Like a P1 student

As a teacher, I find that learning another language can be a great experience to allow you to understand the process their brain must go through. Similarly, converting currencies can be quite the math task.

I sit in a bank. I'm asked to figure out my yearly salary in Rupiah. Take the USD, multiply by 12, and multiply by 10,000. I look at the number and cannot read it. I try to count zeros, and finally give up and hand my phone to the HR rep. 

I've studied some Bahasa (Indonesian language) and I know a lot of random words. Staring at the signs above me I can see the word saya, bisa, along with two others. Post sentence there is a set of elipsis, followed by many different pictures: A couple in front of a house, a man with boxes and building plans, a young child wearing a cap and gown, and older couple with grey hair. I try to assess what the statement says. I know that saya is I. Bisa I know in the context of "Anda bisa bicara Inggris." Which means "Can you speak english?" Perhaps the statement is "I can..." 

Here I sit as a teacher using my sight words and context clues, doing math that is far to difficult for me. I remind myself that this is what it must be like to be a P1 student, and vow to tell the students the story so that they can see my understanding of their difficulty.