Temporary Solution and Language Barrier

A classmate of mine asked me about providing childcare for her newly minted 2 year daughter.  The classmate was diagnosed with breast cancer last winter and was about to start radiation.  Her mother had been staying with them, but had to go to Norway as my classmate's identical twin sister was newly diagnosed as well and needed help with her two small children.  I couldn't say no, so for the next 5 weeks we have added G to our little group for half the day.

My classmate is originally from Poland and speaks only Polish to her daughter at home (as did her mother).  My classmate's husband speaks in Spanish to their daughter at home.  Added to this, G had only ever been in the care of her parents or grandmother, and her mom said she is very shy.  Sooo this was going to prove to be interesting.

I had read somewhere that for kiddos with separation issues it was better for them to feel like they were the ones leaving versus the ones being left.  To that end, I met G and her mom in the driveway.  She let me pick her up and bring her inside, but she totally looked shellshocked.  She sat near the entrance to the playroom for about an hour just watching the other kids play.  She started moving toward them slowly but surely and as time passed became more comfortable.

Needless to say my Polish is non-existent so I had to rely on my ancient high school/college Spanish to communicate with G.  We also watched her favorite Spanish speaking cartoons (Leo and Tom) which helped me recall some Spanish.  The first couple of days were tough, but with the help of Google translator I began to develop a steady stream of words to communicate with her.  For words I wasn't going to use often I didn't bother to look them up and just said them in English.  I also spoke mostly in English to the other kids.  As a result over time G's English improved.  It also became clear that this was one smart little girl as she made connections and solved puzzles that I thought were pretty advanced for someone who just turned 2.   She will begin traditional day care in January and I think she will flourish.

I also came to realize that the changes of me being fluent in multiple languages is slim.  I had to translate in my head by thinking of the English word and then converting it Spanish.  Also there were times that I spoke to my English speaking kiddos in Spanish without realizing it until they looked at me like a had two heads.  Good thing living abroad in a non-English speaking country is not on my bucket list.  I suspect it would go poorly...