I am learning how to speak while having a translator. That itself is a skill, and one I did not have or even knew I needed to have before coming here. I never know when to stop and let the translator cut in. Sometimes I feel like I am saying too much and the poor person translating for me is going to have trouble remembering what I have said. This is one problem, and the other is when you say only a few words, pause for translation, and the person translating looks at you as if to say "why have you stopped talking?"You then have this awkward amount of time where nothing is being said and everyone smiles and laughs and pretends a joke was told. Speaking of jokes while translating, this has to be the funniest part of any thai/english conversation! I intently listen to the Thai conversation while the parents are speaking for a couple reasons. Mainly, their body language says so much and I can sometimes gather what they are saying from this. Second, I am hoping that God will miraculously give me the skill of being able to understand what they are saying and be able to speak fluently in Thai! As you intently listen, however, you feel like you should know what is being said. So naturally, when someone laughs, you laugh along with them, right? Right. Well, this is slightly awkward because they wonder why you are laughing because they know you do not speak any Thai and do not know what their joke was. Also, I find that I never actually figure out the joke, because it is never told to me. I think maybe it doesn't directly translate or something, and then you are left laughing at things and having no idea why you laughed, and having the other person know that you have no idea why you are laughing. At least when I do that in an English conversation (pretend I know what is happening and respond to social cues around me) no one can usually figure out that you don't know what the joke was.
Second best is when you tell a joke and wait three minutes and then all of the sudden they are laughing. This means that the joke has been translated, but usually by this point you have forgotten what was said all together and then the other person looks slightly crazy. I am getting better at this art of being translated for, but it is a work in progress. I truly do think it is an art to be able to have a conversation without ruining the flow by not speaking enough or speaking too much before the translator comes in.
This is when you have a translator though. When there is no translator, this makes things even more interesting. I had several conferences that started and got nowhere because I can only act out so many things. I have never been so happy to see a translator enter the room in those moments of miming desperation!
Today I had a parent who came to me and tried to have a conversation to tell me that he does not speak English well. I find these conversations funny, because by the time the 10 minutes are over and they have successfully said "I can't speak English very well" (and by that I clearly meant "I can't speak English good"), I am quite aware of this reality. In fact, it takes all of maybe 30 seconds to know that they are struggling with English, but I do my best to be accommodating because I speak nit noy Thai and would not be able to speak in their language. He explained to me that he can't really speak English and when I looked at the sheet I see that he had not requested a translator. This is my favourite. I know he is not Thai and his first language is Korean. How difficult would that be for him....yikes. I speak English....he doesn't. The translators speak Thai....that's not his main language. He told me he speaks Thai better than English though, so I told him a translator might be our best option, but he said his Thai was not good. It was good enough for this meeting though, and he was much better at speaking Thai than English. My other option would have been interpretive dancing to show him how his daughter is doing so far. That's universal, right? Let's just say all parties should be happy he learned enough Thai to be able to understand the translation ;)
The weirdest part of parent/teacher conferences is seeing how much parents respect your opinion and value what you say. I am so young, and all the parents I am speaking with are much older than me. I am telling them things about their child's learning, and they are asking questions and anxiously awaiting my reply. Reality check. I am 23 years old and parents want to know my opinion and what I think about their child's education and behaviour? That is crazy to me. I had some frustrated parents who just wanted answers with what to do with their child. They were asking questions to me that a doctor or psychologist should answer, and were hanging out to every little thing that came out of my mouth. Inside I was reminding myself that I was 23, but the minute I pulled my professional pants on in the morning I must have aged 20 years or so. "To be completely honest, I am trying my hardest and don't know what the solution to your child is", is what I was thinking to myself. In one way it is a nice feeling to be entrusted with so much and have your opinion valued, but in another sense I feel like I am completely unqualified to be able to share my opinion and thoughts with someone and have it hold so much meaning to them. Thankfully I serve a God who laughs at me as I step into this adventure of teaching and provides me with guidance in what to say. Multiple times throughout these conferences I felt like I was given things to say that came out of nowhere. My only explanation is that God knew what needed to be said and was there to help me deliver it.
I have finished my first parent/teacher conferences and parts of them were eventful. I have learned that with God's help I can be well spoken and communicate with parents, even when it is not the best news I am delivering. I have also successfully communicated with a language barrier, whether it be through acting, translated conversation, or rapid pointing at different words and numbers with massive amounts of expression on my face!
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