1st day of 2nd Semester

I had a nice council circle with my first year students.  It was so nice to be with them again!  The talking pieces were artifacts I bought or stole from South Africa and Swaziland.  Three Rocks-1 from the beach in Cape Town, 1 from Cape Point, and one from Durban, and one wooden Hippo.  I asked them three questions:

1.  What color was your vacation?  (i.e.  Mine was red, yellow, pink and purple= happy colors)

2.  What did you miss about school and Inhambane?

3.  What will you miss about your home and family?

After a beautiful sharing session where they realized they were all basically on the same page--missing family and being sad to leave, but excited about having independence again at college--I let them give each other some suggestions for success for the next semester.  They did try to say things in English but if they couldn't I allowed Portuguese.  This is what I wrote down as lessons to remember that we will revisit throughout the semester:

A Rabbit can run to the stone but the stone can't run to the rabbit.  (Meaning:  You have to take the initiative and do the work.  The rock won't come to you!)

A vida é melhor se estamos juntos.  (Translation:  Life is better if we are together.)

The street of life is very big.... (then the student went on to say they should all work hard and help each other.)

"We know what we came here for..."  (This was the beginning of a tongue lashing about doing the right thing in school and outside of school, like not doing drugs and misbehaving when classes are done.)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T  (nuf said)

God:  He doesn't do everything for you, you have to do things too.  He will help you.   (A religious fellow offered some good advice about trusting God but also doing your part.)

You can't change the past but you can change the future.  (You should do what you can NOW and take the opportunities now.  That is all we can do.)

It was important for the students to realize how this English class inevitably is affected by their outside stresses and lives.  I try to be sensitive to this as we go through the daily grind.  What I am trying to hammer into their heads is that English class is not just about learning a language.  It can help them with their lives in general.  Putting all imperialistic tendencies aside, English can help them in more ways than one.  I just need to make sure my lessons do just that.