Language Learning

This is how I feel during meetings at my job

Peace Corps service is full of love/hate relationships. I love that I can be late to most functions, but I hate when I wait for 2 hours for something to start. I love that I don't need a car to get where I want to go, but I hate being crammed on a multi-cab on a dusty hot day. Language learning is the same way. I love learning new things everyday which language learning definitely provides, but I hate the communication barrier that constantly exists.

I compare my language learning my learning how to snowboard. Its tough, I stumble, it hurts so bad I feel my brain might be hemorrhaging. It seems hopeless when I see all these people around me who have mastered two or more languages with what seems like little to no effort and it makes me want to give up. Also, just like learning to snowboard, I work so hard to reach a plateau, then that plateau seems endless. So endless I feel like I have reached my full potential, which in turn, makes me want to give up again because I still feel its not good enough.

Since I work at a college, communicating with my students in English is relatively easy. However, I recently was asked to facilitate a science camp at a high school which is very different. You have a mix of kids who are really proficient in English and ones that are not. I was a little worried about how effective my session on global climate changewould be since I felt I didn't have the language skills to teach about the topic. Also, I wanted this session to be fun, and to do that I felt that it should be Tagalog so the kids were not trying to communicate and understand in a language they are not comfortable in. Besides, this was a science camp, not an English camp. So I decided to do as much of the camp in Tagalog but I wasn't too hopeful. I worked with a local teacher and consulted a power point by another PCV about climate change which was in Tagalog to get a grasp of the technical terms I needed to facilitate my climate change game and hoped for the best.

The 600+ kids showed up when we only expected less than 500. We were so preoccupied with the amount of kids that the day went by in a blur so I didn't have time to be nervous. I facilitated my whole game in Tagalog. Granted, it was very easy Tagalog. Since it was an action game, it was a lot of commands which is the easiest verb conjugation for me since other verb conjugations are very different from English. However, I was also able to facilitate comprehension questions and it definitely increased student participation when they found out they could speak in their native language.

C02 molecules tried to tag sun rays before they left the atmosphere

The next day, Matt and I did a demonstration of the importance of tree planting near a water shed since a tree planting activity was part of the camp. I was a bit more nervous about this because it involved much more vocabulary than I felt I had at this point. Many times being nervous can get in the way of me trying to speak Tagalog but the feeling of being able to facilitate a session in the language overpowered my nervousness. It was a success, and while I used a lot more Taglish (Tagalog + English) the students were able to answer the comprehension questions so the message got through.

A pageant for recycled costumes

As you can probably tell, I recently hit a new plateau in my language learning so I have found new motivation to study and push myself more. This past experience compounded with the faculty at my school being more supportive and insisting on speaking to me in Tagalog is also contributing. My recent work with my college community extension department to send students to tutor at a street shelter has also inspired me so I can communicate better with the kids there. Language learning is full ups and downs, but I try to remain positive and not give up, even when it seems impossible and it has really made a difference.