What would it be like not to speak English？What would it be like to look for the English words to something you know how to say very simply in another language? What would it be like not to find those words？
To answer my questions, I went to my brother's classroom. He teaches for a private organization, English First, so the kids who show up there are high-school or university students. They come for extra instruction and homework on top of their regular studies.
After introductions and Question Period with the new foreigner, Justin moved us along to storytime. A student would start the story with one sentence and each student after would add one more to move the story along.
Our second story was tabloid-perfect: it had family conflict, violence and lust. According to the boys in the class, my brother and I were walking down a street and came upon a pretty girl. The girl had eyes only for me; as a result, my younger-not-smaller brother laid a beating on me (jerk - what am I to do if the girl likes me better?). By this time, the story had come 'round to the girls, who put an end to our strife. My brother and I made up. I finished storytime with the girl and a black eye.
Once we'd had a break, the students played games. They had to determine the missing words in a sentence, find synonyms for some words and spell others. What struck me in all of this was that, despite the odd blank look, these kids threw themselves into the language. They tried.
It was fun to see students work so hard to learn another language. Made me want to improve my high school French, which I'll do just as soon as I've mastered "please" and "thank you" in the half-dozen languages I'll need on this trip. One thing at a time!
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