We're All Speaking English But . . .

It's pretty safe to say that those of us here in the UAE from the US speak only one language - English.  Everyone else comes with two, three or more languages - which is an intriguing asset that I find myself longing for.

I remember when I first started teaching in Sacramento, there was the constant push to have the students speak English only.  They came to school with at least two languages, with most being fluent in their native tongue, whatever that happened to be.

But our mantra was "ENGLISH ONLY, ENGLISH ONLY."

Of course, before we allowed then to graduate from high school, we said they must learn a second language.

Then our mantra was "YOU MUST HAVE A SECOND LANGUAGE, YOU MUST HAVE A SECOND LANGUAGE."

But . . . but . . . but . . .

Did we forget that they came to us with a second language that we forbade them to use?

Such hypocrisy!

Ok.  Ok.

End of this rant.

~~~~~~~~~~

There's something else that I find interesting here.  That is, the English language itself.

At my school, nine of our twelve Western teachers come from South Africa, Ireland, and the UK.  We all speak English, but there are times we need a translator to understand what we're trying to say to each other.

It happens when we speak to each other, but also in our writings.

This was most evident when I had the teachers to write up supply orders for things they needed in their classes.  Invariably, I had to go to each of them to ask what they meant by this or that.  We were talking about the same thing, but we called them something totally different.

~~~~~~~~~~

Living abroad has been an ever-evolving eye-opening experience.

If there is one take-away, that is we in the US should absolutely encourage and foster a second language as a nation, but with that unlikely to happen, at the very least, we should make sure it's happening to the folks in our world.  Especially our kids.

More and more we're becoming a global society, and as such, we need to be equipped with the tools needed to comfortably move around the world.

Oh, how I wish that I'd paid more attention and appreciated the value of my high school Spanish classes.

All I remember is how to count to ten.

Somehow uno, dos, tres, .etc., seems woefully inadequate.

Probably because it is.