I’ve noticed here in India that when I communicate with various American Embassy School personnel who don’t speak English, there is alway a joyful point of communication/human contact in teaching each other words from our own language. We have no other point of contact, in fact.
So whenever I go down to the Tiger’s Den on our campus for a cup of coffee, I am greeted by one of the most cheerful people I’ve ever met behind the counter at the coffee bar. Either that or he’s high as a kite on caffeine. Whatever, Moona teaches me one new word a day in Hindi. It’s so much fun!
So to reciprocate I have trained myself when I go down there to bring a portable whiteboard and a marker so I can teach Moona how to conjugate a new verb each day in French. And since it’s his first year of French, I’m only teaching him the present tense. He can learn the past tense next year. It’s only fair, right?