Ok, so we live in China.  This is not news to anyone who has read this blog.  So what does my son want to learn?  Spanish! 

This is kind of funny, but not really new.  EJ has really taken to learning Chinese, not only learning mandarin but the local dialect as well.  She started just by making friends and hanging out with Chinese friends.  She did very well, just doing this, but she went up a step and set up classes for herself with a Chinese teacher and works quite diligently at it.

Along comes ED, does she want to learn Chinese?  Oh no, for her it's Italian.  Which she studied for a while with a friend and some language software we were able to pick up.

For S it's Spanish.  Not too long ago, I was gently trying to encourage him to work on Chinese.  Pointing out the many benefits of actually being able to speak the language of the country you live in.  I finished up my discourse with "Wouldn't it be  cool to learn another language?"  His response:  "Well, Spanish is another language." 

Ok, uncle, I give.  Chinese is tough enough to learn when you WANT to.  I don't see much chance if you aren't even interested.  Actually I still haven't quite given up, he's only 11, there may come a time when he feels differently.  And I still sneak in things, like talking to him in Chinese (what little I've managed to pick up) and helping him figure out what I"m saying.

But for now it's the Spanish-English dictionary, online spanish lessons, printable calender with spanish words. 

I guess the whole point of this is for me to learn to think outside the box.  Do it differently, I never know where this will lead but I'm looking forward to finding out.

doulos