Tuesday May 18
We visited an elementary school today. Like any school of kids from 1st to 6th grade they were noisy and exited about being in school. A classmate and I got the opportunity to read to a class of sixth graders that were in an English class. We read to the kids and they repeated back. We brought letters that students in Wilmington had written to introduce themselves to the students in Costa Rica. When we finished reading we sat down and help them write letters back to students from Wilmington. The kids probably knew as much English as I knew Spanish, and we somehow were able to have a basic conversation.
I was talking about soccer and basketball to one kid and he asked me if I knew Michael Jordon and Kobe Bryant. I told him no but Michael Jordon grew up in Wilmington NC. ( I was attempting this in Spanish)
Not realizing my limited Spanish combined with their limited English something got lost in translation. All of a sudden several of the 6th grade boys wanted to know if I was a friend with other NBA players. I tried to tell them I did not know any NBA players but it did not seem to work.
I was back in our class the next day to learn more Spanish and I was thinking about the previous days experience. I wanted to tell these students so much about school, sports, and other things but I was constrained by my limited knowledge of Spanish.
The last few minutes of class really hammered the feeling home. Our teacher was teaching us Spanish through a children’s book. Although this method was extremely effective and our Spanish teacher is excellent, it was a strange feeling. I was reading a children’s book to learn. Bruised ego aside, I thought this was another example of what an English Language learner might go through. Imagine an intelligent kid trapped in the confines of not being able to communicate. How frustrating would that be?
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