English Please...

"To have another language is to possess a second soul."

-Charlemagne

I think every teacher or parent has that one phrase that they find themselves saying almost automatically. Like a broken record, the words and sounds wind through their heads and out their mouths almost thoughtlessly, triggered by the behavior they're meant to influence. 

As a teacher with a wide variety of students ages, these sayings can vary. For my littles "find you seats" and "wash your hands" are pretty standard. For my early elementary I'm regularly caught saying "Is your name (insert name of child I had actually asked to answer)?". And for my older classes a variation of "really, dude?" is not uncommon.

But the phrase most uttered in every class regardless of the situation, is "Is this Korean class?", "It's okay if you whine at me, but it has to be in English.", "Korean? What's that?", and the one to rule them all, "English please!". 

This policy has at times come back to bite me, and I'm the only one to blame. As a bilingual speaker of English and Spanish, I've spent the last six years with both languages bouncing around my brain. I've had the poor habit of saying things in Spanish as part of regular English conversations, using Spanish exclamations, and Spanish sounding noises when I'm exasperated. Part of this started from when I first began learning Spanish, and would just use whatever Spanish word I knew whenever I could as a way to practice and build my vocabulary. 

By the time I was on the plane to Korea, I'd had three years of Korean TV and music behind me, and I had collected a nice little package of exclamations and words that I was using on a daily basis (if you doubt me, my friends and family will testify to its truth). So I've spent five years building this reflexive use of my other language(s) and that kind of commitment isn't undone over night. 

I'd like to say I've done a good job of acting like English is the only language I ever knew, but every once in a while something slips out while teaching. Generally I do a good job of covering up for myself. "What, I didn't say aigoo! I said oh goodness...nae? I said yay! I don't know Korean, that was definitely English." The suspicious looks from my students lets me know that I'm not 100% convincing, but my intent was to keep that suspicious look on their faces for the duration. 

I made it two weeks. 

In one of my more rambunctious classes I have 7 kids, and they're all my favorites. And they can be a lot to handle sometimes. At one point they had gotten loud enough that I was struggling getting them to listen, and there were a couple in particular who had lost connection with the class. Korean was bouncing everywhere, and I was close to losing my hold on the lesson.

Half exasperated, half laughing, at the madness going around me I took a deep breath and went to say "Hey, hey, now." to my little herd. But (as sometimes happens) my wiring got a little switched and rapid fire "Ya, ya, ya, ya!" came sliding out. All eyes locked on me, not quite believing where that very Korean sound had come from.

 It's not that the phrase didn't belong there. But generally the Korean meaning of "Ya!" is that a scolding is on its way. It can be teasing, it can be gentle, but there is that subtle implication that you crossed some kind of line. My tone had been more laughing and exasperated instead of angry, and they were smiling, but I could tell they were waiting to see if I was going to let them have it.

So I smiled, and said "English please!". 

Immediately giggles from class and my little friend Jeff (the one who had been most suspicious about my Korean abilities) exclaimed in delight, 

"Shayla Teacher used Korean!"

"They say 'ya' in Spanish, dude."

"Yeah, but that was Korean!"

"I said it with a Spanish accent...where's your 'the'? Go ahead and fix it so I can mark it."

"Okay, but that was Korean."

"I don't speak Korean, Jeff."

And like that the class was back to its regular banter and discussion. 

They're on to me now though. No longer suspicious, they're convinced I know more than they previously thought, which is considerably more than I currently do. So sometimes they'll look at me after saying something in Korean expectantly waiting for me to respond, but I just shrug and cheerfully say,

"English please."

-Shayla