Translator

Today I had class at the colegio with the Access kids and it went well--they're working on a little project with me on the topic: requesting express services.  They'll be presenting on Monday so today they were practicing and such.  I was planning on going to a hardware store after class to check some prices of some things for a project that Frank's working on and as I was getting ready to leave class, I had an idea.  I thought it might be fun to ask a student to be my "translator" to practice their listening and speaking skills in a real-life situation.  I chose a student that is pretty outgoing, helpful, and has a higher English level and he told me he would help me.  I explained to him what we would do and we practiced some things before.

We got to the hardware store and found someone that wasn't busy and we began.  I told him to tell the lady that we just wanted to ask about some prices, and then I started listing off things in English and he translated that into Spanish.  The lady told him the prices in Spanish, he told me in English, and then I wrote them down.  It was difficult for me not to interfere and start talking to the lady in Spanish and also when she responded with the prices, a couple times I started writing them down before he told me, so I had to stop myself.  Well, we got through it all, and the lady caught on that I knew Spanish, so she asked my student "Is she quizzing you?" haha  He smiled and said yes.  It was pretty fun and my student did a great job.  He told me after that a lot of people come to town (missionaries) looking for translators and he would like to help with that.  I think I might try this with some other students--it's good practice for them ;)