Matt and Crystal - Language Barrier
Apr. 6th, 2011 11:18 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBackdated. Matt attends his first Spanish class with Crystal after recovering from food poisoning. They don't quite agree on what it's important to know in another language.
Heading down the Spanish classroom, Matt had his backpack over one shoulder with his braille Spanish things in it. Like any student learning a foreign language, it took time and practice, but unlike most other students, Matt really didn’t have a workbook to practice his sentences in or anything like that. He did have a stack of flash cards though and a braille alphabet card for Spanish since there were some differences between it and English. He also had his laptop with him. There were ways to enable it to read Spanish to him and they were supposedly enabled and he had the instructions, but didn’t know how to use it.
Entering the classroom, he tapped his cane against the desks until he came to what he thought was the front of the class, then took a seat.
As was the class with most of the classrooms in the mansion, the one being used by Crystal had once been a parlor. She had a whiteboard set up on one wall, some students were visual learners and could benefit from seeing things being written or drawn, and there was just something about using it as classes progressed and getting into what was being discussed, but that particular item was not of use for this particular student. This was a class of one, although that wasn't particularly unusual at Xavier's given the small size of the student body. In this case, however, the one-on-one lessons weren't due to no other students needing or wanting to learn the same material, it was because methods that would work for the other students wouldn't work in this case. Crystal had read the information about him that had been shared with the staff members and knew that life had not been kind to the boy. Well, things should be changing for him now. He could remain in one place, receive a proper education in a positive setting, and she planned to do her best to make sure that happened.
"Greetings, Matt. I am Crystal Amaquelin. I am glad that you are feeling better."
Well. She talked sort of funny. Who said 'Greetings' anymore? Weird people. "Thanks," he replied. His bout of food poisoning (at least, that's what he assumed it was) had been decently short, though absolutely no fun. Who enjoyed puking their guts out while their stomach tried to tear its way out of your abdomen? Not him anyways, "I'm fine now," he added, unsure if he should be getting his book out or what. Spanish was actually a subject he was reasonably decent at because there were a lot of kids who spoke it that he had known in the system like him. It might not be proper, book Spanish that he knew, but he could insult someone's mother with the best of them.
"I have read the reports from your previous school," Crystal said, "but I would like to get a better idea of what you already know. As I am sure you are already aware, Xavier's is not quite a regular school, and I do not mean only because it is a school for mutants. During both my one year here as a student and my first year as a teacher, the mansion was home to a large number of students. This year there are ten, and three students, including yourself, do not have classmates in the same grade. Classes of one, and classes specifically tailored for individual students, are not at all uncommon. This is what I would like to do for you, in both your language and history studies, especially since there are less than two weeks until spring break and only two months until the end of the school year."
While he'd been in rehab for six weeks he had gone to school, but understandably, it was not really the focus while there, nor was he really able to keep up with his classmates since he hadn't had the handouts and other papers he'd needed in braille. The rehab facility had been good for helping get him off drugs, the therapy and counseling he'd needed, but school had been a rather distant third or even fourth on that list. That being said though, Matt had been doing pretty well in school prior to getting sent to rehab, making mostly A's and B's even in the classes he didn't much like or found difficult. His father had insisted on good grades growing up and he was attempting to maintain that for his father. "Most of my classes were like that," Matt replied, pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger not minding that he had missed part of the bridge over his nose and made a print on the lens. "Even though I was mainstreamed, I had an IEP - Individual Education Plan. And I had a helper for stuff too. So like...doing this individually makes sense."
Crystal smiled. "Good. Your grades, of course, are good, and I hope that this will continue here." His grades made it puzzling as to why he was only a freshman in high school when he was turning 16 the following month. Crystal had been a senior at his age, but she knew that just as most students who were nearly 16 were in a year above the freshman level, most were also not in the final year of high school. "While there are certain things that students are required to learn in specific classes, different teachers and schools have various methods of teaching. I will admit, working with you will be a new experience for me. I will be learning right along with you, and that is something that has always appealed to me about teaching, that it is not only the students in the class who gain knowledge. I enjoy learning new things, and I enjoy teaching. Now I need to discover your interest and comfort with what I will be teaching you. Is there anything that you have learned already that sticks out in your mind? A sentence or two in Spanish, perhaps?"
Ooookay. This lady was definitely weird. Yup. "Uh, okay..." he had to think for a minute. He wasn't so good at coming up with things in Spanish on the fly like this. Finally, he said, "Tu madre es una puta de dos dólares que usa botas de combate y me dejó ...insatisfecho!" There. That was a good sentence!
Crystal just sat there silently for a few moments, then coughed lightly. Well, she hadn't specified anything, had she? Just left it open for anything to be said, and Matt's sentence was a valid response even if it wasn't a polite one or one appropriate for a classroom setting. "I see. Well, that is a very interesting sentence. I can understand why such a phrase would remain in your mind. I am sure that there could be a situation in which such a statement would be applicable, although I do hope that this is not something you would wish to say to most people." Would Matt have said such a thing had there been other students in the classroom? "Now, are the words, grammar, and sentence structure included in your sentence ones that you can use to include in other sentences?" Was he looking for some sort of big or negative reaction from her? He wasn't going to get one.
