Her brown eyes

The story that touched my heart was about two years ago. A little girl named Ana moved to my classroom from our Junior Toddler age group. She is a dual language child with English as her second language; at home she spoke Serbian well from the conversations I had with her mother. I was aware she could speak English because I had observed her talking with her friends during play time. During our meal times, she was always seated next to me at the table it was then she would talk to me in Serbian. Looking up at me with those big eyes she initiated conversation with me as though I could understand what she was saying. This was a small challenge for me in the beginning, but I overcame it in a short period. I figured out she was asking me for a couple of things more of her favorite food, or she was telling me she all done eating and wanted to go to sleep. When I began asking her questions in reference to what I thought she asked me I found I was right. This went on for weeks until one day she looked up at me she said "I am done Cynthia". I loved hearing her speak Serbian but for her tell me in English what she needed was music to my ears. It was then I realized speaking to me in her own language was comforting to her, and we were building trust. When she felt she could trust me, she spoke to me in English.