Last Lesson in China
“Are you leaving Xi’an so soon?” All the kids and teachers asked me on Friday while I was in school in China.
A lot of kids gave me gifts, which I stammered a thank to each. Some of the gifts I received were: a tiny clipboard, a pencil, a paper clip, an eraser, a book of ancient Chinese poems, a book with actual paper cuttings, a air freshener, a special crystal rock, and a lot more.
When it was English class, the teacher gave me a big surprise. “Brad, would you like to be a little teacher for English class?”
I was about to burst as a knot tightened and loosened at the same time. But everyone applauded and clapped, I was forced to go up.
I spent the next forty minutes explaining, telling, shouting, laughing, pointing, tapping, thinking, and doing everything I could think of to keep them entertained and alert.
Finally, the period bell rang. Quickly, I bowed, said “thank you” and shot out of the room, closely followed by the majority of the class.
The next period was Phonics, which is about the same thing. The teacher asked me, “Would you like to tell us a game you play in America?”
So I told them how to play Ping.
“Ping is like this: I call out a word, and the first person spells the first letter. The next person spells the next letter. This goes all the way until the word is finished. The person after that says ‘Ping!’. When you say Ping, you sit down, because everyone is standing.”
The game was ridiculous.
Why? Well, it’s designed to be played with about twenty or so people. Because Chinese schools are so full, the class had 49 students!
This isn’t the ridiculous part. The ridiculous part is it took the whole period for the game.
Ouch.
