I was sitting in class with some of my 6th grade girls watching the Diary of Anne Frank... in Spanish! So, needless to say I got out a piece of notebook paper and just started writing. Here it is...
I read over some of my post the other night and wanted to take the time to write about what I am learning on a personal and professional level.
Professionally
This experience has put me directly in the place of any English language learning student I may have in the future. I have experienced the lack of ability to communicate simple ideas and small conversation. This feeling can be one of the scariest feelings... it can make you feel so small and as though you are on a different planet. You look around and see people who look somewhat like you and they are doing familiar things but, then they simply greet you. You feel lost and find yourself forgetting the very small amount of the language you´ve known since 3rd grade. What if you say it and it´s wrong? What if you say it and it´s right and they think you know more than you do? I have gained an incredible ability to now TRULY empathize with not only students in my future classroom but, with a random person struggling at the cash register in front of me in the grocery store. This experience has encouraged me to learn enough or simply keep a translating app on my phone in order to be that person that can ask if someone needs help! Nothing has ever felt like an angel sent straight from God himself like someone who approaches you on the street to ask if you´re ok and if you need help! It can even be broken English while using many gestures... and you want to hug this stranger before you walk away. I WILL be that person from now on.
When I went to my boys´ classroom, I noticed that one of them was really upset and crying. The other boys had crowded around him, attempting to figure out what was wrong. It wasn´t until a group of them came back from the bathroom (so that the upset student could clean himself up) did I find out the reason why the student was so upset. This will be his last couple of months here at this school because, his parents don´t know enough English to help him with his assignments. Therefore, he has to move to a different school where there is no English. He has been with this group of boys since they were all in preschool. He was devastated and scared. The other boys in the class have started a collection to raise money in order to buy the student a mobile phone so that he will still be able to communicate with his friends. They also brought a camera to school and have started documenting the last weeks they have together. I thought to myself, while watching all of this that I will always go the extra mile in order to properly communicate with the parents of my students and watch what kind and how much homework I send home with my students. These families who move to America in order for their children to have different lives and live like Americans, should be given the help they need. If I were to move to Spain, already having children who speak English, I would want and appreciate all of the help my children and I get.
Personally
I have been taught my whole 24 years of life that the most imporant thing to do in this life is LOVE one another and to treat people how you would like to be treated. My eyes have been OPENED. I have seen myself in a different light. I see the life I live day to day and have been able to compare it to lives that are lived here.
First, people are people no matter what language they speak or what type of community they live in. People are excluded while some are included. There are cliques and groups everywhere. I used to think that was an American way of life that people complain about but, the truth is it´s everywhere! Sometimes it´s innocent and sometimes it´s malicious. Also, the things that we as Americans hear that other people complain about us or think is rude... they do it just as much or do different things that we in our country consider rude. It´s just a difference in people and cultures... and guess what... IT´S OK! People invading your personal space or not saying excuse me as they brush past is just a way of the rushed, urban Spanish life.
All of this has taught me that a different language has very little to do with this different life. Yes, I have come to a place where the language I speak is not the first language spoken but, believe it or not that has very little to do with my homesickness. I MISS my way of life in the States and now have a BRAND NEW appreciation for it!
While observing my host family living their life I got to see and experience such huge differences. They get up all together for school at 7 am. They get dressed, eat breakfast, and all leave together at 8 o´clock. They get in their van, dad stops by the newspaper stand to get a paper, drops mom off at work, and drops the kids off next. After school... at 5:30... either the oldest boy will have fútbol or the oldest girl will have volleyball and whoever is not playing a sport that afternoon will walk home with their youngest brother... hopping on and off the metro. The kids go in and instantly do their homework. If it´s Thursday they have a German tutor come and work with each one of them one on one. By the time they finish with their tutor, Mom has gotten home and started dinner - this is around 8 pm. The kids take turns getting a shower and all sit down together at the dinner table while mom stands and talks preparing a second course or helping. When they finish they play or watch tv until about 10pm. Dad gets home at about 9:30 and him and mom sit down for dinner together. Mom and dad aren´t in bed until about midnight. They get up and do the same thing over again the next day. On the weekends they are busy with different sport matches, birthday parties, and shopping... every weekend. I am sure that there are plenty of families who live EXACTLY like this in the United States but, I am not from one of them!
I am used to slow living... Sitting out under the carport barefoot after school or work, talking, laughing and drinking iced super, syrupy sweet tea while discussing whether or not we feel like going to visit my grandparents. I am used to slow cooked roasts, home grown vegetables, dogs running, birds flying and chirping, trees swaying slowly in the breeze, listening to my neighbor kids playing. Obviously, those things take place here but, I feel as though life is too busy to notice them. I am used to kissing and hugging when you arrive, before you leave, during dinner, after dinner, before bed, and in the morning... I am now realizing on top of a lot of other things... I miss hugging!
This trip has been so much fun and has taught me A LOT about myself, what I should appreciate more, and the most about other people and cultures. I have loved this experience but, will be so glad to get back to my life in the sweet, slow south of the United States!
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