After school today I had a meeting with a Korean parent who speaks Korean and Thai, but not English (or at least, not a lot, we chatted a bit in English and she knew more than I expected, even if she wasn't fluent). We had a Thai staff member sit in to translate and the parent spoke Thai, since we don't have any Korean speakers on staff. First, it was funny to me that it was a Korean mom speaking Thai which was translated to English for me, and my English back into Thai for her. But a cool thing happened through the 30 minute conference: I didn't need a lot of translation! I usually let the translator translate it into English since I wasn't catching 100% and I wanted to be sure I was correct in my understanding, but as we went I followed along more and more and even started to respond a bit before/without the translator. I didn't get every single word, and since it was her second language she was definitely speaking slower than a native Thai speaker, but I got enough. I got the gist, and even a few details. It was a great moment for me, and as an often frustrated language learner, I need to hold onto those moments. Maybe someday I will get to the point where I can respond in Thai too, but for now I am happy with a bit of understanding. And for your picture of the day, you can just picture me in my classroom doing my happy dance and beginning to recover a bit of the mojo.
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