Speaking tongues - part deux

Last Saturday was the bi-annual (or twice per school year) Parent-Teacher meeting with Bella's teacher. We've had three of them in the past - two with Bella's K2 teacher and one with Bella's current K3 teacher, who I must say, looks younger than my hairbrush.

We get to the school late, but of course, because living 5 minutes walking to the school automatically makes you think time stands still for those who live in close proximity. While Bella waits in the common play area inside the school, supervised by other teachers, Jonathan and I go into Bella's classroom with her teacher, Miss Chao.

I don't ask Miss Chao's first name because I feel like, being a teacher, I should call her Miss Chao despite the fact that I have pants older than her. And where does she make us sit? on the little children's chairs at the children's table. I mean, it's bad enough for me, but think about poor Jonathan who was like "I'll stand." I really don't get why they don't pull out three bloomin' regular adult-size chairs for this one special occasion! What the F is all I'm thinking then.

Anyhoo, she goes through all of the gross, fine, not so fine, motor, non-motor, electric, whatever skills. blah blah blah. Something about her winning some "best performance award" for science, maths, english, blah-de-blah and then what's that?? She speaks Cantonese at school? to whom? not to the teacher? then to whom? her friends? only her Chinese friends but she speaks English to her English-speaking friends.

Hallelujah! There is a god!

And S/he/It/That which cannot be named has graced us by giving our daughter the gift of bilingualism - something that we wouldn't have been able to give her had we stayed in Toronto - well, maybe that Eng/French immersion farce but we all know that unless you live, breathe and need to operate in that second language, it won't really stay with you in the long term.

At this point, I felt my eyes stinging ever so slightly. I wasn't going to cry in front of this 12 year old calling herself a teacher and neither was Jonathan - I shot him a look of "hold it together, man!" But we wanted Miss Chao to repeat that again. Yes, Bella speaks Cantonese, and dammit, quite well too when she has to communicate to play with her Chinese friends.

Necessity IS the mother of all invention...or ability.

Now I wonder when the Putonghua will begin. Fingers crossed for the next parent-teacher interview.