I asked Andrew this morning if he wanted a snack. Without delay, he said he wanted some "misk" and pointed at the part of the counter where we keep cereal, chips, snacks, and bread. I did not want to show him how flummoxed I was at the request, so I paused and said "Sorry, little guy, I didn't hear you. Can you tell me again what you want?" Without delay "Misk. Misk." With more pointing at the counter. As I frantically, yet calmly so as not to alarm the ever-observant boy, scan the counter I spot this:
"Misk" = Mix
"Oh, the mix! Good job, little guy."
Before I give him the mix, though, I decide that I need to correct this issue of pronunciation. We spend the next 2-3 minutes repeating back and forth: "Mix, little guy." "Misk" "Mix, little guy" "Misk" "Mix" "Misk" "No, little guy, mi-kuh-sss" "Mi-sss-kuh" Finally, after pronouncing every letter several times, with the emphasis on the "x," Andrew says "mi-kuh-sss." He was very proud of himself.
At dinner later that evening, we were in a restaurant with moderately loud music (great Mexican food though and a locally owned place) and I told Susan the story from this morning and said, "Andrew got it. Right little guy? Mix!" And I hear him repeat it, "Mix." "That's right little guy, mix!"
To which Susan says, "Uh, he's saying 'misk'."
I look at my boy, who is grinning with pride from ear to ear. I smile and say "Good job, little guy."
So, there is an "apple doesn't fall far from the tree" story here. In 6th grade I had a great history teacher. He really challenged me, more than many of my teachers prior to that had, and did it in a way that made you feel more mature, even adult-like. I was answering a question in class about the Germans in WWII, and I started to respond, "Their stragety was to..." Before I could get the rest of the answer out, my teach says, "What? Stragety?" And the exchange goes something like:
"Yes, their stragety was..."
"Strategy"
"Uh, yes, stragety"
"No, strategy"
"Stragety"
"Stra-te-gy"
"Stra-ge-ty?"
"Stra-TE-gy"
"Stra-te-gy?"
"Yes, strategy"
"Strategy. Uh, their
Now, I'm not bragging, but I was one of the top students in my elementary school class. This could have potentially been seriously damaging to me since I also had a fragile ego. But, it turned out that the other kids in the class kind of bonded with me a bit, as if to recognize that I wasn't an academic robot, that I was human and could make mistakes. And, I learned a little lesson about myself - that it's ok to make mistakes and learn from them and that my teachers are truly here to help.
Hopefully both E & A will have that realization some day. And, no Baby Bush jokes, please...
2 comments:
I find myself running through all the possibilities of what a word could be when I am trying to figure out what Ari says. He is now old enough to get frustrated with me and look at me like I am the problem. Makes me laugh.
Yeah! It is with the second ones. My second one struggles with a LOT of words and I really find myself not understanding her English and therefore the real need for her to speak in Spanish. She also has the problem in Spanish, but I can detect the error, while in English I am clueless.
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