Teaching English, all done. :(

I’m having a moment where I need to write my blog post before I can get to the internet. This is Thursday November 30, 2006. I’ve just returned from the last English class. It’s so hard to express my emotions. I love those kids. I love them so much; I don’t want to leave them behind. I’m a horrible teacher, but they loved me despite my inadequacy. We sang all the songs we’ve taught them in the last two months, we reviewed numbers and letters and colors, and objects and the verb “To Be”. We didn’t teach nearly as much as we wanted to teach them. But it turns out we’ve made a difference. I don’t know how, but at the end of class the congregation came down to us, we teach at the same time there is a service. The pastor’s wife, my last grammar teacher, spoke to us all and thanked us and told us how learning another language is much more than words. She reminded us that there are different languages because of the pride and arrogance at Babel. The division between us in language is a reminder to remain humble. But learning another language is a way to build bridges and that is what we have been doing these last three months. After she finished talking some of the parents came up and spoke about the difference we have made in their childrens lives. Two mothers said that their children had been struggling in their English classes at school and because of us, they are now doing well. They allowed us to speak, I didn’t have many words, and I thanked them for this opportunity. The other girls were much more eloquent than I. They gave us flowers, wild flowers and roses, they gave us necklaces and the children gave us notes and little pieces of special paper that they had. I’ve taken pictures of everything. One note says, thank you Pennie for giving us classes, I love you very much. Another says, Thank you very much for everything, and that it goes well with you in every way you go and that you take care. This one is a little sad because she wrote the word vaya, but spelled it balla, you kind of have to understand Spanish pronunciation to know why, but these two spellings sound very much alike. The Spanish b and v sound so much alike that when people spell they will often say b grande and v chica to differentiate between the two. But this leads me to some funny things we’ve heard in the class. I wish that I had kept a log throughout the classes, but here is what you get, and think about them:

The question: Where do I wash my hands? Answer: The Chicken! He meant the Kitchen. Thanks Jonathan!

Did you know that it’s difficult for Mexicans to differentiate between teen and ty. Thirteen and thirty sound very much the same to them. Here are some examples:

Question: What is 30 + 3? The answer 60! Why? Because 13 + 3 = 16. Think about it!
What is 16 + 4? 64! Why? 60 + 4 = 64.
50 + 5 = 20? Nope that’s 15 + 5, right?

Next time you are talking money or numbers with a foreigner, think about this, they aren’t stupid; they just are having trouble with the nuances of English.

We taught them a new song today: Head and shoulders, Knees and toes. Jonathan (of the chicken) Says, oh are you teaching us the song: Head and shoulders, knees and nose? Later we had a contest to see whether the 7 girls could make more noise than the 3 boys. One of the girls kept shouting out: Bed and shoulders, knees and toes! Maybe she was tired. Oddly enough, the boys won the contest, what's wrong with these girls?

Now this one, I think is just the excitement of anticipating a question before it was asked, at least I hope that’s what happened. Really, either way, I’m not sure I understand this response. Question: What is the third letter in Wednesday? The answer, Saturday! The only thing I can come up with is that Saturday is three days after Wednesday. What do you think?

Ok, this has been cathartic for me, thank you for giving me the opportunity to express myself. Today was an end to a wonderful chapter here in Cuernavaca. Only 9 days left. I so look forward to seeing all of my family and friends, I love you all dearly. But to day I know with certainty that there will always be a part of me in Cuernavaca. I hope never to forget this experience and more than anything, I want to come back. If I hadn’t met the love of my life in Oregon I would be thinking seriously about spending a year here. Even then I’m sure I wouldn’t learn everything there is to know about the language and the culture. That would take a lifetime. However, now that my fear of speaking Spanish has abated I hope to take advantage of speaking with Mexicans or other Latinos in the state of Oregon. I’m even thinking of working with someone to teach ESL to Spanish speaking adults (I’m just better with them!). It’s not my strong suit but it provides the challenge of explaining things with circumlocution in English and in Spanish. Some things just don’t translate directly, so it’s fun to try to figure out ways to explain things so that someone from a different culture can understand.

I thank God for forcing me into this wonderful opportunity. It’s been such a blessing in so many ways. It’s been a challenge, but incredibly worthwhile. Please pray for me as I am finishing up my classes and taking my finals on Tuesday and Thursday. This half has been very challenging so I need all the help I can get! Sorry this has been such a long post, and thanks for reading the whole thing!