speaking with kids in (my halting) French

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While at the library of Alliance Française de Manille, I sat through an afternoon session of a children's French class. I was utterly speechless because I heard these kids speaking the language better than I do! A child was speaking about the contents of a book, starting with "Regardez..." and then continued on.

 Thus, I thought that maybe, it would be fun to learn how to practise with children because they aren't afraid of losing face when they make grammatical errors. So when I had a chance to be surrounded by children who only spoke French, I grabbed it. They were indoors while their parents were talking outdoors. Because the kids (there were three girls and one boy) might knock down artwork or break glass, I was tasked to distract them. No worries, I thought. In the worst case scenario, I'd do charades with them, the same way I communicated in Hong Kong when my cousins and I couldn't find the hotel we were staying in. And then the conversation started...

Kids: Nous voulons Fan-Yoyo!
Me: Quel est le Fan-Yoyo?!?
Kids: Fan-Yoyo! Fan-Yoyo!
Me (scratching my head): Ano ba ang Fan-Yoyo??? [Yeah, I started speaking in Tagalog.]

That stopped them in mid-chorus. Probably because I started speaking unintelligibly. Meanwhile, the boy had run outside and produced a yogurt drink from a bag... They wanted to drink yogurt! Okay, not so bad, I thought, as I took out kid-friendly drinking cups and started serving them yogurt.

After having their yogurt fix, I thought that the kids would finally quiet down. But no. While the boy sat down quietly, the three girls started running around. The youngest of the three had a look of desperation in her eyes while the two others were trying their best to help. Finally, they approached me.

Girls: Elle veut caca. [referring to the youngest]

Okay, I know that she wanted something (elle veut). Caca... chocolate? Kids in the Philippines didn't use this term nowadays and I've only heard my dad call an aunt of ours (older than him) as kakâ, which is common in Batangueño during his time.

Me: Qu'est-ce que "caca"?
Girls: Tu ne connais pas "caca"?!?
Me: Desolée, mais non. Qu'est-ce que "caca"?
Girls: Caca! Caca! [running around and then pointing to the toilet after seeing it]
Me: Ah! You [to the youngest girl] need to go to the toilet!

And then, one of the French-speaking adults finally came in and took over. Whew!

I still didn't know what caca was though. So after the kids started playing again, I asked what it was. Turns out that "to caca" is to poop. No wonder the kids were getting concerned when they couldn't get through to me.

They were right at AFM. It really will take more that learning a few words and sentences in French to understand native speakers and to express my thoughts. I'm studying A2 levels currently but in the program, I'll start learning how to handle situations in French while travelling (or while around exclusive Francophones, like these kids) in B1 levels. So, it appeared that I was in over my head with my idea of practising with those kids.

I shouldn't be worried, though. The next time I volunteer to handle these French-speaking children, I'm sure that my grammar will be better and my vocabulary will be wider. There is hope! 

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