I was walking around the school grounds during the break when I came across a group of students. They had their heads down, looking among some grass and shrubbery. In Japanese I asked, "What are you doing?"

"Looking for four-leaf clovers," one of the girls said. I nodded and started to turn away. I'd done my share of four-leaf clover searching, and considered it a lost cause. Then I stopped, realizing that I understood her. Even though I'd never heard the word before, I could understand it. My excitement waned when I realized this was mostly due to knowing the word for "four" and the context of the situation (yo-tsu-ba-no-kurova). But still, priceless moments like this are how true learning occurs.

I walked away, smiling. Until she cried, "Haha! I found it." Sure enough, she did find a four-leaf clover. It's the first one I've ever seen in RL.