Kids say the darnedest things . . .

A major aspect of our training this week has been to develop a language learning strategy. We've talked a good bit about how kids learn languages compared to how languages are often taught in school. As kids learn a language, they don't simply engage their minds in memorization drills or simply mimicking a person. They hear language in context. They learn the word for apple not from a book, but as they're picking one up and eating it.

Adults can imitate the success of kids by likewise involving more than just their brains (Total Person Response). In thinking about how we can utilize this method in our language learning, we've had drills this week where we've attempted to learn languages by using drills that engage more than just our minds. I've been attempting Russian and Hilary, Vietnamese.

As in my previous post, I think the scary part of this learning is remembering the T.V. show, "kids say the darnedest things."

One of the funny stories we've heard this week is from a missionary still learning the language who went to his mechanic and thought he said, "my car won't start, can you change the points." What he actually said was, "my car won't give birth, can you change it's bananas." Stay tuned in the following years for more from "Missionaries say the darnedest things."

Bringing good cheer to all nations

So what's painful about watching this video is knowing that we will sound like that when we try to learn a new language. One of the major difficulties in learning a new language is hearing it correctly. Some non-native English speakers don't hear the difference between the English r and l and consequently, they don't pronounce them differently. Undoubtedly, as we seek to learn French and then Wolof in Senegal, we will likely encounter sounds we've never made before and bring laughter into the lives of many people.

Today in class, we spent a few hours learning what some of those sounds are in other languages that we can't hear. As we were told, "if you don't hear it right, you won't speak it right." Our class began with 7 pairs of Vietnamese words and each pair was different. I could only tell the difference between 2 pairs. Today was very helpful although I have a sneaking suspicion that I need to continue going to class to ensure I can sing Jingle Bells in French and Wolof without people laughing at me.

Our week in pictures

Last week was a busy week getting ready to leave again (aka - a lot of laundry!) But we also got to enjoy a nice overnight visit from Grandma and Papa.

Complete with a trip to Snuffers (mmmm...those cheese fries are good)...
...and some time at the park with Grandma.

We then headed out to Colorado on Sunday, drove to Kansas and continued through western Kansas on Monday, where we saw...

...(hate we didn't have time to stop!) and again...

...and then had our first view of the mountains!

We are presently at Mission Training International in our first two week program on how to learn a new language. We have already learned that there are 44 sounds in the English language and got drilled on a few sounds that our mouths never learned to make when were young (my mouth hurts!) We will give more updates as we learn more!

Quick trip to NC

I remember as a kid playing baseball with my friends and there being times when we needed an extra player and so, my sister, Lauren, would play with us. Her lack of interest for baseball in general was demonstrated by how she would regularly call "time out" right before she was going to be tagged out. As a kid, that frustrated me to no end. As an adult, I realize the only reason she played was because of me. We needed an extra player.

I recently flew into NC to surprise my sister at her farewell party. This past school year, she quit her job as a librarian at an elementary school and is planning on going to schools around the world that need help setting up a library. Her first stop will be Rwanda and she leaves next month.

In actuality, Lauren will be doing what she has always done, think about others more than she thinks about herself. I was very thankful to be able to be at Lauren's farewell party and wanted to tell her then what I'm writing here (but I lost my voice when I was there). Lauren, thanks for being a great sister. And yes, I wasn't paying much attention to how you always cared more about others than yourself when we were kids, but I am now.

Learning to be a missionary

What do you do when you're driving across the country and your A/C goes out?


Deal with it...

Why it's cool to be an MK- reason #1

Who else gets to sleep in a tent all the time because a crib doesn't travel well?

A gift from God

God has blessed us both with wonderful families. We will miss them tremendously when we are overseas. This summer we have the opportunity to spend time with our families before we head overseas. Last week we were able to go to Chicago with my family for a few days (our camping trip was canceled due to midwest flooding!) Here are a few pictures from our time together.

Addie and her cousin Elias always have fun together. Here they are at the zoo.

Addie and Grandma looking at the monkeys.

I think "Papa" holds a special place in Addie's heart!

And she loves "Baby Zach" as we all do. He did this a lot on our vacation.

And you can't go to Chicago without your Cubs gear!