Language

Matthew had one of his first debates today. It was the simple two-year-old kind, and it went something like this:

“Kopek”

“Dog”

“Kopek”

“Dog”

“Kopek, kopek, kopek!”

“Dooooog!”

I’m calling it a debate and not a fight since both side were good-natured. Moreover, it wasn’t Matthew’s goal just to be obstinate; he was really trying to convince our language teacher that the animal in the picture was a “dog.” It was really cute!

Matthew and Anna both love our language tutor. She is a sweet, energetic, college grad who speaks English well. She comes over the house four (soon to be three) afternoons a week for several hours. We are working through a grammar book; we practice with her, and she corrects us and answers questions we’ve come up with in our many adventures. When she first started coming Anna warmed up right away, but as usual, Matthew wasn’t as outgoing. So, our teacher came up with the idea of bringing a sweet or a snack for him each time. At first he was just in love with the snack, but now I can honestly say both kids love her! We love her too, she’s a great teacher, explains and answers questions willingly, and even gives us her cell number in case we need help when we’re out and about.

Right now, we have 8 hours of language class a week. During most of that time the kids sleep, so both Mike and I can participate. The rest of our time we spend in self-directed study. We have several “teach yourself” books/CD’s, internet sites, etc. We watch dubbed movies, listen to the radio, and go for walks to window-shop and talk to the sales clerks. Mike joined a gym, and has some friends at a photo developing shop he can hang out with from time to time to practice-. Altogether I (Becky) am aiming for about 20 hours/week of language study. Mike is aiming for 30-40. What kinds of things can we say??? We can do greetings, weather, and all that polite stuff. Family is a favorite topic of conversation around here, plus that basic introductory stuff like where do you life, what’s your occupation, are these your kids, etc. Grammatically we’ve done quite a bit, but what’s on paper still looks better than what comes out J Really, it can be frustrating and exhilarating. Sometimes I understand exactly what is being said and know exactly how to reply or how to ask what I wonder. Other times someone says something and about all I can tell is “there must have been a verb in there…somewhere…” Actually, verbs generally come at the ends of the sentence. I’ve gotten good at identifying questions so that I don’t smile and nod at the wrong time! When I studied Spanish I found my comprehension depended quite a bit on the speaker, and it seems to be no different here. But as our teacher often encourages us, “Day by day, you will learn, you will see.”

So here are the kids enjoying their lesson-time snacks: