English Language Institute (ELI)

Unfortunately I am battling a cold right now. Yesterday my nose was SO sore and I was really tired, but had to teach ELI.

ELI is a free night of english classes during the week. Many hungarians are participating and appreciate the teachers. Attila Hajdu (pronounce Hi-Doo) teaches Hungarian and European history at ICSB and really has a burden to share the love of Christ with the community in Diosd. So he is the organizer of these classes. There is another group that organizes classes on two other nights during the week, but I wasn't available those nights, so I was excited when Attila announced he would be doing this. (Being a teacher in an english-speaking school all day kind of limits me to getting to know a lot of Hungarians.)

There are four levels of English that we are teaching and I am the teacher for level three. Many of my students know english quite well, but need confidence in speaking and listening. Well, because I wasn't feeling well yesterday and my voice sounded funny, I decided to give them a lot of worksheets for writing activities. There were times that we talked, but not as much as I normally do. BUT I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT COMBINING CLASSES! We have had temporary teachers for Level 4, which is mainly conversation. So, my 15 students plus the three students from level 4, brought my class size to 18!!! It was quite a full classroom. And I'm not sure how much the level 4 students got out of it, with them being used to mainly speaking. I'm sure it was helpful, and they always say "thank you" to me afterwards, but I'm going to have to think about some different strategies now so it can be worthwhile for everyone.

And there is a 30 minute break in the middle of the classes that Attila uses to spark spiritual discussion. There is usually an odd short movie to watch, which leads to questions that Attila wants the students to discuss at their table. And there's always water and pretzels or cookies too. (Oh, and this part is in Hungarian.)

I appreciate any prayers for these classes and the relationships that develop from them!