Small Victories

Juan and Daniel are two students from rural Mexico. Daniel has been in the United States 4 years and has experience as a carpenter. He recently brought Juan, his older father, to this country.

Both are painfully shy and serious. I can usually get a class of Latinos to loosen up by joking about the oldest male student being "Mi Novio" (boyfriend) and getting everyone to dance during pronunciation activities. I'm generous with my "Bravos!" and telling older women in Spanglish they don't look a day over 21. Juan and Daniel smile with their eyes but fail to let go.

Daniel is gaining confidence and speaking louder and more clearly in class. Juan, as far as I can tell, is barely literate in Spanish. He doesn't speak much to other students and generally seems scared shitless.

A typical "good" conversation with Juan goes like this:
ME: "What's your name?"
JUAN: "Nombre? Juan"
ME: "Well, at least you understood the question."
JUAN: ::stare::

Asking him about his work in Mexico, his son translates:
ME: "What did you do in Mexico?"
DANIEL: "Su trabajo en Mexico?"
Juan: "Oh. Campos."

Even in Spanish he sticks to one word answers.

Me: "Farmer. I was a farmer." (writing the sentence on the board)

Juan needs to pass a job interview where he describes his previous positions and his expierence. I'm afraid he won't be very sucessful at this. I was at my wits end yesterday when after 4 weeks of training, he not only couldn't answer "how are you?" but didn't even seem to understand the question.

"Oh Juan, mi novio voy a estar jealous because I spend so much time with you."

He looked at me blankly. His son chuckled, translated. Juan broke a brief smile.

I began asking him every 10 minutes, "Juan, how are you?"

"Uhhhhh."

Finally exasperated, a solution struck me, "Juan, do you know the numbers in English?"

I held up one finger, Juan said "one." With two fingers he correctly answered "two."
I held up five fingers, and he said some mispronounced combination of "five" and "fine." Spanish speakers occasionally have trouble with ending words strongly, especally S's, D's, and M's. I don't know why his "Five" sounded like "Fine," and I knew that it wasn't exactly right to make him think "Five" was the same as "Fine."

But it worked.

Everytime I asked him, "How are you?" I held up 5 fingers. Eventually, I didn't need to hold up my fingers.

"Finve!" He'd answer, drunk with victory.

He's got a long way to go- I hope he remembers this little trick today.