Yesterday on the way home from Kindergarten Henry cheerfully told me, “Mama, I got to eat in the kitchen and do Tisch Dienst.”
- I thought I was Mommy.
- What is Tisch Dienst?
This happens more and more often as our son is immersed in Kindergarten five days a week and I can’t help but think it is cute. However, being the educator that I am, I usually repeat things back the proper way. This time first I had to ask what Tisch dienst was. It means setting the table--literally “Table Service.” I asked him to tell me what he had to do to set the table and I was hoping he would tell me all the utensils in German, but amazingly his mind made the switch and it came out easily in English. And so very cutely. I’m rather enamored by my son lately.
Here’s one of my favorites:
“Today Emil was before lunch abgeholt.”
In German if you have a verb with 2 parts--here it is past tense--the second verb is always the last word of the sentence. It makes for some interesting translation if you aren’t careful. Hence Henry saying, “Today Emil was before lunch picked up.” It kind of reminds me of early English, and perhaps there is a reason for that, given our mutual ties with the Saxons. Alas, my History and Structure of the English Language class was many years ago.
Another time Henry saw some cherry tomatoes on the counter. He loves them. I wonder if he thinks they are candy. He looked up at me with a gleam in his eye and said, “Darf ich?” “Ja,” I replied. Then, “Darf ich zwei haben?” “Ja.”
He’s picked up a north German accent lately, leaving out the final vowels in both German and English, so we hear things like “When will you put the chick’n in the ov’n?” My German friends don’t always hear it, because they are doing the same things. I love it. “Mama, can you op’n it?” “Darf ich zwei hab’n?”
The mothers at Henry’s kindergarten have told me that he speaks German without an American accent. It always makes me feel proud: “Oh, yes, my son speaks German so well.” But that’s just silly. He couldn’t help but pick it up, and it is thanks to the kids and adults at Kindergarten that he’s learned what he has. Besides, with his up-front and I’m-boss personality, he had to learn it fluently so he could really be himself.
A few weeks ago we had, at Henry’s insistence, a Christmas party. He invited three friends and Elisabeth invited three friends. It was a sweet little affair, in both senses of the word. Fortunately, after the sweets, the 4 year olds (3 boys and 1 girl) decided to play outside in the 5 PM darkness. As they were putting on their boots, coats, hats, mittens and scarves, Henry was “saying” in in oh-so-loud inside voice, in German, “Now, this is how it’s gonna be! We’re gonna play tag and . . .” This a far cry from the boy last January who cried all the time in Kindergarten.
I’m sorry for Elisabeth’s sake, as she reads over these notes in future years, and she wonders, “Why did she write so much about Henry and not me?” Elisabeth has learned German in school, and I’m impressed with the program. But she is shy to speak it and really doesn’t have many friends to practice with, since all her friends who speak German fluently also speak English fluently; therefore they speak English together. Oh--sounds kind of like me. But when we are with Henry’s young friends who don’t speak English, she does come out of her reticence, and that’s when I get to hear how much she’s learned--think of the things a mothering 8 year-old would say to her little brother’s friends--that’s what she’s mastered. But it will never be as natural as it is for Henry. That being said, I wouldn’t trade what we’ve gained through the International School.
While John dutifully does his German grammar homework two or three times a week to keep up with his German class at work, I get most of my practice these days on the field--the grocery store, the telephone (yes, sometimes it must be done), at Kindergarten, and with other mothers from Henry’s Kindergarten. The other night I joined six other mamas (it’s mama here, not mommy) for some Gluhwein at the Christmas market and then dinner. It’s a fun group and I’m swept along by the lively conversation and window into other people’s lives, but the window was rather foggy last night. I could usually tell what the conversation topic was, and bits and pieces of what was being said, but it was difficult to keep up. It’s the sort of conversation that, if recorded and played in a language class, would have to be played back about 10 times and slowed down, if possible, for the students to figure out what was being said. I just had to be on guard in case all eyes went in my direction and I was expected to enter in. When I did enter in, it felt like the world was moving in slow motion as my words got all jumbled on my tongue. But the patient and expectant looks were enough to keep me going.
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| Gluhwein with John; Hot Chocolate for the Kids |
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