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| Dinner at Tan's house, Lao style! |
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Quote-Worthy Wednesday
Remember back in February when I said I might institute some sort of theme o'the day for posts? I'm doing it now...maybe I'll change the theme each week. We'll see.
Thanks to Doug, I have SBTS's latest magazine (yay!). I spent more than five hours at Immigration yesterday completing the process of getting my one-year visa so I had plenty of time to read. I found this one quote that made me tear up that I wanted to share...
Thanks to Doug, I have SBTS's latest magazine (yay!). I spent more than five hours at Immigration yesterday completing the process of getting my one-year visa so I had plenty of time to read. I found this one quote that made me tear up that I wanted to share...
"An adoption culture is much bigger than one segmented group of people who are simply more passionate than everyone else in the church about helping kids in need. It's the whole church realizing we all are needy kids."
Jeremy Haskins
Welcome Laura Landry!
Laura arrived in Thailand a week ago with the Spotswood team and she is staying at the BSC until mid-November. Laura graduated from James Madison University May 2012 and she will be attending New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in January. If you'd like to learn more about Laura, please check out her blog:
It is such a blessing to have Laura here for three months. I am so excited to see how God is going to use her during her time here. I praise God that first he called Laura to be his child and second that he called Laura to Bangkok, Thailand.
"I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." Acts 20:24
Overdue
I apologize for how overdue this post is...once you start putting something off, the easiest thing to do is to continue to put it off (like right now I'm thinking how nice it would be to get up and make a cup of tea...after that point, it's not likely I would return to this post). In between new haircuts, preparation for the Spotswood team's visit, their actual visit, and recovery from said visit, it's been pretty chaotic here. [Side-note: how do new moms or moms in general ever have time to blog? They probably have less time than I do...]
I've finished teaching my first semester of many at the BSC. It's been quite the learning experience being at the front of the classroom instead of sitting at my desk gazing up at the teacher waiting for them to tell me exactly what's going on. Sometimes I feel like I'm treading water trying to keep up with the curriculum, specific needs that students have, and the classroom dynamic--all of which I'm familiar with from a students' perspective. However, the teachers' perspective is radically different. I've never had so much authority over a group of individuals.
An additional thing to consider is being a teacher in Asia. Teachers here in Thailand and other Asian countries are treated with so much more respect than in America. I thought that I would need to earn my student's respect through my ability to teach and the extent to which they learn English but not so here! They call me "Ajarn" (which means "teacher") or just "Teacher." They hand me the title despite how inadequate I feel in the role. To them though, the fact that I am a native English speaker makes me more than qualified. I think that the more time I spend teaching, the easier it will get (duh) and the more I can weed through the material I'm given to decide what is effective and what isn't. I also want my students to have fun learning English. It might turn a subject that they dread into a class that they look forward to.
One day on this blog, I'll discuss more teaching philosophies and spend more time reflecting on the subject. I think it will be healthy to record things that I learn as a teacher since that is my primary position here in Bangkok--Missionary/English teacher.
Anyways, the Spotswood team's visit was all kinds of awesome. Words can't even describe how encouraged I was by the time we spent together. C.S. Lewis said “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?” Minus the good fire (unless you consider Thailand's weather to be a suitable alternative), there probably isn't any pleasure on earth as great as this.
I got experience what it says about fellowship in Colossians, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." There were many van rides where we sang worship songs, Disney songs, other songs that blessed me so much. I had so much thankfulness in my heart to God and I pray that the team was as blessed as I was...
I've finished teaching my first semester of many at the BSC. It's been quite the learning experience being at the front of the classroom instead of sitting at my desk gazing up at the teacher waiting for them to tell me exactly what's going on. Sometimes I feel like I'm treading water trying to keep up with the curriculum, specific needs that students have, and the classroom dynamic--all of which I'm familiar with from a students' perspective. However, the teachers' perspective is radically different. I've never had so much authority over a group of individuals.
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| Some of my students working on an assignment |
An additional thing to consider is being a teacher in Asia. Teachers here in Thailand and other Asian countries are treated with so much more respect than in America. I thought that I would need to earn my student's respect through my ability to teach and the extent to which they learn English but not so here! They call me "Ajarn" (which means "teacher") or just "Teacher." They hand me the title despite how inadequate I feel in the role. To them though, the fact that I am a native English speaker makes me more than qualified. I think that the more time I spend teaching, the easier it will get (duh) and the more I can weed through the material I'm given to decide what is effective and what isn't. I also want my students to have fun learning English. It might turn a subject that they dread into a class that they look forward to.
One day on this blog, I'll discuss more teaching philosophies and spend more time reflecting on the subject. I think it will be healthy to record things that I learn as a teacher since that is my primary position here in Bangkok--Missionary/English teacher.
Anyways, the Spotswood team's visit was all kinds of awesome. Words can't even describe how encouraged I was by the time we spent together. C.S. Lewis said “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?” Minus the good fire (unless you consider Thailand's weather to be a suitable alternative), there probably isn't any pleasure on earth as great as this.
I got experience what it says about fellowship in Colossians, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." There were many van rides where we sang worship songs, Disney songs, other songs that blessed me so much. I had so much thankfulness in my heart to God and I pray that the team was as blessed as I was...
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| The girls at House of Blessing |
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| The whole group at the Grand Palace with some Thai friends |
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