Can you read this?

Can you read this? 

Babushka (I think)

I hope so. I hope that someone took the time to teach you how to read, write, speak and understand English (assuming you're in a predominantly English-speaking country). 

I spent this morning at a local church, helping teach ESL (English as a Second Language) classes. I taught people who can't understand the dominant language of the country in which they live. Can you imagine moving to a place where everyone speaks a different language than you, where you couldn't even ask for help in the most basic way? My friend and student worker, Abby, and I talked about what it would be like to move to Russia. We discovered that we know exactly five words: da, Babushka, vodka, czar and niet. And I probably spelled all of those wrong. So basically I could (in very broken Russian) get drunk with a dictator-like grandma. [Or at least I think that's what those words mean.] So you can see how crucial a class like ESL can be to someone in that exact same boat.

But this class taught me something, too. 

I learned that English is a strange and illogical language...Teach:taught, reach:reached? Who decided on that? And why are some letters silent when put with other letters, but not all the time? One of our vocabulary words was knife. The woman who had that flashcard nailed it, but I'm sure it wasn't her first time seeing that one. And how do you explain the difference in the th sound in this and the th sound in Meredith? Neither of those sounds exist in Spanish - which is the native language of everyone in my group.

My new - and extremely brave - friend, Jessica, told me about this class that is put on through the Bryan Public Library. She leads a group, but was unable to make it today because of conflicts at work, so she shoved me in the deep end let me take over her group. Being the wuss that I am, I brought my security blanket Abby along.

From 10-noon each Saturday, about 12 groups of students - separated by proficiency level - meet in a small auditorium. Today we started off as a large group singing and doing hand motions to "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "This Little Light of Mine". It seems silly, but that's exactly how I began learning Spanish. At first I just belted out random sounds from the privacy of my own car, and eventually I would be able to pick out words and phrases that I had learned in my Spanish class.

Luckily, a very nice woman named Meg let us (Abby and I) bring our group to join hers. Both of our groups were at the beginner level. Meg had planned a great lesson full of activities. We took statemements containing the "to be" verb and rearranged the words to turn them into questions. I was grateful to know some Spanish and to be able to translate where needed, until I remembered that in Spanish, a question and statement are the same sentence, just with different punctuation. [For example, in English: You are hungry./Are you hungry?; in Spanish: Tienes hambre./Tienes hambre?]

Needless to say, it was a difficult yet rewarding two hours. I was helping someone understand the world around them. I only hope that these students feel like they're getting somewhere on their way to truly understanding and being able to read/write English.

Learning another language is one of the accomplishments I'm the most proud of, and I was fortunate enough to dedicate eight years of formal education to it. And I am thrilled to be able to return the favor, even in a small way. 

The most rewarding part of the day was at the end when one of the men from the group came up to us and asked if there were more classes available. He said two hours, once a week, wasn't enough for him. [I agree. Five days per week was barely enough for me to learn Spanish...and that was with trained educators.] I promised him that I would contact the Bryan Library and see if we can add another class a couple of nights per week. 

I'm so excited to start paying it forward and to actually be able to use my Spanish. And I'm so thankful for all of my past Spanish teachers, for the incredible gift they've given me

Muchisisisímas gracias.