I must say that I was blessed to be born into a family with a rich, cultural background. Unlike some of my friends, I learned French and Creole and surprisingly I am very fluent in both languages. Not many people know how I fluent I am, so I love to surprise them. I especially love surprising the Haitian children and parents from my class. Since I use my married last name at work, it takes a while for the parents and children to find out about my background. I usually like to let the parents talk junk about me and then hit them with my little secret. I listen to the children speak their "secret language" and drop the bomb when I reprimand them in their native tongue. I actually find it very amusing.
The Haitian children in my class already know that I can speak Creole. From time to time, they will speak to me in Creole. They also love the fact that their teacher can understand where they are coming from. It's not often that they come across a teacher who can really relate to them. I have four Haitian children in my class this year. Three of them are girls and they act like "
madam nan mache kap fe feze" (women in the market causing trouble or spreading gossip).
Today, one of the little boys in my class (we'll call him James) was whining and screaming, "Stooooooooooop iiiiiiiiiiiiit! I don't want to heeeeeeeaaaaaaaaar iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! Stop being nas-teeeeeeeeee!" Of course, the whining was really irking my nerves, so I asked what the problem was. James responds, "Bianca is being nasty! She keeps talking about girls' body parts in Haitian."
Of course, I used this as a teachable moment and told James that "Haitian" is not a language. I told him she was speaking Creole and then asked him what she said. Of course he became very embarrassed and was afraid to tell me what was said. I reassured him that he would not get in trouble and asked him to tell me what she said. I know he knew what it meant because he looked around to make sure no one was close by and whispered it to me.
"She said,
boubounne kale." (which means shaved <insert name of female body part here>)
At this time, my eyes got wide and I responded, "Excuse me?!?!?!"
James repeated it again.
At this point I was speechless, for a few reasons!
1.) I couldn't believe this little girl was teaching the kids to say nasty things in Creole!
2.) I couldn't believe James knew exactly what it meant!
3.) How long could this have been going on under my nose?!?!?!
Well, after meeting with James, I met with my three cackling hens and two of them were quick to sell the culprit out!
Unbelievable! I must admit that I had been laughing hysterically since 11:30 this morning. I am not going to say I was an angel. I did my fair share of speaking "my secret language" with my Haitian friends in school. It was great knowing that I shared a special bond with some of the kids in my class. Although part of me was mortified over the incident today, I must admit it did bring back some happy memories of my childhood.
