Craaaaaaaaaaazy Day

The holidays had mamash postponed the beginning of anything resembling regularity. It began this week. Sunday morning I worked my way down to Patt, a neighborhood in the South of Jerusalem. I walked into Yad Byad (handinhandk12.org) and waited for Shachar (the volunteer coordinater) to arrive. I watched children run around freely playing tag, interacting with each other, with teachers, with parents...I really tried to figure out who was Jewish and who was Arab and I found that unless I heard them speaking, it was hard to tell. I soon learned that even this cue could be misleading. I spent 4 hours in a first grade classroom. The kids learned basic math, Hebrew, and Arabic. I sat with two girls at the edge of the classroom. Both girls were Jewish. As they did their work, they occasionally switched into Arabic. When I heard them switch, I looked up to see if any of the Arab kids (the tables were mixed, this table only had two kids...both of them just happened to be Jewish) had walked over, but they hadn't. With a few exceptions, most kids in the class fully understood (if not spoke) both Hebrew and Arabic. FIRST graders. I was so impressed. I think this school is doing wonderful work. At the very least, they are producing progressive minded bilingual citizens. The teachers are dedicated and patient. Rinat, the teacher I am working with, discussed the school with me:
"This school is different from any other school. When we have bad behavior, we are patient. They punish. We have to have a lot of patience here and we have to be gentle and encouraging." The kids WANT to do well. There was not a single kid who did not try to participate in class. In fact, the teachers had to remind the kids not to call out in class...there was that much enthusiasm!
It is difficult not being able to speak Hebrew fluently. I can understand the kids when they talk to me, but my responses are limited. I'm hoping that my Hebrew will improve, and with it, my confidence.