La Escuela Vida Abundante

Perhaps you would like to know a little more about the program that I am here with, so I will gladly inform you! Abundant Life Christian Schools (ALCS) are part of a Honduran-based movement to better educate the children of this country. Public schools are devastating. The public-school teachers simply do not care: they end school before noon each day, they turn backs during tests so the students are taught to cheat their way through school, they spend more time punishing than teaching the kids, and even if they decided to genuinely teach their students, they would be hardly qualified to do so. Abundant Life Church saw the need to change this and give hope to younger generations, so they founded a private school system. Not only are they Christian schools, but they are also bi-lingual schools which makes for a unique combination in this country. I personally fell in love with the program because it is a Honduran-based program designed to benefit Hondurans themselves.

ALCS currently has five schools across the country in Tegucicalpa, Gracias, Choluteca, Catacamas, and La Union. La Union is the newest, smallest, poorest, and most rural school. Quite honestly, the school in La Union would not exist without the other schools because almost every kid here pays half or no tuition. Thankfully, through scholarships, these kids all get the chance to a brighter future! Every school is a bilingual school. For the most part, all of the students are taught in full English immersion. They receive instruction in all the general subjects like math, science, language arts, etc. but all of those are taught in English so they learn the language simultaneously with the materials. They do have Spanish classes for the students and they are taught Honduran history in Spanish. In theory this is a flawless plan. However, ALCS has seen a problem with specifically Honduran teachers because it is too common for them to resort back to Spanish when communicating with the students or letting the students talk in Spanish even though the teacher is using English – all because it is simply easier that way.

this is the school in Gracias

this is my school in La Union

There will be seven American teachers and two British volunteers at the school in La Union, and we all make a great team! The crew is as follows: 

• Jake is from Holland, MI and this will be his 5^th year teaching. He teaches a variety of secondary courses but has been acting as a pseudo-director of the school. 
• Kara is also from Holland but she has recently been living in New York, and will be teaching secondary math. 
• Lenny (married to Kara) is from New York and he will be teaching secondary history. 
• Lori is from Charlevoix, MI and went to Hope (!) and she will be teaching secondary science. 
• Cassidy is from Holland but went to school and now lives in Minnesota, and she will be teaching fifth grade. 
• Harriet and Beth are both part of Project Trust which is a volunteer program from the UK. They are both from England and will be helping around the school with tutoring and teaching simple elementary classes such as writing and spelling. 
• And me of course! I will be teaching third grade as well as a class or two of who-knows-what at the secondary level (I’ll keep you posted for when I find out which class(es) specifically). 

I am lucky to have a fantastically small class of only 13 students! I cannot wait to meet them and fall in love with them as soon as possible. The students in La Union come from many small villages surrounding our little city, but they are notoriously known as the best kids around with their manners, behavior, and eagerness to learn.

Here is my class list and I asked that you would pray for each student by name (do your best with pronunciations, God will know who are talking about!). We start school on August 20 and my greatest desire is that these students come prepared for an awesome school year. I hope they are ready to learn, as difficult as it might be, and willing to be shaped into the image of God:

Hegna Escarleth Membraño Juárez

Keidy Janeth Pérez Reyes

Kensy Banessa Sánchez

Yery Banessa Juárez

Wendy Banessa Perdomo Miranda

Darwing Manuel Ramos Perdomo

Elman Miladey Benites Perdomo

Gabriel Isaí Ponce Paz

Geovanny Josué Reyes Enamorado

Juan José Dera Rodríguez

Julio Josué Hernández Sorto

Marco Antonio Alvarado Sorto

Rolando José Rodríguez Barrientos