Church as usual on Sunday. When Gaetan preaches, Suzanne translates for me. When Pastor Smith preaches, she says it’s too difficult to translate the Creole. After church we said our good-byes at my gate and I thought I would be alone for the afternoon, but they came back and told me to get my suit on as we were going to a beach near Rio San Juan. They said it was a quaint little spot. We drove about an hour on very bad roads. No good highways on the island. When we got there they were shocked because on Sunday that’s where all the Dominicans go for the day. The people who run the park bring out tables and chairs for you when you pick a spot. The ice cream vendor is there with his annoying whistle, and typically someone cranks on their car stereo and you can hardly hear yourself talk. The waves came in on an angle and crashed against the rocks at the side and the water was wonderful. (I will try to attach a picture if I have time and can figure out how.) I just stood in it up to my neck and let the waves lift me up and down. You can order a fish of your choice and they prepare it and bring it with fried plantain, rice, rice with beans, and shredded cabbage. It was quite an experience. I also got to see a couple of the towns east of Cabarete… or is it south?
On Monday I had my first English class for the school kids. It went well. Some were really eager, especially when I started using stickers. Others were just bewildered, but they will catch on. It will be hardest to work on their pronunciation in a large group, but hopefully they will catch something that will be helpful.
In the evening I had registration for adult English and 15 people came. Fortunately, one guy was a very good translator so he told them what I had to say and interpreted their questions to me. Wednesday night I will meet with them individually and assess their abilities. Most of them, even my interpreter, will say they don’t know any English, but I do the same in Spanish or French or Russian although I do know a little bit. The teacher’s job is to get them to use it and perfect it. One girl said it would easy to assess her as she doesn’t know one word. We all laughed.
On Monday I had my first English class for the school kids. It went well. Some were really eager, especially when I started using stickers. Others were just bewildered, but they will catch on. It will be hardest to work on their pronunciation in a large group, but hopefully they will catch something that will be helpful.
In the evening I had registration for adult English and 15 people came. Fortunately, one guy was a very good translator so he told them what I had to say and interpreted their questions to me. Wednesday night I will meet with them individually and assess their abilities. Most of them, even my interpreter, will say they don’t know any English, but I do the same in Spanish or French or Russian although I do know a little bit. The teacher’s job is to get them to use it and perfect it. One girl said it would easy to assess her as she doesn’t know one word. We all laughed.
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