My first week with the kids

I adore this picture. For the first day of class, I had my kids make t-shirts with their names on them in Arabic and English. I'm determined this semester to learn all of my kids' names. This little girl (Rihana!) decided to write منظمة شباب الغد : صف بياتا which means "Tomorrow's Youth Organization, Bieta's Class". It's like I have a team and she's on it! I love it. I laughed very heartily when I saw it.

In addition to making t-shirts, I also took pictures of their faces and had them draw little paper frames. I am going to put up framed pictures of them on the wall outside of my classroom with a big sign over it that says "Cast". I thought this was very clever, try not to disabuse me of it.

So the first class went well, and with the help of resident arts and crafts expert (and awesome friend!), Kelsey, the second class went well too. I had them affix their pictures to the frames (I needed time to print all of them out), we went came up with a list of rules for the class together, and then they made pop up cards. The pop up cards were 100% Kelsey's idea and they were a big hit. It can be difficult at times to fill up an entire hour and a half class, but I've managed okay so far. Definitely my volunteers have been an amazing help this time around and I pray that they stick around for the rest of the semester.

How's my New Year's Resolution coming? Sticking it out pretty well so far, eh?