So today my student pitches up at class with his daughter – they had a crisis and there is nobody to look after her for the day. Anika is very excited because it means that she has a friend for the day.
The challenge: Anika speaks Afrikaans and Faith speaks Swazi. I tried to intervene and translate, but it was obvious that I was in the way and spoiling their fun.
So during tea time I went to check on them and they were playing with clay in Anika’s playroom. Very happy, smiling from ear to ear – each bubbling away in their own language.
When I asked them what they were doing (because it seemed as if they were both aiming at the same goal, same game plan) I got two replies:
Anika: “We’re baking cookies for ouma ”
Faith: “We’re making jewellery, we are princesses”
Hmmmm…. while they were clearly NOT on the same page they were definitely still both having a lot of fun, so I decided to smile and wave and leave them to it!
