Staff Blog
More than anything else in the world, in relation to her work, a teacher cares most about what her students have actually learned. She always wonders if she’s getting through to her students every day. I know I do. It pleases me and gives me a sense of achievement whenever I see proof that my students are understanding the lessons. Imagine how God must feel every time we show him just how much we need to learn from him.
A week ago we were practicing our morning meeting, a 30-minute presentation done by each level to showcase what they have learned in class. There are four levels of classes: Pre-K, A, B, and C. I teach one of the Level B classes. Our reading curriculum is organized with lessons based around different themes. Recently Level B classes have been reading stories based on the themes of Kindness and City Wildlife. To make sure that our kids really understood the concepts we were working on, I found a video about kindness showing a Pay-It-Forward kind of concept with people helping one another in a chain reaction. As a preview for the presentation, the Level B students watched the video. They enjoyed the video, but didn’t seem to give it any kind of special thought. I was a bit disappointed.
One of the things that we train our kids to do at school is to be disciplined. Every morning as they change from their tennis shoes to their classroom slippers, we remind them they should arrange their shoes neatly along the wall. One morning this week I saw some pairs of shoes were not neatly arranged. I called the attention of the owners of the shoes to arrange them correctly. What happened next touched me and surprised me as well!
One owner was about to go to his shoes to fix them when the person standing next to the shoes immediately arranged them. The owner smiled in gratitude and was about to line up when he heard me call another of the students to fix her shoes. As the girl was about to go and fix her shoes, the boy who was helped first ran to her shoes to fix them himself. Then he looked at me, smiled, and said, “Like in the movie, teacher. He helped me. I’m going to help her too.” After saying that, he went back to his line and went to his room.
The day passed, I was done teaching my lessons and I finally sat down in my classroom. I pondered about the one seemingly insignificant situation that had taken place that morning.
They were all Level B students. They were the ones we showed the video to first. They were the ones we taught about kindness. I thought the unit didn’t impress them much. I was absolutely wrong. They had learned. And when they saw an opportunity to apply the lesson, they did it as if they had done it many times in their lives. It was amazing! Another realization hit me. Unlike adults, kids don’t tend to be so dramatic and touchy about movies they see that teach them a wonderful lesson. But it doesn’t mean they don’t care. They are internalizing the idea, waiting for an opportunity to apply exactly what they gained from that lesson.
What a precious treasure!
-Ann Sabio
Pray for Rovelito
Hi from Cebu. Rovelito is having surgery tomorrow (8:00 am Cebu time - 7:00 pm MN time. He is nine years old and suffered severe burns before coming to live at CSC. They will release contractures and do a skin graft. He will be hospitalized for five days and will have to wear splints for several weeks in our infirmary. Please pray for him!
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Sonia
Please pray for one of our employees, Sonia "Suzette", who had a mild stroke last night and is currently at a local hospital. Thank you.
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Lena keeps on washing
Next year we will be celebrating the 40th year of CSC's ministry in Cebu. The actual anniversary date would be May 4 as that was the day in 1979 that three of us stepped off that plane at the Cebu airport. But in March of next year there will be another important anniversary at CSC. March 1 will mark 30 years of faithful service for one of our most stalwart employees, Elena (Lena) Gomera. Lena has been washing clothes at CSC for all of those 30 years.
Through good times and bad, in good and bad weather, during times of political unrest and financial difficulty, Elena has washed clothes. No matter what else our kids need, they need clean clothes to wear. The babies need clean diapers. School kids need clean uniforms. Beds need clean sheets and pillow cases. Lena has provided that. It's by no means a glamorous job. She might be the most "taken for granted" worker at CSC. Most of her time she is in the washroom, unseen by the kids, staff and visitors. But she is washing, load after load, eight hours a day, six days a week. We are fortunate to have an employee like Lena who is faithful, dependable and solid. Thanks Lena for a job well done for almost 30 years!
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Calling All Mathematicians and Scientists!
There was A LOT of excitement at Cebu Children of Hope School this past Friday as the children participated in math and science culminating activities. In the morning were the math activities. The children were divided up into four teams (Levels A1 through C3) and they did a "math relay." The first station was the puzzle station where the children had to work together as a team to put together a puzzle showing a famous mathematician (Euclid, Descartes, Newton, and Pascal). After they completed the puzzle each person on the team had to answer an "easy" math question in order to then proceed to station two. At this station the students had to grab different random objects that, combined, would measure exactly one meter. A math question concluded this station as well but this time it was a "medium" math question. At the third station the team leader had to guide each team member as he/she walked on a line blindfolded. This was followed by every child having to answer a "difficult" math question in order to proceed to the last station called Across the River.
The afternoon was equally exciting as the children competed in science activities. My favorite one was the Ping Pong Hop. Each student had to blow a ping pong ball from one cup to the next, with the successive cups being further away from each other. The other science-themed activities were building a paper tower that could withstand the weight of 5 heavy books, making water rise using a cup and a candle, and a version of cup stacking that tested the children's quickness.
I am surrounded by a great team of teachers who work together to make CCHS a remarkable school, giving kids the skills they need so God can use them in great ways. If you are reading this and you have never visited CSC, please contact our Minnesota office. It is a trip you will never regret!
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Carnival fun with CBC
Although the Central Baptist team that was here recently came primarily to do a camp for our kids, they also helped us put on a spectacular carnival. Our kids were joined by the younger children of our workers, and were treated to booths prepared by our Child Development team, led by CD Director Eunice. There was face painting, a lollipop tree, bowling, a toilet paper toss, a fun bouncing space ship, a clothespin drop and build-a-crafts. Food booths included cotton candy, popcorn and ice cream. There was even a horse drawn carriage ride for the younger kids. It was a great day with amazing weather, and lots of energy from the Central team.
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