Language classes

i love my language classes these days. Our teacher, "Protima Didi" (Protima is her name, and Didi means, "older sister" its a sign of respect, since she's older than me it would be disrespectful for me to just call her by her name) is amazing. its been really interesting this past month, learning in a different style, at a different pace, and really different things.

here's what i think about language learning - I think that HEED did a great job of building my foundation, teaching me how to conjugate verbs, conversation, basic reading and writing. But my last few weeks there i was starting to get a bit "bored." i wanted to learn word parts - prefixes, suffixes, cues that would help me figure out what a word means if i didn't actually know the word - but i wasn't able to learn those things. i also felt like what i really needed was more opportunity to practice what i'd learned. i just needed to use the language more in order to really move forward.

when i was at HEED and we started learning basics, there were a few times when it was like a light-bulb turned on and suddenly something made sense. the system we learned was so "user-friendly"...and i wondered why Protima Didi didn't teach it that way when i took lessons from her. but man oh man is she great at what she's teaching us now!

seriously...its like i've got the best of both worlds...a solid foundation, and now an amazing teacher to help me move forward from here.

we've been learning how to use words in different ways. she's deepening and broadening what i already know. she makes me spell things correctly (not a strength in English, and definitley not in Bangla!). and she gives us word parts. sometimes she breaks a word down into its parts to explain what it means...and then i can figure things out that i don't know alone. for example the word for "frustrated" is "ho-tasha" asha means hope, ho-t means to kill. so when you're frustrated it means your hope has been killed. I haven't had a hard time remembering that word since that explanation! (we also had one lesson on how to turn a noun into an adjective...it was really fascinating and helpful to see how some words that i'd learned separately were related)

i also love how she teaches us to tackle long sentences and figure out what they mean. today when i was reading my children's bible there was a section where i read a long sentence, and slowly it all just clicked together. a few months ago i would have been totally overwhelmed by how many clauses in that sentence, and probably wouldn't have been able to make full sense of it...but today i could - and i LOVED it.

i love the rhythm of learning here. bangladesh was a time of intense language learning. that's really all i did and in lots of ways it felt like a vacuum. now i have lessons twice a week...and speak/hear/try to communicate in Bangla pretty much every other day of the week - so i end up with lots of questions, and feel like i can incorporate what i'm learning a little better. its a more manageable, sustainable pace of learning.

plus, Protima Didi is pretty much amazing. she tells us great stories. and explains things so well. and gives us great snacks and tea every time we have class.

i know i'm kind of a dork when it comes to learning in general. but really, i LOVE my language classs (which is good, cause i'd have to take them and study everyday whether i wanted to or not...)