Hey folks, this post comes from a truly real spot. The fact that we take it for granted so many times whenever we visit a doctor in our own country.
Last year I taught English as a
Second Language (ESL) at a community college in the town where I was
living. On the first day of every
English class I would ask my students why did they want to learn English. I did this with the goal with trying to
tailor the courses to their needs. One
of the common reasons I always heard was going to the doctor. I showed sympathy because I thought I
understood what it would be like to see a doctor who does not speak your
maternal tongue. With this need in mind,
I would have the students do role-play with me being the pretend-doctor. But it
wasn’t until recently that I was truly able to empathize with these students.
About two weeks ago, I had my first
experience going to a doctor in Spain.
This doctor did not speak English and my visit was completely in
Spanish. It was truly one of the first
times I felt like I stood out as a foreigner.
I walked into the clinic and spoke to the woman at the check-in
desk. When I walked in the woman said
something to me that I did not understand.
I asked her to kindly repeat a few times and afterward I handed her my
cards so that she could write down my pertinent details. She walked me down the hall to a waiting
area, where I started to begin contemplating my verbal tenses in my head. “Me duele la garganta desde ….” (My throat has been hurting
since….) I felt nervous and anxious at the same time because I had no idea how
the next part of the visit was going to go.
The doctor calls me into his examination room
which is the same room as his office.
Then he begins to ask me questions about what is hurting. I try to explain several things, but then I
became frustrated because I realize I don’t have the vocabulary to tell him
everything I want. He then starts saying
several things to me and I only understand a few of the commands. In my mind, I think “This must be what my English students meant when
they wanted to talk about ‘going to the doctor’”. We leave
the room to do an X-ray and afterward the doctor tells me to do something
several times before I finally understand him. Once I understand I go back and wait in his
office for a few minutes, pondering whether or not I followed his commands
correctly or if he wanted me to go somewhere else before returning to his
examination room. After a few more
minutes the doctor returns and writes my prescription and I am on my way out
the door.
This experience though has opened my eyes to
a series of the feelings that non-native English speakers must feel in the US. As a teacher I was trying to prepare them for
the vocabulary they would need to have a basic visit. But as a person, trying to help them break
into my culture, I failed. I overlooked
this cultural point because I did not understand its value. I did not think about the importance of
teaching students what to expect when they go into a doctor’s office, the
set-up of most doctor offices, or how doctors in the US may be culturally
different than the doctors in their home countries. Now I understand the
frustrations, the nervousness, the fear, of visiting a doctor who does not
speak your native tongue. The one
language in which you can best express yourselves when you are at your weakest
moments. The one language you cling to
when you feel most vulnerable. It is truly one of the most infuriating
things. It feels as if someone has shot
your legs from underneath you. Or as if
someone has cut your tongue out of your mouth and asks you to speak.
However in my case, I have health insurance, I have been speaking
Spanish for 7 years, and I have a college degree in the language. I imagine in
the case of a person who does not have health insurance, hasn’t been speaking
English for 7 years, and does not have a college degree in the language that
their experience would be much worse.
Because of this experience, I believe I can empathize much better with
my past students. I have used this
experience to help me modify my teaching and slowly start incorporating more
culture into my classes to help prepare my students for their future “doctor’s
visit”.
