Hard Work Pays Off

Welcome back to Taylor Talks!

Do you ever have the opportunity to see your hard work paying off right in front of you? Tonight, I was lucky enough to see the fruits of my labor paying off, and it was incredible.

This week is my fourth week of teaching sign language classes. It's hard to believe that it's already September 1st, but here we are; the past few weeks of classes have just flown by. I've been teaching ASL three days a week, working with multiple adults and children ages eighteen months to thirteen years, and getting a lot of experience. Each class is different, from the people I'm teaching to the material that I'm going over with them, but each class is going really well.

Last night, I received a message from a mom who comes to classes with her family. Her eighteen-month-old daughter used two signs at dinner, and was able to communicate her needs. The mom was so thrilled, because her daughter has been becoming increasingly frustrated since she doesn't talk yet, but wants different things throughout the day. I was so glad that this family was benefiting from the lessons I've been giving them.

Tonight, I got to see another family having entire conversations in sign language. Sure, they were short conversations, but they were able to communicate entirely through ASL and understand what was being signed. It was so exciting to watch the family really grasp what I've been teaching them over the past few weeks. They built off of signs from other weeks and used new signs that I taught them tonight, combining words into sentences that were beautiful to see. The kids got big smiles when they were able to get a message across to their parents, and when the parents were able to verbally interpret what the kids had signed, they beamed with pride.

I went into these sign language classes not knowing what to expect. I've been learning sign language for forever, and I've taught plenty of times, but I had never run my own classes in this type of environment. I wasn't sure if the people who had signed up for classes would like what I was teaching, or how I was teaching, or if they would pick up the material easily. But tonight showed me that I must be doing something right, because these people are really starting to pick up the signs and do something with them. I can't wait to see how much further we can go in the next two weeks of classes.

I'd like to end with a special shout-out to all of our friends back in New York who are starting school tomorrow. Whether you're a teacher, a student, or a family member supporting from home, it's a big day when classes start up again. I hope everyone has an awesome first day and a great new school year. I'll be thinking about you all!

Thank you so much for your continued support! I look forward to sharing more stories about my experience with foster care, and hopefully hearing from readers who have questions or similar stories to share. I'm always willing to answer questions and hear about other experiences! Please don't forget to like and share my Facebook author page as well!

I’d greatly appreciate it if you would share this blog with friends and family through your favorite social media sites. If you’re sharing on Twitter, don’t forget to tag me (@TayTayK02) and use the hashtag #TaylorTalks.

Thanks!
Taylor

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