After teaching several months, I had begun to notice that many of my Chinese students had this annoying habit. I would ask at the end of class are there any questions about homework? Nothing but crickets filled my classroom. "OK, see you all tomorrow". I would turn to erase the board and upon turning once again, I would see at least ten of my students at the desk with questions about (what else?) their homework! So I would patiently explain the homework assignment again...and again...and again. That wasn't the annoying part.
The annoying part was when a student would hurl him or herself in front of another student who had already started asking me a question. I found this rude, I got aggrevated and finally, after many days of witnessing this behavior, I asked! "Guys, why do you do this?" Why can't you wait until your fellow classmate has finished talking to me." We are China, too many peoples, you need important ways to make peoples understand important ways." Huh?
I asked again, so they explained again. Turns out, after several attempts to explain it, I got it. They come from a land of 1.3 billion people, this is the kind of behavior that takes place there. Pushing, shoving, interuppting, cutting lines, cheating, all in the name of getting ahead of someone else...not only is it accepted, it is encouraged!
The next day I decided I needed to address this, so I did. According to the cultural rules of the U.S. if you try any of these behaviors in an American classroom, you'll be thought of as rude, you'll be shunned and if you really pissed someone off, you might get a swift kick to the family jewels.... I suddenly realized that I used the phrase family jewels. "Great", I thought as I turned around to write on the board, "how do I explain this one?"
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