Language lessons

Well, we did pretty well today, but Ella had the nicest day of us all.  Monday is one of her two half-days, and she spent the whole time at the outdoor ice skating rink just across the street from her school.  I had to grab some groceries, and as Joey and I walked past the rink we heard the kids squealing, so we walked around to the fence to take a peek.  And there was Miss Ella, holding on to a walker, swinging and scrambling around on the ice.  I took a couple of pictures with my spy-camera.  The pictures look fuzzy because the fog was thick this morning.

There's a second rink next to the one pictured, reserved for figure skating practice.   Whenever we walk by, the kids and I stop for a few minutes to watch the girls practice their spins or, wearing harnesses held by their coaches, their jumps.

We haven't gotten a chance to take the family skating yet, but now I think we must: Ella was so excited when I picked her up: "Mom-can-we-go-ice-skating-now-again-I-was-right-I-really-did-get-to-go-and-at-the-end-I-wasn't-even-using-a-walker-and-they-have-chairs-that-you-can-push-Joey-around-in-I-checked-and-some-are-shaped-like-animals-and-it-was-so-much-fun-and-can-we-go? Can we? Can we?!?"

If I'm reading the schedule correctly that Ella brought home today, (and I give myself 50/50 odds) Ella gets to skate with her class again next Monday, lucky thing.  We'd meant to go this last weekend, but the rink was closed for a hockey competition. Perhaps we can get in some ice time this weekend instead. I need to wait until a weekend, I think.  Taking three kids out on the ice doesn't sound like a one-woman job. There's plenty of time: the rink is open until mid-March.

However, two beats later, Ella was close to tears.  She said that her teacher had given her a long list of vocabulary, and that she would be tested on it tomorrow. ("She just sprang it on me! How is that fair!") She wants so much to please and is so afraid to fail, and she panicked to the point where she had to run ahead to the apartment, to collect herself and her big, big emotions.  By the time we got to home she was calm again, and asked if I could help her study.  They were just classroom words: book, pencil, chalk, a couple dozen of them, and she's fine, she knows them now.

Dennis had that conference with Ella's teacher today, and it turned out there will be no test, anyway. The teacher had just wanted to give Ella some survival words for the classroom, and Ella mistook her instructions.  She thinks that Ella is picking up language quickly enough, but warned us that a year wouldn't be long enough for Ella to osmose proficiency.  Ella will continue her hour-long lesson with her teacher on Thursdays, and we gave permission (of course!) for her to be pulled out for additional German instruction whenever the special-needs teacher returns.  But she recommended against getting a private tutor of our own and doesn't want us to even think about teaching her Swiss German; since they only teach in High German in the classroom, it would be too confusing.

Alex let us know that he, too, is getting pull-out, private German lessons.  "They taught me the word for boy, which is Junge, and star, and I forgot that one, and that's all I learned."  I wish I knew better what was going on with him and his class.  It’s frustrating, especially coming from my dear little cooperative preschool, where I knew all the kids and their parents so well.  I, too, have incentive to learn this language.

But every day when I pick up Alex, though, his big buddy Nina stops and reassures me “Alex, er ist alles gut!” so for now I’ll take her word for it.

I’m charmed by the children at drop-off.  Before they trot home, holding hands and singing, the kids pause by the door and shake their teacher’s hand goodbye.  Alex hasn’t quiet gotten the hang of the custom.  He, instead, clasps her hand in both of his, watching her, until he she gives him a “Tschüß, Alex!” At which point he dashes, relieved, into my arms. It’s adorable, but suppose I should teach him how to give a manly handshake.

Joey also seems to have been picking up language lessons on the sly.  When it was time for bath today and we went to grab him, he squealed and ran away, calling "Nein! Nein nein nein!" Then he stopped, grinned over his shoulder, and dissolved into giggles.  Cheeky little monkey.

The rest of the day our day was quiet: it was cold, and when the kids realized they weren't skating, they curled up with their toys instead.  I spent a good part of the day putting together a list of things we hope to do this year.  I would love recommendations, if any of you have any.  We’re looking forward to some longer train rides.  I understand that the S-Bahn trains that travel usually have special kid cars, complete with toys and playground equipment and a coffee pot for the moms and dads.  Alex may change his mind about wanting our minivan back.