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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Child's Body Language

I came cross a boy studying German in front of me at a same table in a library. I enjoyed to observing a child's body language and interaction between a tutor. Before the teacher came, I asked the boy's mother for permission to sketch him. NOTE : I hid my sketch book from the boy so that I would not destruct him. Friends, capture the critical and interesting body language in your sketch. The boy looked having a great fun in drawing and colouring. 
"Today, your father asks me to teach you counting, too," the teacher said. I assumed his father was a German speaker. The boy's mother was an English native speaker, late twenties. His father was in late thirties. The private tutor was a lady, early twenties. You wonder why I could get each person's age so precisely. The boy asked around us, "How old are you?" A good question to know numbers! "When I was born, I saw a dinosaurs walking around my house!" The smiling teacher SERIOUSLY explained the concept of million. Unfortunately or fortunately (?!) the boy did not get it well. Probably, he encountered such a huge number for the first time in his life. I should have said, "In million steps and years, you can walk to the sun from here." But the boy was much smarter than me. He simply said, "You look like my grandma." The boy's say made us laugh. 

We use body language lot to convey messages. It was fun to see the teacher's face expressions and body languages in order to depict adjectives such as cold, hot etc. The teaching materials were clever, colouring and pictures or the boy's favourite. Visual information helps a language learner build up word concept in mind. The materials keep a child's attention in learning. The teacher emphasised the similarity and the difference between German and English in sounds and spelling. The boy answered very well and the teacher very much praised at his answers! Nice! 
In my eyes, body language is common in different languages. What do you think? I hope the boy will have a rich language assets. When I attended the "Bridging Language Barriers Symposium" this March, Prof Ingrid Gogolin told me that in Europe, a person with two language is no surprise. "You need a third language in CV to compete with others in job hunting." The boy's teacher said, "I teach Spanish and German," two languages. 

After the class, the mother and the tutor loved my sketches and took photos. Only the boy could not get why the sketches very excited care givers. Btw, I'm a naughty grandma?! Yes, I said before their class began, "In German, I only know, "Ich liebe dich!"" The teacher translated it to the boy, "She said, "I love you!"" Hehehe. Love and smile are a universal language! Thank you for modelling. 
Friends, Happy Painting!  





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10 comments:

  1. Ah Sadami - what a great capture of this little boy...sharing your visit with him made these sketches delightful - hope you are having a wonderful start to your week. Hugs!

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    1. Thank you, sweet Debbie! I'd love to have a creative week like you. ((Hugs)) Sadami

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  2. What an interesting post, Sadami! I enjoyed reading every word.
    Your lovely artwork is like icing on the cake!!

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    1. Oh, Chris, you're so sweet! I love drawing children. You, too, have a wonderful and creative week. Best wishes, Sadami

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  3. Hi Sadami, how lovely; your sketches and story about your interaction with them. Always so joyful to come to your blog. Have a beautiful day, my friend.

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    1. Thank you, sweet Carol! You, too, enjoy your life and art activities. Best wishes, Sadami

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  4. absolutely love this post - sketches and your thoughts!

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    1. Thank you, Meera! I love yours, too. Let's enjoy drawing together. Best wishes, Sadami

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  5. Great sketches! And I enjoyed the story of your visit with the boy and his teacher - funny how kids want to know how old everyone is around them :). I think you are probably much younger than his grandma! We, in the US are lazy when it comes to languages - rarely find someone who knows 2 languages well (just bits and pieces remembered from high school). Perhaps, if we had to know 2-3 languages, languages would be more important in school (and easier to learn when you are young). Ich liebe dich, Sadami :)

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    1. Oh, Rhonda, you're too sweet! Thank you!! Yes, regarding languages, a bit different social situation though, English native speakers will not study other languages in Australia and linguists are worried about a future. I hope we can keep all languages and bequeath them to next generations (so many endangered languages are on the earth). Btw, Rhonda, your paintings are very nice! You have to teach me!! Best wishes, Sadami

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