I had an amazing day! The English class I'm teaching has been going very well, at least with the intermediate student. The beginner students were just REALLY struggling, as most of them are almost uneducated, and their learning "job" is more challenging. I asked for help in a post a month or so back, and cmanahan recommended a curriculum that is called "Total Physical Response", or TPR. The basic philosophy being that learners of another language need to learn like a child again, first listening, then listening and responding, then speaking, then reading and writing. This is first accomplished through action commands. Today I did my first lesson, and it was AWESOME!!!!! In a half hour, we learned: sit, stand, walk, turn, sing (they did not enjoy this one!), stop, touch your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, head, shoulders, and smile. And it's more than a vocab list they memorized. They first watched and listened. They they listened and copied me. We did that for quite a while, mixing all the commands up. Then I spoke, and they responded without miming my actions, but choosing the appropriate response. I LOVED watching them get it. I was pretty impressed with how quickly they caught on. AND, they learned WAY WAY WAY more in a half hour utilizing this method than they ever did when I was teaching a more traditional course. Now, of course there is definitely a place for more traditional learning soon down the road, as obviously, you can't communicate everything through commands, unless you are Atila the Hun, of course. SO… needless to say, I'm pumped. I anticipate my students acquiring and action-based vocab pretty quickly, and that is great, considering that the jobs they have are in the warehouse on a small production line/machine and working with boxing up stuff, so this type of basic vocab will make a huge difference quickly. What an answer to prayer!

Also:  I made Chipotle-like burritos tonight, and was REALLY excited, but just made bean and rice ones, since I forgot to marinade chicken, and despite my best attempt, was sorely disappointed that it didn't taste just like a carnitas pork burrito.  I know, I am totally illogical.