This past week I did this.
And this. And that. And nothing else. The end.
Some days I wish that that could pass as a blog. When the music at this internet café is blaring
a knockoff of Titanic’s theme and the smoke from the lady at the computer next
to me is being wafted by a previously pleasant breeze right past my nose, a
weekly update seems to be a fruitless aim at times. At least people wouldn’t get bored half way
through (including me).
Plus I would be setting an awesome example of proper grammar
for our new English students, one of whom finds amusement in referring to the
five of us involved as ‘teacher’ and considering that he’s a worker at El
Puente, I’m hoping the phase doesn’t last.
Bueno, en verdad I believe it may
already be dying down since I’m much more likely to hear Valeria- ¿como se dice
cuando…?
That’s definitely been one thing I’ve loved about being here
though. Impromptu language lessons that
just flow naturally from a desire to communicate with the people that spend
their days here and will continue to do so long after we leave. Hanging out in the kitchen and laughing about
cutting out the gusano en su estomago
or teasing that if I’m to speak only in English, I want to hear them respond
likewise. Yeah- Spanish class gave me
enough to work with so that I had the basic verbs and grammar down, but it was
the few months of going to a meet-up group at Panera and actually using the
words floating around in my mind that unjumbled at least some of them. Here, that chance to simply talk comes more
than once a week and I can see everyone really benefitting from that.
There’s something about a mutual language barrier that breaks
down other walls of awkwardness as everyone has a chance to be both teacher and
student, laughing about one’s errors and gently correcting someone else’s. Sure, sometimes it feels like they are
speaking Portuguese and I’m responding in broken Pig Latin, but I’ve also had
moments where it feels like all barriers are gone, everything makes sense, and
I’ve gotten a glimpse of a story that otherwise would have remained untold.
In six weeks, when the first set of English classes ends, I
want the students to be able to tell me more than I did this. And that. The end. Of course levels vary (which is why the group
is split into two classes) but more than just having a few more words in their
vocabularies, I’d like to have a class that can’t be summarized by bullet
points; conversations that can’t be scripted.
Yes- we will have structure and come to each week’s lesson prepared, bearing plans in hand,
but we can’t let any of that steal away the fun of simply speaking.
