When we moved to Houston, Yelena was 6.
Yelena's spoke Spanish and Dutch. Her English was very poor at that time, because we moved from Mexico. In Houston she was lucky to get into a Dual Language program and was classified as a Spanish speaker.
Her piano teacher was Russian. Her English was ok, but when she spoke with somebody whose English was poor, her English went quickly downhill too... I remember sitting in the room with the first lessons, but decided quickly to wait outside.
Yelena loved the teacher and kept her for all 7 years we were in Houston.
When we moved, the piano went with us and we had a little struggle finding a new teacher. The first one was not that good, but luckily after a few months he moved. The second one was ok, but then the pandemic started.
She started online with a 3rd teacher in order to pass her Trinity exam. This teacher is from Cuba and during one of the online lessons she said she couldn't translate an expression from Spanish into English. Yelena then told her she spoke Spanish.
The teacher was shocked... and it was quiet for so long that I though they had lost the internet connection... Since that lesson the classes are in Spanish.
From November onward classes have been in person, which are a lot more fun. Yelena is now preparing for her Trinity 7 exam.
