August 2011

August brought a wonderful visitor to Brazil, my mother! She spent two weeks with me visiting my projects and getting to know first-hand about my life in Brazil. It was a great time for us both! She was also here during my birthday, which was super special. 

Lar Project

She read “If you give a Mouse a cookie” to one of my classes, visited with the younger kids classroom, and did one-on-one reading with some of my advanced students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vila Andrade Project

Mom did some math exercises with the students here, and conversation exercises with my advanced students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Celebrations

This year again I had a little party for my students for my birthday, where they made crafts and had cupcakes.  A fun time had by all!

Lar Project

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The students in my younger class surprised me when I came into their room with singing happy birthday and giving me handmade cards and presents – it was really sweet!

Vila Andrade Project

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 2011

July was a month of rest from my regular classes but gave me an opportunity to see a different project site.

I spent a week working at a favela called ‘Buraco Quente’, which translates ‘hot hole’ – called that because the whole slum burned down in 2006 and has since been re-built. My church does a lot of support activities here, and during the winter break this site hosted a reading week. 

I went and listened to local children reading books (in portuguese!) for which they could earn points. By the end of week, depending on how many points they earned, they could win prizes.  It was a really fun week, and I only needed to ask for help a few times for some words in portuguese!  On Friday, I gave the devotional on “Five Things that God cannot do.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little girl, above left, did not want to read to anyone the first day. The second day, her friend said she wanted to tell me about the story she just read, but I could tell when she started that she had not really read the book, she was just looking at the pictures. So I asked her to read some of the words for me out loud, and she had a lot of difficulty. She also appeared to be confusing a lot of letters, so I worked with her the rest of the week, and on Friday, she was doing much better! So fun to see her progress!

 

 

team of volunteers

 

 

 

 

giving a devotional

One of the teenage boys who helps out at Lar Batista attended the Coca Cola training program second cycle at Vila Andrade.  I attended his graduation program, and it was nice to see another large group pass through this program. There have been a number of participants from the first cycle who have found jobs. Keep Thomas in your prayers as he begins his job search. 

 

 

Thomas, myself, his mother, and the training coordinator

June 2011

June brings the wrap-up of first semester classes, with a short ‘winter’ break to come during July.  My students and I have been busy getting all the class work done before the break. 

At Vila Andrade, the Project moved up to the big Morumbi church and I subsequently have not been able to give classes to the groups I was before as there is no private space. I do not know if this will change or not later in the year. My English classroom actually stayed in the old building, so I am giving classes just to some older students and some of the kids from the Vila Andrade church.  The numbers are smaller, but I have good students here with a desire to learn!

making funny creatures while learning parts of the body

The first cycle of the Coca Cola job training program was successfully completed with a graduation ceremony; now praying many of these students will be able to find their first job because of this special training – time will tell! 

At the Lar Project, we had a youth group visit from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and they gave a special evangelism program, then came to my English classroom to interact with my students, who were begging to visit with them! My students sang the ‘ABC’ and ‘Hallelu’ songs and the older students recited the Lord’s Prayer they had learned at Easter. It was a blessed time for all!

 

 

Morning students

 

 

 

 

 

American and Brazilian sisters!

 

 

 

 

Below, two of my afternoon students teaching the “Thumbs Up” song, which is a very silly song, and the Americans joined along!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below, students in the younger classes learning about Animals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Computer learning reinforcement

 

 

 

 

 

 

The temperature in my classroom one day this month – there is no indoor heat!! brrr!

I was asked to help some Brazilians producing an English Christian music CD with translation and pronunciation of English words, which was both fun and challenging! They will use this CD as an outreach tool once produced! Please pray that God will reach many here through this music.