Saturday,
October 19th, 2013
Blog
Three: Someone Stole Your Elephant!?
During my visit with the family this
week I was alone. This was a new
experience for me because the visits before I had always met someone from the
class at their apartment. I surprised
myself though and just got right down to business. The family and I, sitting on their apartment
floor, did our flashcards of some nouns, we went over body parts, read children’s
books, and I tried to have a little small talk with them. I was there for four hours and it felt like
less than one.
Going
into their home I felt like our relationship is mostly based on me teaching
them English, but I am not getting to know the family very well. I decided to see if I could talk with them
more. The children (they have four kids Paw
Hare is 14, Doh Moo is 12, Moo Law La Say is 8, and Eh Tha Dah Say is 18
months) were playing with some animal figurines. We were discussing the English word for the
animals, a tiger, zebra, and an elephant.
I always exaggerate the use my body language (clapping, smiling). When I saw the elephant, I began to clap and
tell them that I love elephants, but have only seen them in the zoo. They proceeded to inform me that they had one
in Thailand and one of their neighbors stole it. I sat in silence for a moment, completely
astounded that they owned an elephant, let alone someone coming and stealing
it. I asked how they stole it, they said
that they came while they were sleeping (they used their exaggerated motions to
show me they were sleeping). I tried to
put myself in their shoes, looking at me that afternoon on their carpet. The look on my face was probably quite
interesting to them. Because so many
emotions are cross-cultural we were able to understand our excitement of
elephants and what emotions may be brought about by thievery.
We
went on to discuss the children’s books that I had brought. One of the books was about a bus trip that
some children were having. We decided to
practice their phonics, by taking turns reading out loud. This seemed very simple for them. What was not simple was the meaning behind the
phrases or the semantics. Paw Hare
read, “They were going on a bus trip”.
This was easy to discuss. Then,
she continued to read, “She was going to be sick.” The semantics of this is not easy to explain,
nor easily understood. It is a phrase,
that like many, English speaking people may take for granted. When a child learns English they have years
to learn it and sayings like this are in context. This family does have years to learn it, but
there is a lot that they have to learn in a very short time in order to communicate
effectively with others.
The
second book that we read was about the American tradition of a birthday
party. Micheal, the father, had a
birthday coming up. In watching their
excitement about the gifts, cake, ice cream, balloons, and decorations the
family and I decided to plan a birthday party and have it at their house. As I mentioned before that some emotions are
cross-cultural, I was thankful for this.
It was very clear that they were thrilled about hosting the birthday
party at their apartment and I was very excited about their excitement.
If
you would have seen me walk to my car on this day you would have noticed that I
was very worn out. In saying my
good-byes, as I looked around, they all looked tired too. What a trying experience for them. I can try to imagine their position, trying
to learn a new language, but I will probably never understand it
completely. I will never understand
where they came from and what circumstances that they had to go through to be
where they are now. The elephant was a
testament to that. I can only hope that
I will be able to effectively communicate with them someday to try to learn
about it. I also hope that this birthday
party allows for more sharing to occur.
Since the first time I met them, my family and I have discussed having
them over for dinner. I am hoping to see
if this is even a reasonable question or if I would be crossing boundaries with
them.
No comments:
Post a Comment