Benjamin's Teacher Debut

[from Benjamin]

Today I received my schedule, and realized I had already missed three classes. I did have the chance though to teach a first and second grade class before lunch. I was surprised both times that I was alone in the classroom. Terrified at the aspect of trying to pronounce Amharic, I stuck to English. They did not. Pleading with the first graders to learn the musical alphabet, I started saying,”a,b,c…” when they took off with rounds of the entire alphabet. Because singing, even the alphabet, is musical, I sung with them desperately to regain control of the class. For the rest of the period, I would do anything to keep control, even taking their laughter at my humble attempt at “row your boat”. The second grade class was heaven however, because of their considerably greater knowledge of the English language. Modeling Julia Andrews’s example, I started with do re mi. They were fast learners and within half of an hour they were singing a song we sing at Olivet, “Open the Eyes of My Heart.”  My mom walked past the window with a tear in her eye at their angelic voices singing “holy, holy, holy.” The whole thing was exciting; I had fun.  As I walked back to the apartment, I heard them practicing their new song: “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, open the eyes…”.  Cool.