Angeles and Adali

Angeles and Adali are our 2 first grade deaf kids. They are soo stinkin’ cute! I have completely fallen in love with them. :-) They are both 6 years old, but Adali looks like she should still be in preschool, she is so small! They are best friends, but also fight and argue like siblings. We’ve already had many class times when most of the time was spent in behavior modification and trying to teach these young ladies with mostly gestures and visual cues that punching each other is not ok and that it isn’t bad if one of them knows more than the other…competitiveness already comes out at 6 years old! Lol

Angeles is affectionate and such a happy little girl! She is Daddy’s little girl through and through! Angeles was not born deaf, but became deaf due to an illness when she was 18 months old. Her parents are both very loving and very much involved with her schooling and trying to learn sign language themselves as well. Angeles is a quick learner and loves to ask what the sign is for different things. Although she is deaf and doesn’t speak/pronounce words, she is very much aware of the fact that when she makes noise, people turn their attention to her. Lol :-) When I started teaching, Angeles knew some letters of the alphabet, no numbers, and only a few signs. She now knows all of her letters confidently and almost remembers them all without the flashcards. She is also learning how to write the correct letter to match the signed letter. She knows her numbers 1-10 and only occasionally gets 6-9 confused. She can do very simple addition when sequentially counting items. She knows all of the animal signs for the flashcards we have and most of the fruits already and is now working on memorizing the vegetables. She knows the name signs for all the deaf students in the school as well as many teachers. She is quite the little sponge!

Adali is an extremely affectionate young lady and just after getting to know you a little bit will greet you every morning with a huge hug! She comes to school every day with her uniform all nicely put together and loves to make sure she stays looking nice throughout the day. Angeles lives with her grandparents and is cared for by them and other extended family. We do not know what became of her parents, but because of her situation, it is a bit more of a struggle to get her family more involved with her education. We believe this may be also why she has some behavioral issues. Adali absolutely loves to “talk.” She doesn’t actually pronounce any words, but any time she is trying to say something with gestures, she is also “talking” at the same time, especially when she is trying to complain about something Angeles did that she didn’t like. Lol :-) When I started teaching this year, Adali did not know her alphabet, numbers, and barely any signs. She now knows her letters when I use flashcards, but struggles without them. She is also learning how to write the correct letter to match the signed letter. She also knows her numbers 1-10, although still continues to get 6-9 confused. We are now working on sequential counting of items so we can slowly switch to addition. She is also now a whiz at all the animal signs for all the animal flashcards we have and is learning fruits and vegetables now. She now knows all of the deaf students’ name signs as well as the teachers that work close to my classroom. Every morning she greets everyone with “Good Morning,” and she has also finally gotten the hang of the most important sign – “Bathroom.”

Ya’ll can definitely be praying for these 2 little girls as we continue to work with them, teach them values and how to properly behave. They both have their individual struggles, but prayers that we would be able to meet their needs and work with them in a way that is best for them would be appreciated.

Love you guys!! God Bless!!!

#deafministry #missions #peru #Peru