number of times I
was trying to explain something where I would get done and they would just
stare at me….I would answer by just staring back at them….and then usually we
would both laugh and shrug and try it again with different hand gestures and
facial expressions.
We taught two different
classes. The first was an afternoon class that only had a few students. I loved
this class because they were very studious and were so eager to write
everything we said down so they could practice. It amazed me how fast they
picked up on things. The next day when we would show them a picture they would
respond as if they had spoken English for many years. Then there was the
evening class. This class we had about 15 students….this class was much more
spunky. They had a different energy level. They loved the games that we played.
They loved to joke around and learn through being goofy. All of the students we
had were so sweet. One student in particular that made an impact on me was
Ivan. Ivan was a student that came on the 2nd day of class. That
first day it was like pulling teeth to try and get him to talk. He struggled
with pronouncing words and had a very hard time retaining information from day
to day. Ivan has such a huge heart. It was so evident to see God working in his
life. Each day I felt like his confidence grew and his smile got bigger.
Towards the end of the week the first thing he would do was to run in and find
me and give me a hug and say “Hello, how are you?” On the day of the last
class, he came early and I was surprised because he did not come straight to me
but instead went straight to the tech guy. He had brought a CD with him, and
after he figured it out, he ran over to me and practically dragged me to sit
down so I could watch this movie. He had gotten the pictures from all week and
had put together a DVD of our class’s English camp. How sweet is that? The eagerness that Ivan
showed and the effort that he put in reminds me of the way Christ wants to be
in each of your lives. Christ is so eager to come into your life so that each
day He can run up and give you a great big hug!
