DISCLAIMER FOR THIS POST-
Kate makes mistakes too. A lot of them.
This morning while I was devouring a mango, I questioned my inability to make sense while speaking Spanish. It was 9 am and my Spanish lesson was scheduled to begin in a few minutes. Jamey was brushing his teeth for ten minutes and Ins, our awesome teacher, was on the skype with someone speaking one of the many languages she has perfected. This was a perfect time for me to think about several things including but not limited to the following:
1. Why do I sound like a two year old when I speak Spanish but write like a ten year old and read like a four year old?
2. Why cant we get mango's like this in the states?
3. How does Ins have three children and speak three languages fluently and always keep her composure?
4. Why did every school I ever attended tell me I had to take Spanish but nothing ever sank in for practical use?
5. Why am I starting to speak English like it is my second language?
6. I want a dog.
7. Gosh, where can I get more mango's?
Ok, I could keep going but that was the general trend of thoughts this morning. We started the lesson and I think I was loopy from lack of sleep. The night before we enjoyed cerveza and did our homework in a dark bar and did not get enough sleep for my brain to be able to conjugate verbs properly. Everything Jamey said was hilarious. He said "el niño tiene los chicles pequeños". He confused the word for teeth, in Spanish, for chicles, which means gum, and I could not stop laughing. So essentially he said, "the boy has small gum". To which Ins was instantly confused because she could not understand how Jamey could see that the boy in the picture had gum in his mouth. I was laughing because to me the word chicles always reminded me of the word chicklet, which is a type of gum in the U.S. (stay with me here). There is a movie, bonus points to ANYONE who can remember which movie, where a man gets his teeth knocked out and while he is out somebody replaces them with Chicklets. I cant help but think this is a childs movie. Anyway, all I could picture is this niño with chicklet teeth. Oh gosh. I still cant stop laughing about it. I really do think I either need food or sleep.
The whole morning went on like this. We kept making ridiculous mistakes and laughing, but learning. School was never this much fun. Never. Especially Spanish class. It was miserable and I realized that I had tricked every single one of my language teachers into thinking that I really did know what was going on. Very few lessons included an verbal session so our measure of success was solely on paper. I finally figured it out. Why did I continue to get good grades? Patterns, people, patterns. Spanish is all patterns. Could I follow the teachers example and apply it to different tenses, verbs and conjugations? Yes, because I see patterns. Not a complete language and certainly not a conversation. I saw bits and pieces and made it work and then left the class and went to Algebra. Again, useless. Less so than calculus however. The more removed I am from my years as a student the more I realized it was a game of tricking my teachers so I could move on and daydream.
I think I learned a little in school but a more effective course may be to give each student a ride to a certain part of the city, china town, little Havana, etc., an dropping them off for a few hours to order food, use the bathroom, get a haircut, go to the emergency room, you know, the usual. And then picking them back up at the end of the day, or not, and letting them panic and force the language on them. This technique is often used in wilderness training. You are left alone in a deserted environment and have to fend for yourself. You learn quick. How do I roast a squirrel?
Jamey is awesome at languages and I admire his ability to absorb information. But I do get to laugh.
Jamey- "hola señor"
clerk- "buenas"
Jamey- "Quisiera tres jueves porfavor" "may I have three thursdays please?"
Clerk- "si" (hands him three eggs)
Jamey- "Gracias"
Clerk- "huevos" (the correct word for eggs)
ahh, eggs. Not Thursdays. Lesson learned. Check and check.
1. Why do I sound like a two year old when I speak Spanish but write like a ten year old and read like a four year old?
2. Why cant we get mango's like this in the states?
3. How does Ins have three children and speak three languages fluently and always keep her composure?
4. Why did every school I ever attended tell me I had to take Spanish but nothing ever sank in for practical use?
5. Why am I starting to speak English like it is my second language?
6. I want a dog.
7. Gosh, where can I get more mango's?
Ok, I could keep going but that was the general trend of thoughts this morning. We started the lesson and I think I was loopy from lack of sleep. The night before we enjoyed cerveza and did our homework in a dark bar and did not get enough sleep for my brain to be able to conjugate verbs properly. Everything Jamey said was hilarious. He said "el niño tiene los chicles pequeños". He confused the word for teeth, in Spanish, for chicles, which means gum, and I could not stop laughing. So essentially he said, "the boy has small gum". To which Ins was instantly confused because she could not understand how Jamey could see that the boy in the picture had gum in his mouth. I was laughing because to me the word chicles always reminded me of the word chicklet, which is a type of gum in the U.S. (stay with me here). There is a movie, bonus points to ANYONE who can remember which movie, where a man gets his teeth knocked out and while he is out somebody replaces them with Chicklets. I cant help but think this is a childs movie. Anyway, all I could picture is this niño with chicklet teeth. Oh gosh. I still cant stop laughing about it. I really do think I either need food or sleep.
The whole morning went on like this. We kept making ridiculous mistakes and laughing, but learning. School was never this much fun. Never. Especially Spanish class. It was miserable and I realized that I had tricked every single one of my language teachers into thinking that I really did know what was going on. Very few lessons included an verbal session so our measure of success was solely on paper. I finally figured it out. Why did I continue to get good grades? Patterns, people, patterns. Spanish is all patterns. Could I follow the teachers example and apply it to different tenses, verbs and conjugations? Yes, because I see patterns. Not a complete language and certainly not a conversation. I saw bits and pieces and made it work and then left the class and went to Algebra. Again, useless. Less so than calculus however. The more removed I am from my years as a student the more I realized it was a game of tricking my teachers so I could move on and daydream.
I think I learned a little in school but a more effective course may be to give each student a ride to a certain part of the city, china town, little Havana, etc., an dropping them off for a few hours to order food, use the bathroom, get a haircut, go to the emergency room, you know, the usual. And then picking them back up at the end of the day, or not, and letting them panic and force the language on them. This technique is often used in wilderness training. You are left alone in a deserted environment and have to fend for yourself. You learn quick. How do I roast a squirrel?
Jamey is awesome at languages and I admire his ability to absorb information. But I do get to laugh.
Jamey- "hola señor"
clerk- "buenas"
Jamey- "Quisiera tres jueves porfavor" "may I have three thursdays please?"
Clerk- "si" (hands him three eggs)
Jamey- "Gracias"
Clerk- "huevos" (the correct word for eggs)
ahh, eggs. Not Thursdays. Lesson learned. Check and check.
4 comments:
Kate, I totally know the movie. It's Dennis the Menace, right?
I LOVE YOU ANNIE!!!! i cant believe you knew what the hell i was talking about. Of course you knew, i can count on Annie for movie trivia. HAHAHA!
No worries. Anytime. I think you guys need to find a trivia game down there to continue the world domination.
Just don't let Jamey go into a cantina and ask for a "Jose Huevo Margarita."
We're keeping up with your pilgrims' progress.
Miguel e Senora Karenita Breton
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