I really don't remember third grade being this hard. The last time I was in third grade, my teacher was Mrs. Horn. A kindly lady who taught me about following directions, reading, writing, and arithmetic. (The 3 R's???) It was about this time I had broken my left arm, and I am left handed, so I have fond memories of classmates helping me write. This time, I have a cruel tyrant of a taskmaster (just kidding Rev.) who teaches me bumabasa, sumsusulat, and palatuusan (reading, writing and arithmetic in the Tagalog language....I can justify calling these the 3 r's just as much as their English equivalents!) It is not my hand that is broke, it's my head. You see, I finished two Tagalog Language books for adults, and the next one that was laying around was a primer for the third grade. Ahhhhh...No sweat, yet I forgot that those third grade teachers can dish out some torture. Yet I am comforted because even the native Tagalog speakers didn't know some of the words. "Oh Pastor," they say, "that is very deep Tagalog." and then I get to tell them it came from a third
grade book!
It also showed me how some words have developed over the years. I learned the word for putting a pot on the fire...isalang...and because I knew it wasn't a common word, began asking others if they knew what this meant. One girl said "Yes, it is when you put a CD in the player." Well I have heard of burning CD's but that really isn't what I was looking for. When you add to this the many dialects that are in the Philippines you have an interesting mix. In Tagalog, Ihaw, means to grill food, but in Cebuano/Visayan, it means to kill. So be careful when you ask your helper, who is a Visayan, to grill you some food! She teased saying "I will kill you right now!" Maybe that is where the term, words can kill came from!
Well all of this, because it is school time here. In the Philippines the summer break is in April and May, and school resumes the first part of June. A timely beginning for my third grade studies.
Pray for me, I really want to make it to the fourth grade!
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3 comments:
Brother D, whew, we made it through third grade, and what a challenge it was! Marshall had it pretty easy in school until this year! Talk about lots of homework, of course what should have taken him an hour at the most, took him three or four hours, with me, coaxing, yelling eventually to make it happen! I begin to hope for no homework on church nights! But he made it with straight A's! It's summer now, so we await fourth grade now! SM in Nashville!
Add cream and sugar to your black stuff and I'm sure you'll make it to fourth grade. :) Bless you Brother.
Still being a language learner (Songhai) I sure appreciated this post. One day my husband thought he was asking someone to kill the guinea hen (ciro), but instead he asked them to kill his friend (cero)! Fortunately he's a good sport because that was the joke of the day! I was pleased you connected to Mymeanderings. Personally I think her sight is the best. She's an excellent photographer with a joie de vivre that's rare. I'm thrilled to know her, her hubby, and their kids personally. It's my privilege!
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