You write so well!

Within the Chinese language, there is a saying that basically translates into “If your handwriting is pretty, you’ll be end up pretty as well.”

Interesting, eh?

Homework

This is my homework for the weekend. Write up a paragraph with comparative grammar in it along with some of the new vocabulary from our newest lesson in my textbook.

In China, when a gift is given to someone, they don’t open it up until that person leaves. It’s cultural; they wait so that if they don’t like it, the gift-giver doesn’t feel bad. (In America, we typically rely on our acting skills to help the person not feel bad for a gift we already have or don’t like, right?) They feel that by doing it this way, they respect the person that gave the gift.

This short paragraph is about how I personally don’t like surprises. This probably has something to do with how I like to have everything planned out; I leave little room for unexpected scenarios. When it comes to opening gifts, I can get a bit nervous for that reason i.e. I don’t know what I’m about to get; the whole “surprise” factor. haha

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam

You Can’t Leave

One thing I noticed while teaching kindergarteners here is that sometimes, when the children aren’t listening or participating, the teachers threaten them by saying, “If you don’t __________, you won’t be able to go home. You’ll have to sleep here at school and you won’t eat dinner.”

I’ve heard this many times from a few different teachers.

This is one example of how stressed out Chinese students can be, from 3 years old and on until they graduate. (The course we’re going to be teaching tackles this issue head on.)

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam

Don’t cross ‘em

Doesn’t he look so proud? So arrogant?

Since I have pretty long legs, I need to to cross my legs every once in a while to stretch them out, especially while I’m teaching, because I sit in a chair in the kindergarten classes for a half hour. This isn’t uncommon, I know, but apparently when you do it while teaching, it’s impolite and makes you seem really prideful. At least that’s what my teacher’s assistant told me… After almost a full year of teaching, this is the first time I’ve heard it. She told me, “I didn’t want to tell you because I was worried you’d get angry.” I laughed and said I’d rather know how to not offend everyone in the room! Who knows, though? Maybe it’s just her opinion and most others don’t feel it’s rude; you get a lot of conflicting stories when it comes to things like this. I just found it funny that she waited so long to tell me something this important!

So if you’re teaching in China, take note!

Until next time,
Jeremy, Jenny, Levi, & Liam