Exactly 3 months after arriving in Israel, Pollyanna has returned…rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. My return to peppiness and positivity began with a wonderful day of teaching on Thursday. I taught a grammar class on the past perfect tense (try to hide your shock mom) where I had the kids act out the actions and draw the events on a time line to help understand when to use which tense and….it worked! I also had some wonderful discussions with my students about equality and what it means to be a Jewish person in America versus being one in Israel. They are still constantly amazing me with their curiosity and intelligence.
This was followed by a wonderful and much needed weekend in Jerusalem. I did not bring any work, nor did I speak to anyone from Tel Aviv on the phone for 24 hours. I just spent some time relaxing and thinking and just enjoying the serenity of Shabbat in Jerusalem. I spent most of my time with Guille who really helped bring me back to earth and work through everything. We spent Saturday morning on the Tayelet just sitting and watching the city. It definitely centered me and helped lift my spirits.
I had honestly no desire to return to Tel Aviv last night but I am so glad I did because I finally started to see some change in a positive direction. During my favorite class we were speaking in small groups after an activity about how we were getting frustrated with the lack of practical application in our program. Whether we have teaching experience or not we were all fairly new to teaching English, and more importantly we are new to teaching English in Israel. Our professor sat down and talked to us and we came up with some ideas about how we thought we could inject some of our plans into the program. She said she would talk to our director about it which meant that hopefully sometime in the near future things would get accomplished.
So imagine my surprise when 2 hours later I saw results! Our professor had spoken to our director and they had come up with a plan to have us work on creating units for the age groups that we work with that can be used for future program participants and teachers. With a little pushing from some of us we are also going to have the opportunity to practice these lessons in different arenas. SUCCESS!! The feeling of making a suggestion to improve our program and seeing it come to life so quickly is indescribable. It makes me feel something I have had yet to feel all semester…that I am here to become a better teacher. So excited!
I still haven’t made it to the children’s home because the director keeps being called away on trips, but I know I will get to go sometime soon. Though I am sad I have not made it there yet, I am glad that when I do go I will be able to arrive feeling like myself. These kids need me and I need to be able to give them all that I have and this way I will. Alright, enough corniness for now. Stay tuned for Pollyanna’s next adventure!
