Hello friends : ) that's right yo no hablo español means I don't speak Spanish! so how am I teaching an English class to Mexicans one might ask?
Each year a large group of Mexicans from Cancun come to Custer to work for the summer. The reason for this is that many more people come to Custer during the summer than live in the area full time. The restaurants and hotels here close in September. They begin to re-open in April and by Memorial Day our sleepy little town is bursting with activity!! This provides literally hundreds of jobs for 5 to 6 months so our government allows people from all over the world to come here to work for the season.
To say that we have befriended the Mexicans would be a very watered down picture - rather we have adopted each other! They have become family. Never! in our lives have we enjoyed so much love poured out on us.
I know this is getting too long so I will try to quickly explain the reason for my post today. This year there is a new gal from Mexico City to join the team. She speaks a little bit of English but not really enough to enable her to work with the public. Our friends have asked us to try to help her with conversational English. So guess what we did for our first class?
We made cards! : ) She had never made cards before or played with all the many tools of our delightful hobby and she was thrilled!! It really was a challenge - especially at first but "Google Translate" to the rescue! and by the end of our session she had made some beautiful cards and improved her English vocabulary quite a bit : )
These are the cards that I created as samples for her to follow. I wanted them to be very easy. I demonstrated each step from cutting the card stock to signing her name - and she in turn demonstrated the same process to my friend, Diane.
It turns out she is a natural!! I will be sure to photograph HER cards after we meet again tonight to play more!! : )
My cup runneth over! what could be better for this lonely Mom and Grandma than to be able to open my heart and crafty place to such fine people!! - sharing my love of cardmaking with someone who has never had the luxury of a hobby.
BIG (((HUGS)))
13 comments:
Now this is one special post. It looks like all of you got so much from the experience. Fabulous cards for her to make and so glad she is a natural x What a kind, thoughtful and generous lady you are Patti x Looking forward to seeing more cards after playing some more x
What a lovely, lovely post. HOw marvelous you are able to help this lady, and she can share in a fun hobby while learning English at the same time. And if she is sharing with an older person, who might welcome the companionship, another big plus. We've been to Custer on a trip out west. Didn't have time to stop and explore as we would have liked. Loved the lama card, but then as I read the post and saw the other nifty cards, enjoyed those too. YOu may call 'easy', but for a beginning card maker, they were spot on. Good for all of you at enjoying friendship, crafting & learning all at the same time. TFS & big hugs.
What a beautiful post Patti and the last photograph says it all! Yay to you for opening your heart to this woman and also teaching her the joy of stamping! I'm sure Jesus must have been smiling down on you the whole time!! And your cards are fabulous too I might add!! :0)
Fabulous cards and great photo too. What a wonderfully creative way to teach your new friend English!
We once had a guy in work who claimed he could speak Spanish - when we had a Spanish visitor we called him down and his first words were "Hola my name is Jim" We still laugh about it and it was nearly 20 years ago!!
Oh, so much to love on this post, the llama, the doodlie-do flower and its CAS home and your teaching experience. Oh, that everyone had an open, loving heart like yours! Cheers and enjoy your mentoring.
You may not speak the language, Patti, but your message comes through loud and clear! What a fabulous experience this would be ... good for you, and them!!! and just wonderful cards on top of it all! xx
=]
That is wonderful and so uplifting to hear you are helping this young lady learn the English language so that she can do her job more effectively. And, even more fun that you are showing her how to make greeting cards too. I always love to share my card making skills with others as well. That is one of the fun perks of this hobby gone wild of ours. Muy poco Espanol aqui too! Now I hope I said that right! LOL
What a fabulous experience to share your love of crafting with that young lady, Patti. You have such a generous heart and your cards are lovely.
There is no language barrier when it comes to kindness and love. What a wonderful post Patti and pretty cards too. The smiles in that photo say it all!
Echoing the others in being deeply touched by your generous spirit in welcoming your 'extended family' into your heart and home. Sharing your love of cardmaking with the newcomer makes me feel warm and fuzzy alllll over! You don't need to 'speak' Spanish, because you already speak of the languages of compassion, kindness and LOVE! Oh yes...the cards, like their designer, are awesome! The photo is fabulous; you, my friend, are gorgeous!
Hugs~c
PS. sorry for spotty commenting...lots of to-ing and fro-ing going on with work/visits to my mom this past weekend, a bunch of DT cards to finish in advance of due dates, preparing for a trip south (much needed!) with my husband (leaving the 30th, back on the 9th), a quick return and then back to mom's (on the 11th) for the start of the racing season (need to remember where I put my stop watch)! All is good; all is hectic *grin*
Loved everything about this post... from the eye candy to the stories! You are so talented and such an amazing person, too. HUGS!
What a great post Patti!! It's wonderful to hear about you sharing your love of card making as a way to communicate. So clever! And everyone looks like they had a wonderful time as well. xx
This is awesome, Patti! I knew if I kept going back on your blog, I would find out more about what you were doing! Looks like it was so much fun and it's nice to help this young woman learn English in a creative way!
Post a Comment