day 5: speaking english

blog challenge, day five: speaking english

i think i've always taken for granted the fact that i can hold a pencil and recite the ABCs backwards and forwards (abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz-zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba). i've taken for granted that i know what sound a j makes (jaa-jaa-jump-jingle-jack) and that i can easily tell the difference between a k and an x and that my mom read to me every night before bed; that my dad knew the biggest words and how to spell them (e-q-u-a-n-i-m-i-t-y and l-u-m-i-n-e-s-c-e-n-t) and that i didn't have to learn a new language before understanding my own.

and that is precisely why i'm so incredibly excited to introduce my person/people/conversation from the day. i would love for you to meet my second (or third or fourth or fifth--who's counting at this point??) family. they are Congolese refugees, living in san diego, and i have the pleasure of tutoring them in english. (okay, let's not kid ourselves: it's not always pleasurable...it's usually slow and sometimes frustrating and often feels insignificant...except when Sofia recites every letter of the alphabet and spells her name and learns six new words then giggles at her accomplishment...then it's a pleasure again).

this week, sofia announced that she wanted to learn to read, and three of her kids circled around as we tried her very first words: family, mother, wife, sister, daughter. twenty-six abstract letters that she just could not memorize suddenly became real--she is a mother and a wife and a sister and a daughter. so we cheered and giggled and took three-steps-forward.

bahati asked about the world. countries and continents and what is the equator? he opened his "first encyclopedia" and stared in amazement at a page titled "earth." i had never been more thankful for mr. hinke's fourth grade science class, where i learned about the earth's core and sediment and tectonic plates. and oh my goodness, i wanted bahati to know, too.

we meet again on thursday for tutoring and giggling and dinner.

they really are becoming family. and if they're my family, you should probably know them too :)