Why it's super cool to have ESL kids

I know that I'm supposed to be a loving mother and professional educator who respects the immense difficulty of children learning a new language.  But seriously, having English as a Second Language kids is really hilarious and very interesting to a word dork like myself. 

What is so funny is that they way they learned English is not the same way native speakers learned it.  They store words of similar sounds together in their brains, not necessarily having similar meanings.  For example, you probably have the words "lipstick" and "lip gloss" near each other in your brain.  Solomon has "lipstick" and "chopstick", "chapstick", and "ripstick" all stored in the same place (in case you don't have a boy in your house, a 'ripstick' is a cool new kind of skateboard with a pivoting center).  He often asks if he can eat his noodles with chapsticks or tells me that his lips are chapped and he needs lipstick or I kissed him and got chopstick all over his face.  He was mortified when we all laughed at him after we asked him what he wanted most for his birthday and he said, "A new lipstick!"  He is a really good sport about laughing at himself, and truly, his English is terrific.  He doesn't even qualify for English support anymore and hardly even has an accent.  But these odd little language quirks still happen and crack me up.

Tinsaye has had a harder time with English.  Her accent is still present and she still needs help in school.  Its unbelievable how much vocabulary we take for granted that kids know.  For example, she told me recently about a math test she took that one of the problems asked "Estimate the size of a blade of grass:  3 mm, 3cm, 3m or 3km".    She said, "I didn't know the word 'blade'.  I thought it meant like the big place of grass where you maybe play football or soccer...." I said, "You mean 'field'?"  She said, "Yes, 'field', but I didn't remember that word either, so I guessed 3km because that would be a really big grass place, but I was so scared that it was wrong so I asked my teacher what is 'blade' and he said it is the little stick of grass and then I was really happy I asked because I know it was NOT 3km for the small stick of grass it was 3cm and so I changed my answer and I got it right!"  She never used to want to ask for help, but fourth grade work is hard for her.  She has a lot of pride, but she has discovered that she'd rather feel dumb asking for help than feel dumb failing a quiz. 

Tinsaye's accent is still pretty heavy and somehow it gets more pronounced when she is angry.  We say she morphs from a nice American girl into The Angry Ethiopian.  She will come to me just howling with rage over something Thomas did to her (Thomas is always the instigator):  "Toe-mahs is making me so ingree!  He is always pooshing me and saying to me 'I get the rrrremote!" and I told him I vas vatching Vizzzzards of Vaverly Place and he said 'eees my turn, mom said' and I say 'noooo!' and he yinked the rrrrremote away and changed the channel to some stooopeeed  Deescohvery Channel show with bugs and when I got mad he is just LAUGHED at meeee!!"  It is very hard for me to not laugh too.  If I laugh, that is when The Angry Ethiopian morphs into The Sobbing Ethiopian.  That's not funny at all.   

MLK Day 2012

On Martin Luther King Day, 2010, we accepted the referral for Tinsaye and Solomon, forever changing all of our lives.  Here's the photo we had of them. 

All we knew was that they were brother and sister, mostly healthy, around 6 and 8 years old.  And that they needed a home.  Somehow, we said yes. 

On Martin Luther King Day, 2012, here is what they looked like:

 

 I often think "what if we had said 'no'?"  Where would they be today if our fear had been stronger than our faith?  If our worries had overcome our hope?  If the need for keeping things 'safe' and 'status quo' had been greater than our desire to do the right thing for people in need?   

More significantly, where would America be if Dr. King and all the civil rights activists had said 'no'?  If their fear and worry and safety had outweighed their faith and hope and action?  Personally, I know that we didn't act alone and I feel certain that they didn't either.  Their courageous choices changed the future. 

One of my favorite exhibits at The Henry Ford Museum is the Civil Rights exhibit.  When I see my four terrific kiddos hanging out of the window of the bus that Rosa Parks rode, I wish more than anything that I could go back in time to say thank you.  Her sacrifices made my family possible.