The magical powers of Justin Bieber

Wow...I never thought the day would come when I would do a post with Justin Bieber in the title, but here we are. Today I had my first English lessons with the older children at the orphanage I am volunteering at on Tues and Wed and the day turned out to be quite different than I had anticipated! =)

You see yesterday one of the teachers who speaks  a little English told me that the children would be gone today so would I mind teaching English to the teachers who all speak some English. I said that would be fine. Upon arriving I discover that there is only one teacher there today who speaks very little english and about 13 children ranging from 13-18 who all speak very very little English. My plan had been to just assess the English leval of the teachers and spend today getting to know them a bit. That went out the window. So using my little bit of Malagasy I invited the children to sit down and introduced myself and learned their names and ages. 

Then we spent a good hour learning the following. Picture me..if you can standing at a blackboard with a piece of chalk...writing out these sentances....so weird thinking of myself as a teacher...lol..anyways...

Hello my name is ...nice to meet you. How are you? I am fine thank you. How old are you. I am .... years old. See you later, goodbye. Basically I taught them (some) of what I have learned in Malagasy, that way I could tell them what I was teaching them. So I would say "Salama, Lauren No anarako (hello my name is Lauren), "faly mahalala anao" (nice to meet you). "Manahoana ianao?" (how are you) "salama fa misaotra" (I am fine thank you) "firy taona ianao?" (how old are you) "23 taona aho" (I am 23 years old) etc. Veloma (goodbye) Mandra-pihaona (see you).  We did many different drills and they all did very well..but it was a tad dry. Seeing as I had no lesson plan prepared. Flexibility is key in Africa! =)

 So just as they were all staring at me with blank faces probably thinking about dinner, Eva the oldest girl there who spoke a little more English asked me if I was a singer? I told her I was and they said... sing!! I had no idea what to sing when one of the younger girls yelled out BIEBER! Ugggggh! "Bieber...why did it have to Bieber" (Raiders of the lost Ark...modified). But they all seemed quite keen so I let out an "wohoohohoh//wohohohhohohhoh" "you know you love me, you know you care...etc" and they went crazy laughing and smiling, one boy in the back started accompaning me with makeshift drums while another boy beatboxed along. A little girl in the front gave two enthsusiastic thumbs up...repeatedly! =) And in that moment we all really started to bond. And then what do you think they wanted next....if you said Miley Cyrus...then you would be right...if it is possible I like her even less than Bieber...but you gotta do what you gotta do. "I can almost see it that dream I'm dreamin...." =) they didnt know the words to the song...but they knew the tune and were all humming along! They seemed very excited for me to come back next week! So thank you...Miley and Justin... =)