That was completely a sentence that Matt would have used in front of other students and not even for a laugh either. He lived with quite a few Hispanic boys in foster care who spoke Spanish and while he might be learning book Spanish in school, he had learned real Spanish from them. "It's a good sentence," Matt agreed. "And sure. Whores and mothers are very good sentence topics. Especially if you can combine them."
Crystal had learned Spanish from a private tutor. She had most definitely not been taught any sentences of the nature of the one man had spoken. The insults she knew (in four different languages, too!) had come later. "Well, those types of sentences would certainly make for some, ah, colorful conversations. I do not believe that any of our planned material covers such ideas, and I know that the tests involve language use that is perhaps a bit boring compared to your preferred sentence of choice. Hopefully you will still be interested in the subject matter. Being able to speak and understand multiple languages are very useful skills."
If it was possible to roll his eyes without actually doing so, then Matt just did it. It sort of involved his entire body. "Oh, I guess if I gotta meet Pedro and tell him my name and that I'm from Nuevo York, then I guess," he said, clearly less than enthused. "And sure it is. Then you can hear when when people talk about you more often!" Which was actually sort of funny. He heard people mention 'el niño ciego' all the time thinking he didn't understand them.
"I would not quite phrase it that way, but yes, it will come in handy to understand more of what is being said in the world around you. If people do not realize that you are able to know what they are saying, it is quite possible that they will say things when you are around that they would not have said had they been aware of your knowledge. Now, I have an assignment for you today. It is not something that will count as part of your grade; it is only to discover where we should begin in our lessons. It will not be exciting, I am sure, but it is necessary, and when it is completed we will discuss your interest in history and later we will try to discover a way to help you become not so disappointed with our future Spanish lessons." Crystal wanted Matt to enjoy learning in her classes, but she also couldn't imagine working insults into their coursework. It just wasn't proper.
That made Matt grin, "I already do," he pointed out. With enhanced senses, hearing things he wasn't supposed to was not a problem. In fact, it would be nice to be able not to hear quite so much sometimes. "An assignment. All right..."
"Ah, yes, I suppose that you do," Crystal agreed with a smile. It was a good thing that his room had been altered due to his powers. She was lucky with her gifts and she knew it, but was also aware that for others it could bring discomfort, pain, and other undesirable effects. "If you continue studying Spanish, you will be able to understand even more of what you hear, yes?" She moved a couple of papers on her desk. "Let us begin."
(English translation of Matt's sentence: "Your mother is a two dollar whore who wears combat boots and left me unsatisfied!)
Heading down the Spanish classroom, Matt had his backpack over one shoulder with his braille Spanish things in it. Like any student learning a foreign language, it took time and practice, but unlike most other students, Matt really didn’t have a workbook to practice his sentences in or anything like that. He did have a stack of flash cards though and a braille alphabet card for Spanish since there were some differences between it and English. He also had his laptop with him. There were ways to enable it to read Spanish to him and they were supposedly enabled and he had the instructions, but didn’t know how to use it.
Entering the classroom, he tapped his cane against the desks until he came to what he thought was the front of the class, then took a seat.
As was the class with most of the classrooms in the mansion, the one being used by Crystal had once been a parlor. She had a whiteboard set up on one wall, some students were visual learners and could benefit from seeing things being written or drawn, and there was just something about using it as classes progressed and getting into what was being discussed, but that particular item was not of use for this particular student. This was a class of one, although that wasn't particularly unusual at Xavier's given the small size of the student body. In this case, however, the one-on-one lessons weren't due to no other students needing or wanting to learn the same material, it was because methods that would work for the other students wouldn't work in this case. Crystal had read the information about him that had been shared with the staff members and knew that life had not been kind to the boy. Well, things should be changing for him now. He could remain in one place, receive a proper education in a positive setting, and she planned to do her best to make sure that happened.
"Greetings, Matt. I am Crystal Amaquelin. I am glad that you are feeling better."
Well. She talked sort of funny. Who said 'Greetings' anymore? Weird people. "Thanks," he replied. His bout of food poisoning (at least, that's what he assumed it was) had been decently short, though absolutely no fun. Who enjoyed puking their guts out while their stomach tried to tear its way out of your abdomen? Not him anyways, "I'm fine now," he added, unsure if he should be getting his book out or what. Spanish was actually a subject he was reasonably decent at because there were a lot of kids who spoke it that he had known in the system like him. It might not be proper, book Spanish that he knew, but he could insult someone's mother with the best of them.
"I have read the reports from your previous school," Crystal said, "but I would like to get a better idea of what you already know. As I am sure you are already aware, Xavier's is not quite a regular school, and I do not mean only because it is a school for mutants. During both my one year here as a student and my first year as a teacher, the mansion was home to a large number of students. This year there are ten, and three students, including yourself, do not have classmates in the same grade. Classes of one, and classes specifically tailored for individual students, are not at all uncommon. This is what I would like to do for you, in both your language and history studies, especially since there are less than two weeks until spring break and only two months until the end of the school year."
