Language Update

After 6 months of studying Tagalog, we are finally feeling like all the hard work is starting to pay off! We can understand a fair bit and can have simple conversations with people we meet. Though we still have a LONG way to go before some kind of fluency, it feels really good to be able to use the language a little and understand some of what people are talking about. 

Our study sessions have changed lately, as we've reached the next stage in our Languaculture program. We're now spending time telling Bryan about a scene or picture, either from our own facebook photo albums or ones provided by our curriculum. We spend 30 minutes speaking only in Tagalog and then when the timer goes off, we debrief for a few minutes about words or ideas we were stuck on. Bryan then asks us questions in Tagalog, focusing on new words added to our word log, and then we record him talking about the picture/scene for us to listen to later as review. We basically repeat that process a couple more times and  that's our lesson. It usually last about 2.5 to 3 hours and we do it while the boys nap in the afternoon (although I'm sometimes only half involved for part of that time when Makai is still awake). Learning Tagalog is a huge struggle and sometimes very tiring, but we are really loving it!

Thank you all for your prayers, love and support. A lot of really amazing things are happening here.... more about that in posts to come :)