The main theme I noticed across all five of our visits was that simplicity was our friend. When explaining things that are perfectly ordinary to the average American, it was easy to get carried away and start babbling, which always resulted in confused looks and nodding along - though really having no idea what we were saying. Their English was so limited that the best thing to do was to revert to 1-3 word phrases, such as "apple is red," instead of explaining that the apple is a fruit that is varied in color and is very good with caramel or peanut butter and can be eaten as a solid, a sauce, or a juice. Sometimes a person in our group would forget simplicity, and another one of us would simplify it to a couple words that they were familiar with, and they would often react with "ooooohh, okay okay!" and possibly add something to the idea.
I think this experience will help me a great deal as I pursue my career in nursing. I will be caring for people from all walks of life, and not all of them will understand English, let alone complicated medical terms. Nonverbal communication methods, such as pointing and demonstrating an idea with my body such as walking, along with simplicity, will probably be my best friends when I am caring for someone who doesn't speak English, and this experience has really honed those skills.
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