Will Charlie know any English? How will you communicate?

We get these questions quite a bit.  And the answer is, we don't really know.  My understanding is until August, he really hadn't had that much English exposure.  Many of the volunteers at Bethel speak English, so he certainly hears it, but hadn't had classes or anything.  Then in August when we said we were going to adopt him, they put him in an English Class.  Here is his teacher, Mr. Clement.

Clement is French, so I can't wait to hear Charlie's cute little French-accented English!  Like I said before, he will probably know some English, but I am not expecting him to be anywhere close to fluent.  However, when we adopted Kate, she had never heard English in her life, and she seemed to be understanding much of what we said before we even left China!  Kids are amazing.  So... English is not our biggest concern.  We do have several friends that speak Mandarin, and I'm sure we'll be making frequent phone calls when he is frustrated that he can't communicate with us.  So get ready, Mandarin-speaking friends!  You know who you are!

Here is a link to an interview with Mr. Clement, which gives you a great sense of his love and care for these kids.  And a glimpse into their musical tastes... http://www.beijing-kids.com/magazine/2014/12/10/Lighting-a-Fire-Kids-teens-and-young-adults-talk-about-their-volunteering-experi  We do find it pretty exciting that Charlie likes James Brown, and can't wait to introduce him to our kids' favorites:  Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder!