turkish!

Child brought home flyer from school regarding The Much Discussed Turkish Language class. Right now he's in Spanish class and being hideously adorable massacreing the Spanish language. I'm helping him to totally learn nothing at all.

Also, endless fun of yelling commands at each other. LEVANTASE! SIENTESE! Seriously. You cannot have more fun than that. Child fell over giggling after the last of 'venga aqui, poco brat' bit. Also, quiero un pony. Cause I do not know what pony is in Spanish, which is one of three phrases that sends him into giggles and I don't know why. Of course, this is the kid who wnated to name the class goldfish tutankamon. Sadly, it was named Morris.

Grr. Seriously. Morris.

Anyway, Turkish language class. It replaces Spanish in the curriculum, but seriously, the *perks*. Field trips to the Turkish cultural center. Food. God, food. Tickets to some thing this spring. Food. Enrichment activities and after school club. Did I mention the promises of food?

I feel like enrolling there. Okay, when I was in elementary school, they did not bribe us with food, okay? Just saying.

Anyway, being me, I left it up to him, though I figured what answer he'd choose--I mean, seriously, Spanish class is not offering field trips and feasts, okay? Nor the exotic of a non-North American country. OTOH, I can't of anything more impractical unless it was like, Swahili. We live in Texas for God's sake.

OTOH, so cool. I gotta side with him on this; he has the rest of his life to be practical. Awesome.

**correction of spelling of sit down, sientese, by on_the_ground. How *does* one do special characters anyway?

Comments

[logovo.livejournal.com]

That was weird, seeing Spanish on your LJ. I need coffee, I should already be more alert than this at 10 am...

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*grins* Sorry for moment of cognitive dissonance. My Spanish is terrible, but I have to use it at work a *lot*--luckily, they don't require me to go outside the present tense all that often.

[eruthros]

Merhaba!

*is taking Turkish* *recommends it*

The food is great. And the language is fun. And hey, it means that you now have a reason -- beyond the fact that Turkey is cool -- to visit and see the fabulousity that is Turkey. :)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

True, true. And he'll have a blast, and this isn't something he *can* get anywhere else, where I can enroll him in Spanish classes--God knows there's enough of them--independently of school.

So it should be intersting.

[risha]

Practical, shmaktical. It's food and field trips. And if you need justification... umm... it'll stand out on a college transcript?

[risha]

I meant application. Yeah, me speak English good.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Ooh. It *will*. I did not think of that.

And god yes, food. If they send recipes home? Pure delight.

candy from strangers in sleighs

[jssangel.livejournal.com]

But where was the Turkish Delight?

I mean, if there is one thing that I believe that culture should offer to children, it's defintitly Turkish Delight.

I read about it in a book that one time.

Re: candy from strangers in sleighs

[seperis.livejournal.com]

God, you're not the only one. And I've never had it no matter how I've tried to find it, either. I shoudl start looking again.

[nebulist.livejournal.com]

Turkish food is really good. Language classes are so much better with the bribery of learning about culture through food.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

yes. That is such a good way to learn. *nods with wide eyes*

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

When I took spanish in high school, our teacher always had "fiestas" twice a week. It was the highlight of the semester (along with the game where if we could tell her to do something in spanish she'd do it, even if it meant kissing the blackboard and giving extra credit). Food makes EVERY language better.

Linzee

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

And by "week" I mean "semester," because we weren't THAT gluttonous. Much.

Linzee

[akacat]

I gotta side with him on this; he has the rest of his life to be practical.

Smart kid.

(Much discussed? Have I been hiding under a rock, because I don't remember seeing it mentioned before.)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*grins* Amongst my family, who are torn between OMG COOL and OMG NOT PRACTICAL. Pah on practical. Bring the fun!

[flaming-muse.livejournal.com]

Turkish? How cool! And OMG you're right about the food. *drools*

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Oohhh yes. FOOD.

[amireal.livejournal.com]

Now we're in the part of the world I unnerstand! You try coffee.

Look for good meat dishes.

Spices man, you're in a decent city, look for the local foreign spice markets.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I don't even know what spices to look for.

[druidspell.livejournal.com]

They never enticed us with food in elementary school, either. They didn't even offer foreign language until we got to high school. And even then, still no food!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

OMG I KNOW. DAMN THEM. I WANT TO START OVER NOW!

Food thing really makes me happy.

[deadlychameleon.livejournal.com]

Heh. we were totally bribed with food for spanish class. And yeah, I grew up in the southwest, and spanish is a pretty good ideas. There were also the very pagan dia de los muertos celebrations and cinco de mayo celebrations. 6th graders emulating a mayan blood letting ritual, I kid you not. Realism in education strikes again.

But yeah, there was also lots of food. Extra credit for making flan, plus lots of food on dia de los muertos and cinco de mayo. Kids who joined spanish club got to go to the local Spain-spanish restaurant once a year. I'm jewish, but I still think going to midnight mass on Nov. 1st sounds like a pretty interesting experience.

Turkish sounds cool though, I'd say go for it for the experience. He can learn spanish later.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, Cinco De Mayo. We have parties at work for it, and I think people treated it as one. My sister also participated in quincanilla when she was in high school for a friend.

I'm envying you the dia de los muertos here.

[ratcreature]

What cracks me up is that here Spanish classes aren't uncommon in high school (though English and French or Latin are usually the first two languages and if you take Spanish it's usually the third), but Turkish classes are much rarer, and then a lot of those are the Turkish for native speakers which they offer since obviously a large percentage of students in some areas are bilingual in German and Turkish and some high schools offer classes so that those can learn reading/writing and such also in Turkish not just in German. OTOH while Turkish might be quite helpful locally here, Spanish at least still makes sense, what with being so widely spoken worldwide, Spain being a very popular holiday destination, and at least a sizable number of immigrants from various parts speaking it here as well (though not as many as Turkish).

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Huh. *Third language*. God, we barely get *one* language. Luckily, the school offers instruction all the way through high school.

*still a little awed* Third language. I knwo in other parts of the world it's common to be trilingual.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

How do you do the special characters?

Correcting otherwise.

[glammetalkitten.livejournal.com]

OTOH, I can't of anything more impractical unless it was like, Swahili. We live in Texas for God's sake.

I studied at a university that taught Inuit in its language department. Although...yeah, it was in Quebec, so I suppose they would actually have some sort of use for it, wouldn't they.

I'm so with you on the Turkish thing, by the way. Especially if food is involved ;)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

The food thing influenced both me and Child a lot.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Ooh, Turkish food. Ate it all the time in Amsterdam, and developed a hearty appreciation for it.

So, does Austin have a large Turkish community?

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Oddly, not really, but the school has a high proportion of Turkish personnel, including I think the principal. It's interesting.

[zoniduck.livejournal.com]

The way I do the special characters is to go to Start/Programs/Accessories and open the Character Map (Note: It may be in your Windows file in the System 32 folder if it isn't in Accessories). Using that, you can either select the character you want and copy and paste it, or if you highlight it, you can see at the bottom what the keystrokes are to make the character and then go type it yourself. For example, é is Alt+0233. Pretty nifty little tool. I have a shortcut for it on my taskbar because I use it so much. Also useful for previewing different fonts.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I forgot about that! Thank you.

And God I see that thing on my accessories all the time. It never occurred to me to try it in lj.

just to be difficult

[sannyc1980.livejournal.com]

No, you don't know me.

Yes, Turkish language is cool and Turkish food is even cooler but seriously-if you haven't done so already-set side the glee over the probably hyperbole-filled flier and make sure the teacher is committed and has relevant experience. "Turkish language for 20 kindergartners" is a whole different matter than languages taught in high school/college or by grandpa to his granddaughter.

And it sounds like your school may be well prepared to support such a class, given its student/parent body, but not all are. You don't want to find out that the ex-pat hired to teach has the social skills of a badfic!Rodney McKay and resigns after 6 wks of the kids learning nothing but how to count to 10 and the principal making excuses.

Re: just to be difficult

[seperis.livejournal.com]

So far as I can ascertain, it seems good--the school's principle is Turkish and a surprising number of the students and admin staff (and possibly teachers, but I've only seen a few so far) seem to be Middle Eastern as well. But thank you for the advice, very much. We're supposed to have a teacher/parent day coming up before the class starts, so I can find out if the teacher is accredited and how long this has been part of the system's curriculum.

[volari.livejournal.com]

he has the rest of his life to be practical.

That's currently my view on picking college classes. Right now? I'm in Japanese and Latin. Soooooo very impractical. (I'm in North Carolina, so not even on the west coast where Japanese might be handy.)

Yay for fun over practicality!