I don’t know if I am a speech teacher because I love language and want to be immersed in it all the time, or if I love language because I am a speech teacher trained to recognize its infinite glories. Either way, words fascinate me, even those in languages I do not speak. Passing on this passion is such a drive within me that I began amassing a library of children’s books while I was still in high school. Consequently, my kids have more books than any ten children could ever use and I still keep adding to the inventory. So, two years ago when I was still reeling over finding out at forty, with my youngest a fourth grader, that I was getting back in the baby game, it made perfect sense to pick up Rebecca Emberley’s little board book Mis Colores, with very basic color and object translations, at a yard sale down the street. Having been born and raised in Southern California, where you pick up a good chunk of Spanish as a matter of course, I already knew many of the words and their pronunciation but it was interesting to read them aloud to Scarlett and realize that the only impediment these new little ones have to knowing literally every word in the human lexicon is our short-sighted inability to teach them. Languages are only hard for adults because, really, if you’re not even two yet, your heart understands that “orange” and “anaranjado”--and people--are the same.
http://www.jacketflap.com/persondetail.asp?person=129210
http://www.amazon.com/Colors-Mis-Colores-English-Spanish/dp/0316233471
Have you ever considered the possibility that you're a speech teacher because you love the sound of your own voice?
ReplyDeleteI actually DID consider that--AND remarked on it and the likelihood that someone in my family would make that point--but it did not make the final edit. I guess some people should just be glad their mother believes in freedom of expression enough to let their daughters write books at five and wear sequined bathing caps to the grocery store...
ReplyDeleteBecky, I think you're confusing "unkind" with "fiendishly clever." It's a common enough mistake.
ReplyDeleteSee, that's the problem: You teach them to express themselves and then they express themselves...
ReplyDeleteIs it too late to actually STOP reading to Scarlett?!