10.13.05
Words I’ve Never Heard Before
Today after I picked up Trey from school we headed to the park that is right across the street. We were by ourselves for the most part until an older woman and a little red-headed boy came and sat down near us. Trey and the red-headed boy sort of played near each other for a while, not really interacting. Then Trey started making a little pile of pebbles. The little red-headed boy watched him for a minute, and then started making his own pile. He then asked Trey, “Facciamo insieme?” He wanted to make a montagna (mountain) together. I just watched, knowing that Trey probably didn’t understand what he was saying to him. He repeated it several times. Then the little boy started adding pebbles to Trey’s pile. Trey stepped back and I could just see his little brain working hard, trying to figure out what he might be saying. He then quietly said, “Facciamo,” and started to make a mountain with the other little boy.
It was so neat to watch Trey learn a new word like that. We don’t always get to be passive observers of such an obvious step in language learning. I never told him that the little boy wanted to play together, and I’ve never taught him how to conjugate the verb fare. But he put two and two together and even made a friend in the process.
It really isn’t that different for Heidi and I. At one point the boys started chasing each other and the older woman scolded the red-headed boy and said “Non correre col bastoncino!” I’ve never heard that before, but it was obvious that she wanted the little boy to stop running with the stick. See … I’m almost as smart as Trey!