I no longer teach English.

[snarp]

And haven't for more than a year now! It's kind of sad.

On the bus the other day I had a conversation with a baby. I was speaking English and the baby was speaking, I think, Mandarin. This made me feel very nostalgic for my toddler classes. "日本語わかるの?" "English time! English! What's this?" "Monkey.　ね、僕、英語わかんないよ！　日本語わかるの？　日本人なの？" *

Since I wasn't teaching a DC Metrobus-based immersion class and there was nothing to stop me from speaking something other than English, I started repeating after the baby, which amused him. His mother translated some of my new vocabulary words for me as she was getting off: "He called you "little sister.""

"Hey! I am "big sister," thank you very much!" I'm guessing I was "little sister" because I needed to be taught how to talk.

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* "I don't know English. Do you speak Japanese? Are you Japanese?" Some of the really little ones had not yet developed much racial consciousness, and therefore honestly were not sure whether or not I was Japanese. It's intimidating to be the first white person a kid's ever talked to! There's all this pressure on you not to, you know, shoot anything, or accidentally put on a ten-gallon hat, or shower everybody with roses or something.

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Heeheehee :)