Here’s my theory:
Jesus spent thirty holy years learning to be human and three years teaching humans to be holy. It
sounds ridiculous, because He’s God, but think about it: He had to learn
language, culture, and emotions just like any other human. That’s what make the Gospel so
beautiful: God experienced the human condition (kind of makes it sound like a
disease, but I think the wording is appropriate). He knows exactly
how we feel. Then after thirty years, Jesus
basically said, “Okay, now I know what it’s like to human. And it’s broken. Let me show you how to be like Me instead.”
As a teacher striving to model my life after Christ, I can
come to only one logical conclusion: my learning to teaching ratio should be
30:3. In other words, for every thirty
things I learn, I should teach three.
And then learn some more.
This is not to say that I should keep to myself things I
could otherwise teach... no. It’s more
of a reminder that I should be constantly learning, constantly aware of how
much I don’t know. If I can teach one
thing to someone, he can teach me ten.
It’s a humbling life view, if you think about it.
What I’m Learning:
Culture
Okay, obviously, I’m learning a while new culture. And culture is a funny thing. Who knew all those years of being scolded to
use a fork, I could have just moved to Honduras and eaten with my hands all day
long? In semi-related news, I learned to use a gas
stove.
Guitar
I had my first guitar lesson this past Wednesday, and it was
great, though my fingers are still a little sore... Walter (Grecia’s husband) is teaching me in
Spanglish—he trying to say things in English and using Spanish if necessary, and I
the opposite.
Mayans
Thursday the 3rd and 4th graders went
on a field trip to the Mayan Museum. (It
would have been nice if I had known about the field trip before I arrived at
school, but it was fun nonetheless.) The
museum was geared toward children, so it was very interactive and interesting. All the pictures are on my Facebook if you’d
like to see!
Spanish
I had my first Spanish class Friday, and it was really
great. I met with my teacher at a cafe
and she’s really good. She’s one of
those teachers that tricks you into thinking you know more than you do (by
speaking slowly and using a small vocabulary) so that you instantly become
comfortable. You leave thinking, "Holy crap! I can totally speak Spanish!" But really you can't. It's one of those teacher illusions. I talked with her in
Spanish for about an hour and a half, though!
Granted, it was probably awful broken Spanish with a goofy gringa
accent, but she understood me. That’s
what matters.
Abolishing the Comfort Zone
“Melissa, get the heck out of your comfort zone!” –Melissa’s
Whiteboard
Just some words of wisdom from me to me to you. :)
What I’m Teaching:
English—ABBA Bilingual School (And some other subjects as
well...)
English—the Pastor and Co.
(It was supposed to be just the Pastor, but apparently we’re going to
start having Family English Time.)
English—my Spanish teacher
(We worked out an agreement: free Spanish for me, free English for her.)
English—Urban Promise (Another ministry asked me to teach
English as an after school activity with their kids starting in March.)
(Are you catching a pattern here?...)
So my learn to teach ratio isn’t perfect yet... but it’s
pretty obvious I only really have one skill to give here. I’m basically just
teaching the same thing to... all of Copan.
How much I have to learn, though!
Happy learning, Friends!
