I can hardly believe that 2010 is over and that we are entering a brand new year! What an amazing year it has been, too, as I am sure all of you have been able to see via this blog and those of the other CDF staff. I just wanted to make a quick post about a lesson from our ESL class that my kids learned during the Christmas Season. One of our ESL topics was “Birthdays” and it happened to fall around the time when everyone celebrates Jesus’ birthday… how perfect! How our ESL lessons usually work is that I pick words out of our Spanish-English dictionary for them to practice saying and if I can, I like to have a picture or a real example of these words so that the kids can connect the word to what they see, hear, touch, smell, and… sometimes… taste. 
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Here you can see the kids in their birthday party hats that they decorated in honor of Jesus’ birthday. 
During these activities I like to keep an open dialogue so that they can keep saying them… it also helps me to see if they are really getting the concepts like this one and if the English vocabulary is actually sticking. Here is Edy in his hat. 
He was very enthusiastic about making his hat for Jesus. Here is Antony. 
I told him he could use glitter to decorate it and his eyes got as big as golf balls. Here is Nicole. 
According to her, you can’t make a hat without decorating it with a princess crown. Here is Martin. 
Wouldn’t he make an adorable little Christmas elf? Here is Greis. 
I was very proud of how dedicated she was to finishing her hat. She is such a determined worker and she is doing well with her physical therapy… and so is Martin as I am sure you all saw in Patti Sue’s video. That was such a blessing to come back and see! Starting the year in a walker and now he’s WALKING all by himself!? God is sooooo good! I am a very proud teacher, I must say. And here is Gilmar. 
He was done first and was a very good helper to those who took a little longer. Here is Rubi. 
She was equally as helpful and every time I asked who the hats were for, she’d answer with gusto, “THE BABY JESUS!” And finally, here is Kevin. 
I really appreciate his careful hand and expression of details in everything he does. Please join me in prayer for the next half of this school year that it goes well and the kids grow and learn like crazy. Also please join me in prayer that God reveals His plans for next year for us as teachers and for the kids as well. I hope everyone had a blessed time celebrating our Savior’s birthday!