Language Check

Last week, almost exactly one year after arriving in the country, we had our second language and culture check. We were encouraged to see how we’ve progressed in our studies over the past year. The first part of the evaluation was hiking into the jungle for a cultural experience. We harvested the ingredients for and cooked a dish called ginataan. It consists of multiple root vegetables, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and fresh, hand-squeezed coconut milk all cooked over a fire. When it was done, we ate it out of the empty coconut shells. 

          

The next day we were back at our house and we went through a number of different communication tasks with our language helpers and language consultants.  We would talk about different things like introducing our family, buying an item, explaining what our organization does and much more. The tasks got progressively harder as the morning went.

The following chart shows the different levels. For language and culture Dan scored in Basic high or progressing low in most things. Holly scored between Basic high and progressing mid with her highest sections being grammar use. For context, if Tagalog ends being the national language where we work Dan will need to reach Capable low in all areas and Holly will need to reach Progressing mid before we are cleared to begin our tribal ministry. Before beginning a teaching ministry, we will need to reach capable high.

low	mid	high	low	mid	high	low	mid	high	low	mid	high
Basic			Progressing			Capable			Proficient

We are encouraged by how far we have come and are more encouraged that our progress seems to be on track with what is expected for us after being here a year.