Deutsch lernen

Google is famous for their considerate perks, and one of the nicer ones they're offering is free German instruction, for Dennis and me both.  They've hired Berlitz instructors to teach 90-minute sessions on campus.  Dennis, who is in a more advanced course, is taking his twice a week, while I'll be doing mine just once a week, on Thursdays.

I was originally excited about the classes just as a means to get out and meet so new people, but it turns out there are only two of us in our class.  Ah well. There's usually something to be said for a low student-to-teacher ratio, too.

In Berlitz classes, instruction is only in German.  And we started with some very basic stuff: My name is, His name is, Nice to meet you.  And then the instructor pulled out an envelope of magazine clippings, and I died a little inside.
If you've ever played trivia with me, you know that I am absolutely hopeless at naming famous people. I'm ridiculously bad at recognizing faces, and I have awful recall for names. It's just my own special kind of stupid.  Anyway, the instructor held up pictures for me, asking me over and over "Wer ist das?" And over and over he'd shake his head in disbelief, telling me "Das ist J Lo! Das ist Roger Federer! Das ist Sean Penn! Das ist Nicolas Sarcozy!" I totally nailed Arnold Schwartzenegger and George Bush, at least. But I felt a little flustered. 

Well, a lot flustered, actually. 

We moved on to "Wer kommt aus..." (Who comes from...) and he asked us "Wer kommt aus Portugal? Wer kommt aus Norway?" and neither I nor my classmate could name a single famous person from either country.  Rolling his eyes, demanded Who comes from Russia, from France, from Germany? and, tongue-tied and embarrassed as I was, it took me the longest time to quiet my mind enough to stammer answers.  I wonder if it just comes from not having spoken to many grownups lately.  Or, given that my classmate was still doing just as bad as I, maybe it's just because my teacher is a scary meanie.


When class blessedly ended, and the instructor opened his textbook to give us homework, his eyes widened: Level 3?  He'd been told the wrong level for us, thinking we were Level 1.  Which explained a bit: the German, at least, was easy.  It was just the rest that had me sweating.

So I didn't learn a lot of German today, but I did, I think, learn (or rather, relearn) something else.  I was reminded of how very humbling it can be to be in a classroom, not knowing all the answers that you think you should.  And that's important for me to remember, because that's what my poor kids are going through each and every day. 

Ella has high expectations for herself is having an awfully frustrating time in class. Truly, this is the first time she's ever had to work in school, and struggling and not understanding the rules or instructions and having other kids help her: it's all driving her nuts.  And poor Alex only recently admitted that he had no idea where the flushing mechanism was on the classroom toilet, and that he's been doing his best not to go to the bathroom until he gets home, avoiding embarrassment but forsaking comfort.

As I left the Google campus, I had an uncomfortable knot in my stomach that I haven't felt since college. But I suspect the feeling's quite familiar to my brave kiddos.