Last February I volunteered at a winter activity at my son's school and realized that we all need a marshmallow moment.
The plan had been to have a bonfire in the school yard, roast marshmallows for s'mores and drink hot chocolate. Four volunteers were responsible for serving hot chocolate to 500 students in about an hour. I was responsible for offering the marshmallows.
My son's school has a bilingual program, and some children are not adept at communicating in English. Nevertheless, the activity was a big moment because they were going to use their new language skills with the adult volunteers.
Some walked up with pride and confidence to accept hot chocolate with marshmallows. Others looked terrified when I asked them what they wanted.
The problem was not a lack of understanding English, but rather unfamiliarity of the idea that you put marshmallows in hot chocolate. In other words, the deer in the headlights look was due to a lack of experience with marshmallows in hot chocolate rather than a lack of linguistic skills.
I wish everyone could have a marshmallow moment so that they would fully understand that comprehending words is only half the battle of learning a language.
It is easy to understand when someone is offering you something but a greater challenge to say yes to something unknown and make that plunge.
I'm Frances Jaeger, and this is my perspective.