Feliz Cumpleanos

I just wanted to take a minute to send a ‘Happy Birthday!’ shout out to Dad. Happy 51st. I hope you enjoyed yourself. I apologize for my tardiness in wishing you a happy birthday. I’ve been up in the Japanese Alps for the past three days soaking up the fresh air, bounding through the mountains, and taking a few dips in the ‘onsen.’ I’d post a few pics but my computer is acting up a little right now. I’ll try again later.

Meghan and I are getting psyched for our return to the Valley. We will be arriving to town on Saturday afternoon. Since it appears that everyone will be out of town or otherwise engaged at that time, we were planning on stopping by sometime Tuesday or Wednesday (I’ll be down in Tucson helping Ben & Tiffany move to a new home all day Monday). We’ll work out the details later. We’re looking forward to meeting up with all the Minerlets that reside near home base and want to forewarn you: come prepared to see pictures and video footage. It ain’t a slide show, but hey, what is?

Elder T, Meghan has a few ideas for your English classes. 1) Pictionary. A good fun way to build their vocabulary. 2) Crafts. Making simple crafts while speaking in English is a fun way for kids to remember verbs and phrases. 3) Read books. Make sure the books have pictures and are fairly easy to understand. Ask review-type questions after each page. 4) Watch video or movie clips. Stop frequently and check for comprehension. Easy way to generate vocabulary lists. The most important thing to remember when teaching little kids is…energy. If you don’t show any enthusiasm you’re hosed before you ever start.

I hope that everyone is doing well and look forward to seeing some/most of you in a few days.