唔係對話, 係會話

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 140

Summer is almost over... and with that... Chinese School will be starting soon. So I kicked things into high gear and started having NN and SW re-read their lessons from last year.  It's amazing how much they remember despite doing it just once a week.  Credit goes to the teachers for their patience and teaching style... and of course... Momma, who spent hours working with them week in and week out.  

It dawned on me (once again) that recognizing words and reading characters (via pin yin, mind you) is very elementary yet hardly applicable.  Without having the luxury of watching Mandarin VOD (it's banned in our household), I'm turning to SIL for some tutelage.  

Today we kicked off a Zoom Conversation Session - hopefully, the first of many.  If you're going to practice your vocab and converse with someone, might as well be a pure Beijingnese, right??  The world is fair though... we're all created differently and some people can, while others simply can't teach.  Not to fault her or anything... teaching is engrained, but is also developed.  

Cue in big bro...who just happened to be doing laundry at our house.  He patiently sat by SW the entire session.  Cheering him.  Encouraging him.  Making light of the situation.  Making SW feel at ease.  But 10 minutes into the session... I can see tears forming in his eyes.  He was struggling.  He knew... he was failing.  SIL could've easily remedied it like any seasoned teacher - but that's as foreign to her as the language SW was trying to learn.  

NN on the other hand... was her usual valedictory self.  Spoke with confidence. Rattled words off like she knows what's going on.  And dared to ask for help when she needed it.  She's there to learn.  She knows the tricks of the trade. To get good... you need to get help.  

And out of the blue... dad saw the Zoom link and he also joined in.  Heh.... he helped and hurt, at the same time.  

But on top of it all... we had family time.  20 years from now... we'll look back at these sessions and laugh about it.  Not knowing where this will go or how long we can sustain, if anything, this is helping us build a bond as a family that we've never had a chance to do, even though we live a mere 5 miles away.