Win-win

Today in the English class for middle schoolers where I am volunteering, we learned the names for body parts. I say we because while they were learning the English words, I was learning the Spanish ones. This volunteering thing is a two-way street. And it's fun too. I'm not the teacher, just the guy who speaks English. I'm also a kind of grandfather figure - I smile at their antics and they goof off and giggle with me a little. When I go to the front of the room to help them pronounce the English words, they repeat after me in a group chorus. What's fun is that if I vary my intonation or make sort of an exaggerated sound, they do exactly the same thing back at me. And when we finish up and I return to the back of the room, they applaud for me. It's sweet.

A few years ago, when Melody and I were taking Spanish lessons in Oaxaca, a friend of ours advised us to volunteer at an elementary school in our off hours. She said it would help us learn Spanish because kids speak simply and because they are forgiving of mistakes we might make. Well, middle schoolers also laugh at you, but in a cute sort of way. And I might add that in a class where they are learning English, the added benefit is that the vocabulary, in Spanish, is basic stuff, much of which I don't know. So, it's a win-win.

Melody and I are talking about spending an extended amount of time sometime soon in a Spanish-speaking country. If we do, I'm going to get myself into a long-term volunteer gig at an elementary or middle school. I like being the abuelo.