Back in Language School!
Drinking from a Fire Hydrant!
We’re back at Rio Grande Bible Institute near the southern tip of Texas about 20 miles from the Mexican border. We’ve just completed our second week of classes and we are ”drinking from a fire hydrant!” 
Being in second semester now, it really does feel like we are drinking from a fire hydrant. It seems like we have to assimilate everything learned in first semester and use it all at once in every class. OK, maybe that’s a little exaggerated, but the teachers are pushing us for accuracy in “rapid speech”. I’ve found it’s much easier to understand it than it is to form the sentences and have them come out of my mouth.
I’m also realizing more and more how we have to think in Spanish. Not only does that mean not translating in our mind, it literally means thinking the way a native speaker would think--understanding their values. I’m only beginning to see this and I realize it will take years to accomplish.
To be real honest we didn’t want to come back and do this again for another semester, but we know we need it! And, now that we are into it again, it’s going well. We are thankful for the time to be able to focus and concentrate on our learning. We know it will pay rich dividends in the future.
Peter has decided to take the first semester of Spanish here at RGBI. He’s doing all of the work and going to the classes but because of his age he is not able receive credit from the school. We are going to delay the beginning of his 9th grade year for one semester while he studies Spanish full time. He will have 3 1/2 years to complete his high school studies after this. Again, it is a huge investment in the future.
Kyle and Joelle will continue with their normal homeschooling, but we’re working out the details for them to also receive private teaching in Spanish from a native speaker.
Here is a “Google Earth” picture of the RGBI campus. Our classrooms are in the buildings just to the left of front-center and our apartment is dead center on the back end of the campus.
We’re enjoying a much greener campus this semester especially due to all the rain from hurricane Dolly. From what we have heard, the campus received over 11 inches of rain and lost several trees in the storm. When we arrived here, there was something like a plague of mosquitoes! Being from Wisconsin, you’d think we could handle it pretty well, but somehow these are different! It got better for a while, but now it seems like there is another wave of mosquitoes hitting. We’ll make it, you just don’t want to be outside after about 4 pm.
Posted by on 08/23
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08/23 at 04:38 PM
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