My Stomach Is Singing

One of the goals of English Education volunteers is to help our partner teachers improve their English. And for me, this is one of my biggest goals. My partner teachers can speak English, but it is very poor. Many of our meetings take 3 times as long because my partner doesn’t understand the English.

Part of my partners’ English weaknesses is that they directly translated from Romanian. So even though they are speaking English, the wording is awkward, not quite right, or just not the phrasing we usually use. For example, they say “be attentive” instead of “pay attention”. Another phrase they say is “say me please” instead of “tell me please.” Or “put the students questions ” instead of “ask the students questions.”

I try to correct them, but it can be hard finding the balance of how often to correct them without annoying my partners. I can see some improvement so far, but this can be frustrating sometimes. However, I have found the silver lining. There are some fun phrases I have learned since my partners directly translate sometimes. Telling someone to check their zipper, they say “close the store.” My favorite is “my stomach is singing.” It sounds happier than “growling”.