ESL

I really, really, really, really love my job. Twice a week I get to love on some amazing kids. Kids who don't speak English, but understand love.

After a few weeks, they start to understand some words or phrases, mainly dealing with food or potty. But then after a few months, they start talking to you and sometimes its a mix of their native language and English and then I get to learn too. It's amazing how much they can communicate without having to say a word and while all kids do this, it just seems extra spectacular to me when there is no verbal understanding to begin with. Through the bond we share with them, they feel confident that we will understand or at least do everything we can to understand.

Some of the kids get real attached to me and will seek me out in the room for comfort or just to sit with. I love it when this happens.

When a new kid arrives there is almost always hard times for the next few days or weeks. I started to notice that the new moms who bring the new kids seem to feel bad if their child isn't happily playing the first day, so I have prioritized talking with them as soon as I see them and am constantly reassuring them to keep coming back, that their child will get comfortable. It just takes time.

Today I had to bring a little boy back to his mother, it was his second day and he still cried constantly. When I walked past classrooms looking for his mother I noticed that most of the ESL students are women, probably 80%. That is remarkable. I've known this is the back of my mind for a long time, but today it stuck out in a different way. These women are going to be able to teach their children english, understand their childrens teachers when they start school, interact in society easier and generally lead a better life because they are able to receive this service from the church. I was filled with a cheesy girl power sensation, and this has given me even more motivation to interact with the moms more. To talk to them more. To comfort them more.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that generally I feel important now. :)