Many Languages

And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. -Revelation 5:9

Today as I sat and listened to Matt, the other math teacher who I share a room with, talking with some of the students, it hit me once again that I am part of an international school. This includes an international community, with students from all over the world. But it also includes a plethora of languages. Matt was asking one of our Korean students to teach him Korean. They sat for a while and exchanged words, none of which I caught onto (Korean sounds like a difficult language to me). At one point the boy suggested he teach Matt some Korean cuss words, that way Matt would know when other Korean students were saying them. Matt passed him on that offer. This has been a problem at our school though. With a large Korean population some students have began bullying each other in Korean and none of the adults know what they are saying. Luckily we now have an assistant principle who speaks Korean. :) Each day during first period I sit in our shared classroom and get reminded of my own high school days as I listen to Matt teach Spanish I. It is kind of funny to me to hear an English Learner who speaks Korean at home learning Spanish. It is fun to hear Spanish spoken though... kind of feel like I am at home. I realize how much Spanish perhaps I did know when it is the only thing that will come out in certain circumstances living in a foreign country. And of course at the end of the day in staff meeting I sit next to our French teacher who has a thick French accent. Most of the day is spent in English though. All of our students are required to speak English during the school day. But then I try to talk to one of the school custodians or go to the cafeteria and get my lunch and I am reminded that I live in Indonesia. I'm still working on my own Indonesian... it's coming pretty slowly, but I've learned more than I think I ever expected I would.