Of course, most mainland Chinese students who come to the American classroom, take an English name.
Unfortunately, they don't really understand that some of these names should not be attahced to an actual human. As stated in my previous posts, I have had some interesting names. Here are some of the perenially favorites:
Robin Hood
Magic
Banana
Wall
Caesar Salad
Cheese
Peter Pan
Lemon
Picture youself in my shoes:
It's a late afternoon, you turn to call on a student who just raised his hand. "Lemon, what do you think about that?" "Cheese, can you collect the papers please?"
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Fall 2011-What happened to the time?
Greetings fellow teachers, cultural mavens and others who just like to read for a laugh!
I've been away from my blog for a whole year, not because I wanted to, mind you. I just became overcome with teaching, moving around to various different campuses, and of course, correcting. It just got to much! However, I am back, recovered from my weariness. I am ready to get back on the blogging horse.
I do have stories, but instead of picking up where I left off, I figured it would be better to forge ahead with the stories, the students, the mishaps, and the general mayhem that is my average day in the classroom. Forward march!
Let's start with this past summer, shall we? This summer, I had an exceptional group of students, but not in the way you normally think of when one says "exceptional". This group was hell bent on doing as close to little as possible. They were a group of pre grads, hoping to land in grad school with miminal effort. I was not about to oblige them.
Enter "Ralph" (name change here, just in case) Ralph knew the rules. I had laid them down. No phones on the desks during class time. I did not want to see, hear or sense a phone while I was busy conducting class.
He knew this, but for some reason, could not control his obsession with the chirping device. As I was giving my mini - lecture, I raised my eyes to find Ralph hiding the device underneath the desk, tapping away like a crazed child with a toy gun. I waited for him to put it down, instead, he just kept going.
I silently walked over and gently asked him to put the phone down, pick up his bag and leave the class. He was stunned. His production and his listening skills were soarly lacking, therefore, I had to repeat myself again. Still stunned, he produced a bizarre, half baked grin on his face and proceeded to just sit at his desk.
Calmly, I asked him to step outside. This is when it got interesting.
Once safely out in the hallway, I asked him why he was using a phone in my class. He stammered, he started sweating, he shifted his weight from one side to the other, he looked down, then he burst out laughing! Laughing, like a hyena, with big belly laughs, as if I was up on stage at the Comedy Shack delivering one liners! And he kept laughing. I tried to talk to him about the laughing, it just kept coming. That's when I snapped. I screamed at the top of my lungs, STOP IT RIGHT NOW! He did. He just went silent, the stupid grin dripped down his face into his shoes. I explained that he needs to adhere to the rules bla bla bla.....the conversation ended. I told him to leave and come back tomorrow when he was ready to be an adult again. I thought that was the end of it all.
Unfortunately, unknown to me, the staff downstairs heard it all, as it echoed around the building. I had to to downstairs and apologize to everyone who heard me screaming like a nutcake. They understood, they know the frustration. My director pulled me aside and asked for the story. I told him, he sympathized, but asked that I try and handle it another way. I looked at him and said "Exactly what would you do with a student laughing in your face?" He looked down at the carpet, "I know, it's tough".
The next day, my student came in to speak to me about his cell phone episode. I told him laughing in someones face in America will either get you punched out or thrown out of the room. He told me that laughing for him was like crying and that "it's just what we Chinese do".
In conclusion, the next time you see a bunch of Chinese students laughing, stop and think what that really might mean.
I've been away from my blog for a whole year, not because I wanted to, mind you. I just became overcome with teaching, moving around to various different campuses, and of course, correcting. It just got to much! However, I am back, recovered from my weariness. I am ready to get back on the blogging horse.
I do have stories, but instead of picking up where I left off, I figured it would be better to forge ahead with the stories, the students, the mishaps, and the general mayhem that is my average day in the classroom. Forward march!
Let's start with this past summer, shall we? This summer, I had an exceptional group of students, but not in the way you normally think of when one says "exceptional". This group was hell bent on doing as close to little as possible. They were a group of pre grads, hoping to land in grad school with miminal effort. I was not about to oblige them.
Enter "Ralph" (name change here, just in case) Ralph knew the rules. I had laid them down. No phones on the desks during class time. I did not want to see, hear or sense a phone while I was busy conducting class.
He knew this, but for some reason, could not control his obsession with the chirping device. As I was giving my mini - lecture, I raised my eyes to find Ralph hiding the device underneath the desk, tapping away like a crazed child with a toy gun. I waited for him to put it down, instead, he just kept going.
I silently walked over and gently asked him to put the phone down, pick up his bag and leave the class. He was stunned. His production and his listening skills were soarly lacking, therefore, I had to repeat myself again. Still stunned, he produced a bizarre, half baked grin on his face and proceeded to just sit at his desk.
Calmly, I asked him to step outside. This is when it got interesting.
Once safely out in the hallway, I asked him why he was using a phone in my class. He stammered, he started sweating, he shifted his weight from one side to the other, he looked down, then he burst out laughing! Laughing, like a hyena, with big belly laughs, as if I was up on stage at the Comedy Shack delivering one liners! And he kept laughing. I tried to talk to him about the laughing, it just kept coming. That's when I snapped. I screamed at the top of my lungs, STOP IT RIGHT NOW! He did. He just went silent, the stupid grin dripped down his face into his shoes. I explained that he needs to adhere to the rules bla bla bla.....the conversation ended. I told him to leave and come back tomorrow when he was ready to be an adult again. I thought that was the end of it all.
Unfortunately, unknown to me, the staff downstairs heard it all, as it echoed around the building. I had to to downstairs and apologize to everyone who heard me screaming like a nutcake. They understood, they know the frustration. My director pulled me aside and asked for the story. I told him, he sympathized, but asked that I try and handle it another way. I looked at him and said "Exactly what would you do with a student laughing in your face?" He looked down at the carpet, "I know, it's tough".
The next day, my student came in to speak to me about his cell phone episode. I told him laughing in someones face in America will either get you punched out or thrown out of the room. He told me that laughing for him was like crying and that "it's just what we Chinese do".
In conclusion, the next time you see a bunch of Chinese students laughing, stop and think what that really might mean.
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