Ha ha. This made me smile and laugh. (Always a great thing.) I walked up to my 4th period class; a conversation class with regular high school kids. It is a small class {Thank goodness. Helps make the class of 61 somewhat bearable.}
Some students saw me and said the typical greeting for teachers. Direct translation: teacher good. It shows respect. Teachers respond with “good” of hao (in Chinese). So I did that. Their response was one of shock. I just heard “oooh!” and then a jumble of sounds as they spoke to each other. Then they told the kids inside the classroom and a got other people to say the greeting so I would respond in Chinese.
It was funny to me. Did they honestly think I could live in a country for 3 months and not pick up any of the language?! I guess they just didn’t think about it. It was quite enjoyable. So I guess they think I’m kind of cool, or maybe a little bit smart.
I decided it was just too much fun and I couldn’t pass up one more chance to surprise them. At the end of class, they stand up and say “thank you, teacher.” My normal response: “thank you” or “you’re welcome”. My response today: Bu ke qi (Pinyin spelling of "thank you" in Chinese)
I totally got them! Again, I heard exclamations of surprise and admiration. Rock on! What a great way to leave the class. I wonder what will happen next week . . . :D
2 comments:
Looks like you're winning their hearts. You're sure you didn't say something with a different meaning than you thought? You hear fun missionary stories about that.
Hi Amberlee,
GREAT that you are picking up the lingo! I am so proud of you. That is neat the students think you are cool.
As I have tried to tell you, saying hello and thank you in the native language is always my goal. I can probably say them in more than 20 languages.
Keep up the great teaching!
Love,
Dad
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