Hyrum is 11 1/2. We gave him the instruction to clean the dining room. Granted, we've only been living in this house for a month, but after awhile, he meekly whispered to me "Mumma, What's the dining room?" I had to explain the dining room is where we dine on dinner.
I asked him the next day, "Do you know what your middle name is?" I have asked this a few times over the last couple of years. Always, the answer is no. Behind him, Daniel was trying to tell me what the answer was.
Yet later that day he was telling me how fire in outer space is in the shape of a sphere.
I have no idea when or what his brain actually knows. I say "when" because somedays he appears to know things and somedays he doesn't. I don't know if he's acting like he doesn't know his school to be funny or relieve anxiety he's feeling or to delay telling me so that he can be sure, or if he actually doesn't know the answer.
I think I can understand a little of how he feels here in Vanuatu. Bislama is a spinoff of the English language. It should be easy to learn, and most people catch on to it quickly. Most people can understand it even if they can't speak it.
I can't. It's English all mumbled up. I get the overall subject matter, but really what's going on, and I often pretend I get it. With Hyrum's difficulty with language, this must be how he's felt most of his life. I know if we can get over tis language barrier there's a lot of amazing things happening in that brain of his.
As he gets older, the language barrier is breaking down, which is very exciting for us all.
Not sure how to help an eleven year old learn his own native language. But we try.
