First Teaching Re-cap of 2011!

(I saved the best for last in this blog post. Just be patient!)

This first week of classes went great! I actually have 3 of Stan’s classes from last semester! I didn’t know until I got there because… well, I can’t read much Chinese these days. So when I got to class and recognized the students, I was actually a bit afraid because I thought, “Oh no! I’ve got to think of something new to do for this first day because these students have already heard this class on their first day last semester.” But, thankfully they were Stan’s students and although they knew me, they hadn’t heard this class nor seen the pictures I would show them. They loved seeing the power point of pictures of my parents, sisters, and my husband. The moment his face was on the screen, they laughed because they obviously know him, haha! They also loved seeing pictures of my new nephew Lucas! And they laughed when I told them his name too. At first I didn’t understand why they laughed and I just let it go because sometimes it’s more work than it’s worth to get an answer out of the students. But I eventually asked one of the classes and they said that there is a famous movie star couple in Hong Kong who named their new-born baby Lucas. Apparently it’s very common for the parents in Hong Kong to give their children a Chinese and English name. And the Lucas in Hong Kong was just recently born as well, so they found it funny!

(Really... I mean it! Just keep reading. The best is yet to come!)

Anyway, after introducing my family, I gave the students a task to do. I told them to tell me two things. 1. Tell me your English name. 2. If you could be an animal or a color what would you be and why? Thankfully, they found the humor in this and we had a fun time listening to all the students answers. I just now realized I didn’t tell them what I would choose. Now, I don’t really know what I would choose... but I sure didn’t tell them! haha! Anyway, it was funny to me that there was an overwhelming majority of students who chose 1 of 4 things. They chose the color blue, a bird, or a fish. The reason for all of these was because the sea and sky is blue and they are free. The bird and fish are full of freedom and can do anything they like. Now I don’t wanna read too much into this, but it WAS most of the students. I don’t know if a lot of them feel trapped by their parents, or schoolwork, or their country (unlikely). Whatever it is, they have this need to feel free because they presently don’t feel it. The fourth most popular thing that the students chose was the color red. Red is ALL over China. It is a symbol of pride for their country, and that's the reason they gave for choosing this color. I have nothing to make of it, other than they are proud of their country!

My favorite part of this blog post!!

Also, on the first day I normally ask the class if they all have English names. They choose these names for themselves or ask someone to give them an English name. If they do not have an English name, they have the choice to choose one by the end of class or by the next week. Most of my students already had one. Here are some of my favorites:

Holiday, Celery, Vaccine, Peel, and Mess, YYT, Calcever, Lento, Luffy, (This comes from a Japanese video game character) Mercury, Raining (yes that’s right. As in falling from the sky) Love (boy), Voodoo (He didn't know what it meant and when I asked him if he wanted me to tell him what it meant, he said, "No I just want to have this name" and continued to talk) Duck (because she likes ducks), Egg (This girl actually thought it was funny that she named herself Egg, when most of them don’t), Milk (she thought it was completely normal to name herself a beverage) Ehome, Lonoy, Fisher, Mount, Lovydan (pronounced with a silent “v”).

I love Mess. The person and the fact that he named himself this. He's a quiet, nice boy who didn't seem to understand why I found it humorous he named himself this. *sigh* Oh well... Some of these, I have no idea where they came from, but they sure are funny!

I hope you enjoyed reading all the crazy names my students (and some of Stan’s previous students) chose! I sure did! Thanks for reading! I love you all!