Teacher Enrichment

The nice thing about being a foreign English teacher in Sigua(tepeque) is that you're not alone! Bilingual schools are as common as potholes here (though Destino is almost unique in catering to those who can't pay) , and they all have English-speaking staffs of various sizes, boasting Americans, Canadians, and the occasional Brit. (Not to mention the many bilingual Hondurans.) I have friends/acquaintances at 5 other schools. 

We lean on these other sojourners in love and laughter, prayer and prattling, and in the eating of Thanksgiving dinner! We share teaching tips and clothes, Spanish phrases and computer chargers. And library books.

Yes, library books. Our newest discovery is the library of the Bilingual School of Siguatepeque (Instituto Bilingue Siguatepeque) for which we've been given lavish borrowing privileges. 

L-R: Ariel (Destino's 1st and 2nd grade teacher), Lacy and Esther (IBS teachers), and Bowen (Destino).

(Bruin, Destino's co-Kinder, Prepa, and 1st grade English teacher at the IBS library.)

When one's own library is running low here, it's always nice to find a neighborhood supplement. The other day, I selected an older book, a newer book, and an old favorite:

1) Jungle Pilot: The Life and Witness of Nate Saint, by Russell T. Hitt - as a teenager, I was strongly gripped by the tales of Jim Elliot, missionary to Ecuador and passionate pursuer (like a bridegroom!) of the unreached people then known as the Auca Indians. This volume on Nate Saint, Jim's pilot, promises to give interesting new insight into my original study and be an engaging standalone read. Interestingly, of late I have dated a pilot, and was taken up more than once in a tiny old plane myself, as if to give even more personal force to the narrative. 

2) The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, by A. J. Jacobs - my current flame finished this a few months ago, and deeply relished its humor. I wasn't at all certain what to expect, but have been touched (thus far) by a candidness on Jacobs' part that I wasn't expecting. Certainly in many comedic hands this venture would have been nothing but a way to take cheap shots at Old Testament regulations. Jacobs, though he does provoke laughs at the Law's expense, poignantly confesses from the get-go, the impossibility of what he is doing. To obey to the letter of the Law.

3) The Arm of the Starfish, by Madeleine L'Engle - I remember where I was when I realized L'Engle had died: lying on my stomach on the couch with a dachshund on top of me. My Dad was reading the announcement off the news feeds, and I was morose at the news. There are few writers I have learned more from. She taught me about writing as a vocation, and I wanted to meet her before I died. To express, perhaps, my gratitude for her sharing her eye, her keen insight into the ubiquity of sacredness in our lives.  Arm of the Starfish is a sterling example, too, of her obedience to the writing craft. A good many pages into the drafting of this novella, a character - Joshua - sauntered in, rather Jesus-like, where he wasn't expected. Rather than showing him the door, she rewrote many dozens of pages to accommodate him, and therein did the story an important favor.

Happy Honduran Election Day!