"th" thankful for good things

We had another fun and meaningful month of giving thanks here in our community. Our 700 or so students, depending on their year with us, got to make “thankful” turkey hands or play UNO. Regardless, they all got to practice the two “th” sounds a lot. Did you know that the “th” has two different sounds? Anyway, its fun to practice along with our students even if it doesn’t really change our pronunciation any. Pres still pronounces things correctly, since he grew up in the Midwest. Krista still pronounces words like a California native with grandparents who were from Oklahoma. We just assure our students that if you can understand and communicate, that’s half the battle!

Our students were thankful for a lot of things that they could say in English including, parents, family, friends, the sun, flowers, doctors, policemen and women, food, clothes, music, and God and love. They had a good time practicing “I’m thankful for…” over and over again.  And we were blessed to listen! 

Our sophomores celebrated the week by playing UNO. Many of them had not had the opportunity to play, so we enjoyed trying to teach them the rules and were thankful that our colleagues Linda and Bingbing helped with an introductory video! Our English sophomores played “English only” UNO and were very successful… we were impressed and proud of them!

Our junior English majors showed their public service annoucement role-plays and enjoyed some home-baked snickerdoodles. They made PSA’s on the following topics:  “Don’t litter” | “Stop Smoking” | “Use Encouraging Words” | “Phone Addiction”  The students did thoughtful and meaningful activities to persuade others regarding their “cause.” It’s been a blessing to see them grow in their English, creating and thinking skills these past two years. 

We roll out oral exams next week and then will hold interviews with the students over two weeks during December. We are looking forward to

English 2014 - our juniors

having them show their talents and see their progress. They have already come a long way these past two months.

Outside of the classroom, we’ve continued to have meaningful weekends with our friends as we fellowship and also give simple lessons to the kiddos. It’s been snowing often, every weekend to be exact. And this week it dropped to -10. Pres came down with a cold and has been taking it easy in between updating PPTs and leading his 13 classes. He has been working hard and his brain is tired. We are thankful for God’s strength and sustaining love. 

We study online with our friends from around the country. We are just wrapping up a study of Revelation, which has been very insightful and question-filled. What a blessing it has been! And we hear from friends often via social media and email. We continue to see faithfulness in their lives and words and are always encouraged. Our Father is good!

From Emily: “2016 is almost over. It's the time to go over all the year to thank all the people who helped us during this year. And see how GOD's work on us. I think GOD has changed me since the first day I knew him. I couldn't imagine my life without GOD’s guide. I have shared a lot of stories of GOD to my friends and family.  Hope more people will get to know GOD.”

We do too.