Language Learning

Tonight, as Titus and I were buying fruit at our local hole-in-the-wall shop, the young, friendly fruit-weighing lady and I had a conversation in Chinese:

Lady: [Smiling and waving at Titus].  Hello! 

Rachel:  Hello, hello!  Titus, say hello.

Lady:  He's very cute.

Rachel:  Thank you.

Lady:  How old is he?

Rachel:  Five months.  Do you have any children?

Lady:  Yes.  One child.  She is three months old.

Rachel:  Oh!  A small baby!  Boy or girl?

Lady:  Girl.  Is your baby a boy or a girl?

Rachel:  A boy.  [Pointing to blue snowsuit]  In America, baby girls don't wear blue clothes.  In America, if you see blue clothes, you can think "Oh, that baby is a boy".

Lady:  Oh, oh.

Rachel:  Where is your baby?  With your mom?

Lady:  Yes.  With my mom.

Rachel:  We don't have a grandma here in China.  Our grandma is in America.

Lady:  What are you doing here in China?

Rachel:  My husband is a Chinese language student.  I am a mom.

Lady: [Laughing] 

Rachel:  Nice to meet you.  See you later.

Lady:  See you later.  

If you didn't know, my Chinese is p-o-o-r poor.  I sometimes feel like an idiot, because everyone else on the team is miles ahead of me.  It's good for me to accept my position, and not to be jealous or frustrated or competitive, but to take on the attitude of a learner.  Some days the conversations do not go quite so well, but on other occasions, I find great success like the conversation above -- and I feel so encouraged!  I will get there.

You know, we were bummed about being assigned as Chinese language students rather than English teachers, but now I'm so thankful.  We need to learn Chinese as quickly as possible -- to function well in this culture, and also to develop more meaningful relationships with the Chinese speakers among whom we live.  I'm so thankful that we are studying Chinese.

If you were wondering, this is how we are learning language:

Drew

- attends Chinese language classes in speaking, reading and listening Monday through Friday, at Hunan Teacher's College

- meets with his language helper four hours a week

- language learning practicum taught by our teammate

- attends a professional tutoring center to learn special content two hours per week

- immersion!

Rachel

- attends a professional tutoring center four hours a week

- meets with her language helper two hours per week

- practices pronunciation with a teammate one hour each week

- language learning practicum taught by our teammate

- takes radical (writing/reading) class two hours a week from the regional coordinator

- immersion!

I just have to end this post with another thank you to our support team back home.  Reflecting on our growth in language acquisition here...just reminds me that we wouldn't be here at all if not for people backing us.  Thank you.

and goodnight!

Rachel