This is the last full week of summer vacation. Monday morning arrived with overcast skies and a lot of rain. The kids insisted on a “stay-home day” which quickly turned into a “whining and fighting day.” It appears that others were having the same problem. Just after lunch, the Middle Kid’s friend from across the street called and invited him to play.
Our neighbors with the cat are home now. (One side note – they were grateful for my slug traps.) They have a daughter that is two years older than our youngest and the girls like to play together. She was very happy to come to play at our house this afternoon. But their play dates provide an interesting language challenge.
Our neighbors speak German at home but their daughter goes to school in French. I speak to the mom in English, but she doesn't know French. When her little girl comes here to play, I can speak to her daughter in French, and she can tell me what she needs (in French). My daughter bosses her around quite successfully in English. I don’t think she speaks much at all when they are actually playing. Although, one day, her mom asked me if our Little One speaks Dutch.
Huh?
No, I assured her that while Dutch has trickled in here and there sometimes with the boys, the Little One would have no reason to have learned it yet. She explained that her daughter told her ours spoke Dutch.
Today, I figured out why her daughter thinks that ours speaks Dutch. The girls were playing together at our house and at one point, mine was jibber-jabbering away in complete nonsense. When I asked her what language she was speaking, she said French.
Her teacher is going to have a lot of fun next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment