I'm back!

I'm back!  It's been a slow two weeks so far but here is the quick version of what's been going on since I've returned.  I have been to talk with Graciela, the director of education at ALPI and we are starting my English classes tomorrow!  I'm so excited!  I went over to ALPI on Friday to see Agustina (one of the secretaries at ALPI and also a friend of mine) who is leaving for another job.  While I was there, the other secretary, Candela, told me that I will have 18 students this upcoming term!  18!  I'm so excited!  11 of them are deaf and 7 are hearing.  We have been talking about the possibility of having two classes for the deaf students because 4 of them were in my class in the spring term (fall in the states) and are at a slightly higher level than the students that are just starting.  We'll call the students that are at a little higher level 2/3 level students, and the students that are just starting to learn English with me 0/1 level students (thank you ILI!).

Anyways, I've been trying to lesson plan for tomorrow because all of the deaf students will be in the class together tomorrow and from there, we'll decide whether they want two separate classes.  The students are all friends so it will be interesting to see if they want to separate or not.  I'm so glad and thankful that this program has been successful thus far.  It's been an incredible experience for me and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  

As far as sign language classes go,  I started back at Villasoles (the sign language institute) the day after I got back to Argentina.  I had missed one class so I got a tutor who is actually a teacher at Villasoles which helps a lot because she knows what the material is for the classes.  Now she is helping me to prepare for the 1st level final exam which is coming up in one week.  I am so incredibly nervous!  It's an individual exam so it will be myself, my teacher, the deaf teacher that helps out in the class, any other teachers that are interested in seeing the exam, any other deaf students/teachers interested in seeing the exam, and the director if she's interested.  I am the only student in the class whose first language isn't Castilian Spanish so I'm not sure what the teachers think about me taking this exam, but I'll blow them out of the water.  I've been working very hard to memorize over 600 signs so I know I can do it.  I just have to have the confidence, and I have to pass to move on to level 2.  So not passing the exam is not an option.  The end. haha