Entrepreneurship in K'stan

I lucked out when I got to teach the level 5 class for English at the center. The students that I have are wonderful and are so excited to be learning the langauge from a native speaker. Teaching adults is very different and very similar to teaching children in many ways. Each lesson brings about new struggles, but stronger relationships between myself and my students. Of course, there are the few troublemakers and then there are those that do not appreciate them when they are disruptive. The parallels of teaching here vs in America are numerous and interesting to find in each lesson. One big thing that I have discovered is that there are sssssooo many grammar rules that I do not necessarily know, but am able to speak using them just by intuition of being a native speaker. That makes it difficult to teach when I have to learn them myself, well enough, to be able to explain them, not just give the reason "because that's the way we do it." I love how this teaching experience is stretching me!

Each new lesson has a ton of vocabulary and is based on a different theme. The theme of Tuesday's lesson was Entrepreneurship. I greatly enjoy lessons where I can come up with interactive projects (because my class LOVES to talk). The twelve students I have in my class were split into three groups and each had the task of coming up with their own new and creative business. Needless to say I was very pleased with the resulting buisnesses and work my class produced. I heard tons of talking (in Engish, nothing else) and they all seemed very excited about what their group was creating. Here are two examples of what my class created (it was amazing to listen to their hearts as they created these businesses):

1) Dreamland . . . it is a small world: This is a large city split into sections where you can visit all the major cities and landmarks from around the world (ie, Eiffel Tower, Disneyland, Big Ben, Pyramids, etc.). Now this may not seem like a big deal, but when asked about their target market, their response was families with limited incomes that woud not normally be able to afford to see or experience these places. They scaled it down for less fortunate families to visit and experiences these things all in one place.

2) Angel's Wish: This is a center for underpriviledged children to be able to go and enjoy learning and playing during the summer. This too may not seem like a big deal to many of us, as there are so many in America, but here, there are very few, if any like this. They just want the best for their children and those that are not able to find help themselves.

As I sat and listened to these ideas, I could not help but be amazed at their hearts to help others. I just hope that as the next 4 weeks continue to bring about ideas such as these, for both me and my students, that we will be able to connect and discuss what is on their hearts.