Hi and thanks to all of those who sent wishes for us citizens in the Haifa-Carmel area. I'm sure you have all read or heard about Elad Riven z'l who died while trying to save lives as a volunteer for the"tsofei esh" . He really was the most incredible kid you can imagine, everything that has been written about him is absolutely true, it would be hard to find a 16 year old as mature, sensitive, caring, bright and optimistic as he was. A delightful, polite child, a straight A student who dreamed of becoming a pilot, believed in helping others and was dearly loved by everyone who knew him. I was privileged to have been his English teacher this year in a yud-alef 5 points class, and like all the other people who had the honor of knowing him, was totally devastated when I heard about his fate. In his class I use notebooks for kids to write their reflections about what we have learned which I simply read and comment on. At the end of our last lesson before the fire, as Elad returned his notebook, he told me how much he'd enjoyed reading what I had written, and thanked me for using the notebook idea in class! He was one of those very few special kids who really appreciated it when a teacher made an effort or taught an interesting lesson. His loss is overwhelming to all of us. I am appealing to you out there in ETNI-land to help me, as I keep thinking about next Sunday when I have to enter the classroom and teach English to my wonderful 11th grade class with that empty chair in the room. Can any of you give me some advice? Do any of you have something inspirational, perhaps a poem or a song, that I can use? Ideas of activities, or how to even begin a lesson like this? Do I drop English and speak only in Hebrew? I feel that I want to talk about Elad and let the kids do so too. Perhaps get them to write him a letter??? Any other ideas out there? Judi G. ----------------------------------------------- ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx ** ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** -----------------------------------------------