Extracurricular Practice (Or Lack Thereof)

Some years ago, my father and I were attending a jazz concert featuring the legendary pianist Oscar Peterson. Also in the band was Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (no relation), the great Danish bassist. Danish, as you may know, was my major in college, and I had recently returned from a summer in Copenhagen, where I actually saw Pedersen perform at the Louisiana Museum of Weird Pretentious S*** (this may or may not be the official name). Dad urged me to go speak to the bassist in Danish . . . I'm not entirely sure if my dad was just surprised at the coincidence and thought NHØP would like to hear about it, or if he was making sure he got his money's worth from all those university Danish classes. Maybe both.

Laura made an interesting observation about a month ago. She pointed out that, despite the ruinous amounts Korean parents spend on English classes, they rarely force their children to speak English to the foreigners on the street. Sure, kids will occasionally volunteer a few words here and there - usually just "Hi!" followed by rampant giggling. But I've never had a parent actually ask their kid to converse with me.

The thing is, while I initially resisted the pressure to talk to Niels-Henning, I'm glad I did, and I suspect he enjoyed it to. I kind of wish the kids would practice their skills with me . . . I would feel like the teaching I do is not in vain.