The other day we were at Fuller Seminary's playground. I was pushing Emma on the swing and realized that we were the only English-as-our-1st language speakers there. An Asian family on one side of me, and a family from Latvia on the other. The Latvian woman said to me in broken English, "This is Robert. He's 4, but he doesn't speak English."
I told Clayton that and then said, "When he speaks, it kind of sounds like this: gligabloibata..." He smiled and looked puzzled at me. "Mom, that's funny. Why do they talk like that? We talk REAL." :) It was his first moment to realize that some people don't speak English. What an amazing thing to find out as a little 4 year old! So, he proceeded to walk over to Robert and say, "gligabloibata..." mumbo jumbo. (He was trying to "speak the language.") I laughed.
We decided to use Robert's mom as a translator and Clay asked, "What's his favorite kind of car?" Robert replied and his mom translated: "McQueen." (Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars.") So, the boys have something in common! We're going to try to have them play together and teach one another their language a little bit.
2 comments:
Hi Ade
I LOVE that story. I bet they'll become great little friends. What a great opportunity for both of them. Love you so much.
"Mom"
Excellent! The sooner they can learn their world is bigger than themselves, the better. I hope that Clay is able to gain some perspective, learning skills, respect for differences etc, as he makes friends with that little boy...I just love that he had no inhibitions in talking gibberish to him ;o)
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