Here's a video clip from Sports Day. A day that was instituted by Ataturk. Students spent the day rotating to various sporting acitivities wearing their house team colors. The day culminated in relay races against teams and high pitched cheering. The noise and energy in the gymnasium was crazy. Experienced teachers came prepared with ear plugs. It was a blast! It was a cross between Camp Chateaugay, Track and Field Day, and a Justin Beiber concert. My ears were ringing for hours afterwards. :-) The girls were both on the same team and ran a relay race together.
Dear Friends and Family,
It's been quite some time since we've posted any news. With all that's been going on in our communities, I'm sure keeping up with the Kepplers hasn't been a top priority. We feel for everyone and wish we were there to help. You're in our hearts and on our minds. For those needing a distraction, I'm back to telling stories. I started the school year by filling in for a 2nd grade teacher- setting up her classroom and teaching the first four weeks. When signing on for the job, I didn't realize just how much fun it would be and the bonds I'd form in such a short amount of time. The experience gave me greater insight and appreciation into the workings of the school, students, staff and best of all- I was able to be with my kids and husband all under the same roof! It was such a great beginning for all of us. My class- while on the small side with only 18 students, was the most diverse group I have ever taught. Students represented 15 different countries (yes- 15!), from places such as Palestine, Poland, Czech Republic, Iran, Korea, Japan, Ezra Bajan, Bolivia, Spain, America, England, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Sweden, Egypt...yes, the list goes on. I had two students who spoke no English, 7 with very limited, a handful with a few years under their belts, and a few others who were native English speakers. Such varying learning needs, which certainly sharpened my saw for differentiating and sheltering instruction. Sometimes it felt like a game of shirades....combining A LOT of visuals to help teach concepts and trying to talk less (sometimes that's hard for me). Google images was my new best friend as well as sentence stems and gesturing. I also took two levels of training for IB, which involved inquiry-based methods. All valuable experiences to deepen my understanding of how kids learn best. I must say I grew quite attached to my kiddos in a short amount of time. I will miss being called everything from "Teacher" to "Mrs. Kep-oo-lar". My little Mohammad Ali (yes, that's his real name) came from Ezra Bajan speaking absolutely no English. He arrived a week into the school year. On his first day he came up to me while teaching, stood in front of me and pointed down towards his shoe indicating I needed to tie it. Obviously there were some vast cultural differences from his prior school experience with the role of the teacher. Humm...I thought...looks like he'll need some velcro for those shoes. Such a colorful spread- some students were used to reading right to left, others were accustomed to Kanji or Arabic (very different in terms of letter formation), voice levels also varied significantly. But, like any class, kids are adaptable. They have the same needs and desires: to be recognized, loved, and cared for in order to learn. Here are some photos of my "lovelies" yes, that's what I called them. They taught me a lot in a short amount of time. ![]() Dear Friends, Family and Loved Ones- We are thinking of all of you as we were completely shocked to hear the news of the flooding and devastation. Turning on the International CNN news the other night to find Lyons in the headlines wasn't what any of us could ever have ever imagined. Lyons seems to have been hit hard as well as Longmont based on the ariel video we just viewed online. I'm sure the communities are pulling together- we just wish we were there to help. What's most disconcerting is the number of people unaccounted for. We are praying for everyone's safety and sending strength to those in need. Much love....Christa, Mike, Sierra and Aleah ![]() O.K. so I will jump in here and post something. This past weekend we were feeling a bit surrounded by buildings, and so we went on a walk along the Bosphorus. We left for the walk after going to an amazing buffet breakfast at a restaurant in an old part of Istanbul. We have made it a habit to go to Sunday brunch with another family nearly every weekend. The buffet spreads are amazing and you typically spend 2/12 to 3 hours eating and drinking tea - great way to relax. Anyways, we left from the breakfast spot and walked about 5 kilometers along the water. We had seen a castle on the side of the Bosphrus and wanted to make it to the castle to take a look. According to legend this castle was built in the same spot where Jason and the Argonauts passed through the Bosphorus - According to one website: The Straits of Bosphorus are a narrow passageway of water between the Sea of Marmara, the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. To the ancient Greeks, this was the edge of the known world. The Straits are extremely dangerous due to the currents created by the flow of water from the Black Sea. The ancient Greeks believed that clashing rocks guarded the straits and that the rocks would close together and smash any ship sailing through. Jason had been told by a blind prophet he assisted how to fool the rocks. He was to send a bird ahead of him. The rocks would crash in on it and then reopen, at which point he could successfully sail through. So needless to say, this castle is in an impressive spot, having been built in the 1500's and being a main fortress denying the passage of ships beyond this spot. Like many other sites in Turkey, we were free to roam around the remains and explore the many walls and turrets. We had a great time and thought about what it would have been like 500 years ago being a soldier guarding the castle walls (well that last part might have just been me). Mike I'm going to tell you about when I went swimming with the dolphins. One day when my mom was at work and it was just me my dad and my sister my dad decided to take me and my sister swimming with the dolphins. None of us had ever done it before. so we were really excited. The place that we were going to is called the Dolphinarium. Once we got there we watched a great show with walrises,little dolphins, big dolphins, and seals. The show was about an hour. Once the show was over the exciting part came!!! We went in to the dressing room and got into our bathing suits. When we got in the pool it was freezing and the dolphins looked way bigger in person, but once we put our whole body in it wasn't as cold. The trainer blew his whisle and the dolphins swam out. I grabed the dolphins back fin and he swam around the pool. It was so cool the dolphin swam really fast. I also got to dance with the dolphins. I held onto there front fins and they spun me around in circles. Two dolphins kissed me on either side of my cheek. It felt so weird. At the end I got to swim with two dolphins at the same time. It felt like I was jetskying. Sadly it was time to go I couldn't believe what i just did and I knew that I would remember it for the rest of my life. Aleah
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AuthorChrista Keppler Archives
July 2015
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