DRAMA

Last night was so much fun. The high schoolers have been practicing for the play of the year. This year they did The Wizard of OZ. My class is on the sixth floor and the roof is on the seventh. The students dont have anywhere to practice their play (all venues are too expensive to rent for months at a time)on the roof. Every afternoon as I am grading papers and talking with my Supervising Teacher, I hear them yelling and singing and laughing. The drama closet also happens to be in my room :) I got people coming in and out. I see strange green costumes and other ones that look like some sort of paint and pattern mix up happened at the factory that made the clothes. There was so much color (can you guess the scene) I didnt know what do to. Then there were flowers galore. One day a student was getting the wicked witches broom out of the closet. The broom is very long and the fan on the ceiling was running. Yep ZZZZZ... went the fan and pieces of the broom came flying at me. She gave it a hair cut :)! Oh one day they decieded to clean out the drama closet. I did not know that all the stuff in my room could come out of such a small space. It was a amazing.
To say the least I have been anticipating this program. I kept thinking, where in the world are the going to find a stage big enough to make this work. Well it all culminated last night. My two housemates and I ate an early dinner (quarter to six) and then headed out. We left the compound where I am staying and traveled across town with several other ladies. Finally after several minutes, we made it to the theater. We climbed up several steps. I knew that some of the my students from class four would be there but I didnt realize that 6 or more of them came! There are three performances to choose from. It was really nice to see my kinds outside of class. Finally, we were seated in and air conditioned room (praise God!) There was stadium seating except the first several rows. I was in row E from the front. I was nice and close to hear the students. The didnt have a lot of cordless mics so only the ones of the scene who where leading the songs would have the mic. It was kinda hard to hear them because they had only practiced on the actual stage three or so times. One of the little girls that lives in our compound was there and she sat next to me! We was so excited, she told me that she could scream. Well the lights went out and the curtains opened.
This was a special program because during the year the boy who was supposed to play the Tin Man actually died due to a freak accident while eating, he choked on a piece of meat and died almost instantly. The drama season and students were so affected by it that they didnt think they could make it. But they replaced the part with a mechanical dolly. They knew that the student would want them to go on with the show. The show then was dedicated to him and his family. So this play was really important.
Oh my word! They did such a great job!!! The play was amazing. The students all had great mid-west accents. The lion and scarecrow were my favorites. The lion actually sounded like the character on the movie, I think he did better than the movie! He even had the lisp and I could still understand him. The witch was amazing too. She was actually believably scary. And her laugh and finger pointing were right on. The facial expressions were fantastic! I think its thanks to the Indian films lol. You could see that they really enjoyed this play and put their entire heart and soul into it. The humor was fantastic. So much energy and aw it was really cool! I am so proud of them. I cant wait to get the feed back from my students on Sunday.
Now on to other things. I will be teaching all day for at least three full weeks starting Sunday. I am really excited but I have a lot of planning to get done. It will be a challenge but I think I am ready. My principal came and observed me and she had nothing but good things to say about my science and math lesson. She said that even in the last several weeks I have improved. I thank my God for giving me the ability and creativity to come up with engaging lessons that the students would like. Please pray that God would provide me with the strength need to do my very best and glorify him in the process.
Yesterday and the day before was World Maths Day. I dont know if I talked about it, but 4th grade and up had a chance to participate in World Maths Day. It is a day around the whole world in which school pre-register to play math games. It have a series of levels (5 i think) First level is addition and subtraction questions. The game picks three other children who are also playing from around the world to see who will answer the most math questions in one minute. One of my students played some other children from Germany, Qutar, Brazil, UK, USA, AE, Italy, Austria ect. They had a blast. Since we are in this time zone, we actually get another 12 hours :) So in the last two days they have been able to have 45 minutes each day to play. They loved it!!! I am so glad that they were able to participate in this type of game. I wonder why America has not heard of it yet. When I have my own classroom, I want my children to play. I even got to play :)
Anyway, I must get ready for the day. Please keep praying for my students. I had an opportunity yesterday to speak with one of my believing students and encourage her in the things the we know. She claims that she doesn't have friends and so please just pray that I can speak into her life and encourage her more. Oh pray for another one of my students, she is having surgery on her neck to remove a growth that is growing inside. She said she is not scared but just for quick recovery. The surgery is today. She will be out of class for a week. Oh by the way I was encouraged when I went to AWANA (for the first time ever) and saw that at least 5 of my kiddos from class go to. And two other children just believed. Praise Him! So you can be praying for those children! Thank you for all that you have done for me and for these children!