While he'd been in rehab for six weeks he had gone to school, but understandably, it was not really the focus while there, nor was he really able to keep up with his classmates since he hadn't had the handouts and other papers he'd needed in braille. The rehab facility had been good for helping get him off drugs, the therapy and counseling he'd needed, but school had been a rather distant third or even fourth on that list. That being said though, Matt had been doing pretty well in school prior to getting sent to rehab, making mostly A's and B's even in the classes he didn't much like or found difficult. His father had insisted on good grades growing up and he was attempting to maintain that for his father. "Most of my classes were like that," Matt replied, pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger not minding that he had missed part of the bridge over his nose and made a print on the lens. "Even though I was mainstreamed, I had an IEP - Individual Education Plan. And I had a helper for stuff too. So like...doing this individually makes sense."
Crystal smiled. "Good. Your grades, of course, are good, and I hope that this will continue here." His grades made it puzzling as to why he was only a freshman in high school when he was turning 16 the following month. Crystal had been a senior at his age, but she knew that just as most students who were nearly 16 were in a year above the freshman level, most were also not in the final year of high school. "While there are certain things that students are required to learn in specific classes, different teachers and schools have various methods of teaching. I will admit, working with you will be a new experience for me. I will be learning right along with you, and that is something that has always appealed to me about teaching, that it is not only the students in the class who gain knowledge. I enjoy learning new things, and I enjoy teaching. Now I need to discover your interest and comfort with what I will be teaching you. Is there anything that you have learned already that sticks out in your mind? A sentence or two in Spanish, perhaps?"
Ooookay. This lady was definitely weird. Yup. "Uh, okay..." he had to think for a minute. He wasn't so good at coming up with things in Spanish on the fly like this. Finally, he said, "Tu madre es una puta de dos dólares que usa botas de combate y me dejó ...insatisfecho!" There. That was a good sentence!
Crystal just sat there silently for a few moments, then coughed lightly. Well, she hadn't specified anything, had she? Just left it open for anything to be said, and Matt's sentence was a valid response even if it wasn't a polite one or one appropriate for a classroom setting. "I see. Well, that is a very interesting sentence. I can understand why such a phrase would remain in your mind. I am sure that there could be a situation in which such a statement would be applicable, although I do hope that this is not something you would wish to say to most people." Would Matt have said such a thing had there been other students in the classroom? "Now, are the words, grammar, and sentence structure included in your sentence ones that you can use to include in other sentences?" Was he looking for some sort of big or negative reaction from her? He wasn't going to get one.
That was completely a sentence that Matt would have used in front of other students and not even for a laugh either. He lived with quite a few Hispanic boys in foster care who spoke Spanish and while he might be learning book Spanish in school, he had learned real Spanish from them. "It's a good sentence," Matt agreed. "And sure. Whores and mothers are very good sentence topics. Especially if you can combine them."
Crystal had learned Spanish from a private tutor. She had most definitely not been taught any sentences of the nature of the one man had spoken. The insults she knew (in four different languages, too!) had come later. "Well, those types of sentences would certainly make for some, ah, colorful conversations. I do not believe that any of our planned material covers such ideas, and I know that the tests involve language use that is perhaps a bit boring compared to your preferred sentence of choice. Hopefully you will still be interested in the subject matter. Being able to speak and understand multiple languages are very useful skills."
If it was possible to roll his eyes without actually doing so, then Matt just did it. It sort of involved his entire body. "Oh, I guess if I gotta meet Pedro and tell him my name and that I'm from Nuevo York, then I guess," he said, clearly less than enthused. "And sure it is. Then you can hear when when people talk about you more often!" Which was actually sort of funny. He heard people mention 'el niño ciego' all the time thinking he didn't understand them.
"I would not quite phrase it that way, but yes, it will come in handy to understand more of what is being said in the world around you. If people do not realize that you are able to know what they are saying, it is quite possible that they will say things when you are around that they would not have said had they been aware of your knowledge. Now, I have an assignment for you today. It is not something that will count as part of your grade; it is only to discover where we should begin in our lessons. It will not be exciting, I am sure, but it is necessary, and when it is completed we will discuss your interest in history and later we will try to discover a way to help you become not so disappointed with our future Spanish lessons." Crystal wanted Matt to enjoy learning in her classes, but she also couldn't imagine working insults into their coursework. It just wasn't proper.
That made Matt grin, "I already do," he pointed out. With enhanced senses, hearing things he wasn't supposed to was not a problem. In fact, it would be nice to be able not to hear quite so much sometimes. "An assignment. All right..."
"Ah, yes, I suppose that you do," Crystal agreed with a smile. It was a good thing that his room had been altered due to his powers. She was lucky with her gifts and she knew it, but was also aware that for others it could bring discomfort, pain, and other undesirable effects. "If you continue studying Spanish, you will be able to understand even more of what you hear, yes?" She moved a couple of papers on her desk. "Let us begin."
(English translation of Matt's sentence: "Your mother is a two dollar whore who wears combat boots and left me unsatisfied!)
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