Homework Assignments

My teacher, Chely, gives great homework assignments. She hands me a list of idioms I have to learn, with the requirement not to look them up in the dictionary but to ask a person. This is a great tool for breaking the conversational ice, a device I could have used a week ago, when I was sitting in an audience of women waiting to hear a speaker on breast cancer. I couldn't get past, "Do you come to these talks often?"

So, last week I approached a guy sitting on a bench in the Jardin (the town square), named Jose. I learned a bunch of expressions using the word "pelo" (hair). "No tengo ni un pelo de tonta"-- "can't fool me" and "por un pelito"--"within a hairline"). Then Jose and I kept on talking about his unemployment, about the Americans who come and go, about where I was from in the U.S. As with most Mexicans I've met, he knew the names of many U.S. states, and knew there was both a Washington, DC, and a state of Washington (both of which are places I've lived). I believe Mexicans are well-informed for two reasons: one, many have family members scattered around the States, and two, generally people outside the U.S. know more about our country than Americans do about theirs.

Meanwhile, I also helped Chely. She was getting ready for her orals to obtain her degree in Teaching Foreign Languages (she speaks and can teach Spanish, English and Japanese). Since all three of the professors evaluating her were American, she asked for my feedback on her presentation skills. We went through her English-language PowerPoint presentation analyzing organization, structure, and delivery. I made suggestions on clearer linkages between concepts, reminded her to look at her audience and not at the slides, and suggested that SHE let the professors know when and how she would respond to questions (rather than just letting it happen).

In the last slide, she had a line that started, "Teachers should..." I suggested rewording it to take out the "should." As written, it sounded moralistic, which is a common and accepted tone in Mexico, but not in the States. My point of view is that many Americans don't like language that is over-directive.

She sailed through her orals, winning unanimous acclaim from all three professors. Yippee! I'm thrilled I was able to help her feel more confident, as I know she feels helping me master Spanish.