Emphasis on Cheese

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I hope you enjoy this second blog of the day.

One of things that I love about teaching at St. Leo’s is watching how the more advanced students begin to own English. They get to a point where they are not just translating what they want to say into English, but they are thinking in English and making jokes in English. Youssri is one of these students.

Youssri has completed 2 years of seminary and is in the most advanced English class. He loves language and is always asking me questions about English phrases and saying “English is funny.” For instance, one day recently Youssri asked me, “how can you say, ‘I have nothing?’ To have is to possess so how can you possess nothing?” These are the kinds of questions he asks.

In working on his homily for Mass, Youssri is one of the students who has not written in Arabic and then translated his ideas into English, but has tried to formulate his ideas in English. He has even been playing with how to use the language to express himself and so his homily will be about making the earth tasty and the world bright. (Can you guess his text? It’s from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.)

Youssri has a kind and gentle spirit as well and loves to make jokes. He made a great one at dinner on Saturday night. The food selection for dinner on Saturday was a little sparse. Along with the usual vegetables, we had eggs, cold cuts and heaps of two kinds of cheese. Youssri got his food and returned to the table. With the most deadpan face he looked at us and said, “emphasis on cheese.”

I spend a lot of time and energy each day trying to decipher what the students are saying to me. I feel like I walk around with a permanent furrow in brow from trying to understand their thoughts. This was a a great moment though, because Youssri had used English to express his thoughts with sarcasm and humor in the exact same way you or I would. It was one of those rare moments when I knew EXACTLY what he meant!

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Comments

[Hans]

Hooray Youssri!!