First of all, I am now so used to hearing Hungarian, that if I am on the street and hear English, it almost stops me in my tracks.
Although I try to enforce the "english only " rule with my classes, they will often lapse into their mother tongue to check in with each other about things they need to clarify, etc. At least, my fantasy is that they are all on task! Today, a girl had her writing out and asked me a question in Hungarian and due to the context, I was able to answer without hesitation because I knew what she was asking.
There is not much english spoken here, so yesterday I had to go to a pharmacy to get some Advil and Neosporin (yes, you have to go to a pharmacy to purchase these mundane items). The pharmacist and I (with her smattering of english and lots of pantomime) were able to figure out what I needed and I did come away with the products. Whew! It is nothing like making a quick stop at Freddies, I can tell you that!
Now, for the bonuses. . . Jack and I can talk freely on the subway about the people that we see without worrying about who is listening (great for clandetine gossiping). Also, I can be sitting in the staff room working on a lesson plan undisturbed and I don't have to spend any energy listening to what is being said around me, because I can't understand anyway!
The interesting part about all of this is that for an hour or so after I come home from school where I have had to talk in a slow and deliberate way I find that the thoughts in my head come in the same way, weird, huh?
Ha! I have been on the other side of that kind of clandestine gossiping here in the US when people thought I could not understand their Spanish and it is was very fun to surprise them and answer the question about me that they were wondering. We ended up all laughing together!
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, I have done my fair share of that gossiping in other countries, too. Fun and sneaky!