These days... no, not really! Our son, Alex, is in first grade. He loves his new school and his teacher. For that, we are very grateful! He studies the same basic curriculum that a first grader in the States would; however, here they add Arabic studies to his day. He is beginning with the alphabet... just like we have this week. Alex gets to learn one letter a day and our tutor has decided we should have already known the alphabet because he is ready to move on :o) So, the other night... Franklin and I were suffering through these letters and Alex comes into the room and begins to "teach" us...
Us ~ aliff... baa... taa... thaa...
Alex ~ Wait, stop! You're saying them wrong...
Us ~ No we're not.
Alex ~ Yes, you are... that's not how my Arabic teacher says it.
Us ~ Well, we don't know what to tell you; but we're not saying them wrong.
Alex ~ I think your teacher doesn't know how to speak Arabic. He must be teasing you... Or, maybe I can just speak Arabic better than you!
Us ~ You're probably right, Alex... maybe you can speak Arabic better than us... Maybe, YOU should be our Arabic teacher!
It's truly humbling to know that we are NOT smarter than a first grader! Alex will learn this new language very quickly and he will have to tell us what other people are saying before we will ever begin to understand anyone. In sh'allah... it will come in time!