The Universal Language

A few years ago, I wrote an article about the joy of babies and the positive energy that they bring. Well, those babies turn into children, and they continue to bring great joy and wonder. I wrote another article about my grandson when he called me “Abba” after I was his godfather at his baptism. He wasn’t baptized until he was 16 months old due to COVID and was already talking. He did that for about a year, and I still find it remarkable. My little grandbabies have grown into wonderful grandchildren and my wife and I, are fortunate to be around them as they grow up, which a lot a grandparents say the same thing about their grandchildren.

Last fall we were able to attend an open house at my granddaughter’s third grade class. I happened to notice on the wall was the correct order for simple arithmetic operations of “() * / + – “. I commented to the teacher that I was glad that the children were learning that because there are lot of adults that don’t know that. The teacher knew that my degree was in math, and I was asked to volunteer to help teach their group math sessions every Thursday morning. I went through a vigorous background check by the school district before I could enter the school.

I made sure that I reinforced the teacher’s instructions when we broke into groups. I also wanted to make sure that it was okay with my granddaughter and I didn’t want to do anything to embarrass her. That concern went away when she would give me a hug when I would leave class or wave goodbye. When the teacher spoke, I could see the students grasping the concept by the look in their bright eyes or by the questions that they asked. The teacher was a big man with a loud voice and so they paid attention to what he was saying, but he treated them with respect and what I really liked, was that he encouraged their creativity even when they didn’t quite get the correct answer. There was also a woman assistant who was very supportive and caring to the children. The special ed teacher also came in during that time and so that when we broke into groups, there were four or five children for every adult. I also tried to give as much encouragement and support as I could. Instead of telling them that they were wrong, I would say “Close, try again” and again reinforce what the teacher said. I also said, “Good job” and “You are doing great!” when they got the right answer. I quickly picked up on the little sayings that they used like when subtracting numbers and the ones digit in the lower number or the subtrahend, was larger than the ones digit in the upper number or the minuend and they would say” Go next door and borrow one more”.

I also like that they were doing practical applications in math and science. One math and science project that the class was working on was the incubation and raising of seven chickens in the classroom. We studied on how to figure out perimeter and area. So, the project was that once the chicks were large enough, they had to figure out how much area the chicks would need inside a fence to properly grow and thrive. Then they had to estimate how much fence they would need to buy, by calculating the sides of a rectangle and its perimeter. I did address the class one time because I noticed that there were a lot of bilingual students in the class who spoke both English and Spanish fluently. I mentioned that we say “One” in English and that we say “Uno” in Spanish, but in math we just simply use the digit “1” which is understood in both languages and all other languages. “So,” I said, “Math is the universal language”. The students and the assistant said that it was very cool. I thought to myself that they will also learn that mathematics is very powerful and the key to the universe.

Before each math class started, the children had recess outside and so I would be in the classroom by myself until they came in. I looked around the classroom and saw lots of posters on kindness, respect, and not bullying.

That made me feel good and I remembered that my granddaughter’s kindergarten teacher had sent a note sent to her parents about what a pleasure it was to be her teacher. It stated that a girl from another country had come to school and was away from some of her family and was not comfortable in her new surroundings. So, my granddaughter made her feel welcome by showing her around the school and had lunch with her in the cafeteria. When they children came in from recess, they all greeted me and made me feel welcome. And when I left, they would all tell me “Thank You”! I felt inspired that these values are being taught at home and at school.

This school is a public school and it is not a religious school, but they are teaching the fundamentals of all religions like Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and others. I wish that those posters hung in the halls of congress and other government buildings throughout the world. This showed me that the aspects of kindness, respect, and compassion are all part of love and so now I thought, “Love is the universal language” and it is very powerful, and it is also the key to the universe.