Almost once a week, I participate in computer classes for seniors. I am there to help these individuals during
the class if they encounter any problems. Let me paint a picture of my first session as a “teacher.”
My level of Portuguese: Bom dia, click aquí.
Of course, most of them only speak Portuguese.
So, to sum up, these people, who are already lost, are being helped by someone who speaks to them
in a mixture of every language possible. At this point, I’m not sure you can call it “helping.”
After my first class, I felt like I had run a marathon or been run over by a tractor. I was exhausted.
Then, they’re supposed to be helped by someone who “knows” how to use all these tools like the back of their hand. Again, that’s not always the case. Sometimes (more than I’d like to admit) I get called to solve a technical problem,
so I look at it and call someone else to solve that problem. I think that’s called incompetence.
It turns out that this helps us progress quickly in using the language, because we have no choice — we have to make ourselves understood and we can’t rely on another language. Plus you end up learning one things or two, like did you know that you can leave a video note to someone in WhatsApp ?, well I didn’t and probably never gonna use it but it’s good to know.
