Well, back to business. If you know me, you know that certain things make me the happiest person in the world--i.e., playing with kittens, eating bagels, and playing computer games with my best friend--and the other day I got to combine two of my favorites: cartoons and language. For some reason, I just can't get enough of languages with really tough grammar. I mean why else would I choose to study Russian? And then, well my love of cartoons is beyond logic or explanation. Anyway, a few days ago we had a family movie night, and everyone gathered around to watch How to Train Your Dragon together... in Russian! I was in heaven. And it got me thinking about how sometimes you don't have to completely understand the language to enjoy the activity. So I came up with this list.
Things that need no language:
1. Sports
Living in an idyllic Russian village certainly has its perks. Almost every night at 8pm the kids all gather to play football (soccer), although here we're playing with the frisbee that I brought.
Uno, Stratego, and Crocodile (a strange Russian version of Charades) have become staple activities during breaks... in addition to tea, of course.
Everyone loves music here. As previously mentioned, all Russians play guitar, and coincidentally the ones who play guitar can also sing. And then others join in and sing in harmony. It's really amazing.
Requires no explanation. My laptop has been a hit with the kids!
I love this list (even sports!) because I don't need to be an expert in Russian to have fun with the kids and community. Plus, I've found that these four things are the best way to teach the students English as well! I've been giving a few English lessons, and songs are definitely the most effective tool for new vocabulary. I think because the kids are learning English right now, they better understand how I must feel living here trying to learn Russian. They are typically much more patient with me than most of the adults, and they are excellent at repeating themselves and explaining what some of the different terms mean. So it might not be easy living here without knowing very much Russian, I might get headaches from concentrating so hard on understanding the conversation at tea, I might be more apt to study the intriquite patterns of verb formation rather than actually speaking it. But an experience like this is irreplaceable, and I can't wait to continue learning as I go.
Our first English lesson! "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" was definitely essential to learning the body parts in English.
What a great read Natalie
ReplyDelete:-) Nikki