April 5, 2017
11:30 pm
Beijing, China
I said I’d think about posting another blog tonight, so here you go.
A couple weeks ago, I was asking some friends for things they’d want to hear about, because I was having a difficult time thinking of what to write about. One of the suggestions was to talk more about teaching. Now, I’m not going to bore you today with talk of what I teach or how I teach, I’ll save that for another day. Instead, I thought I’d share a funny story from a few weeks ago.
As you all know, in my job I teach children of all ages. Although I don’t teach the top of the spectrum (Frontrunners) I do teach the bottom. I have three Small Star Blue (3-year-olds) classes. Those of you who are teachers will know that there are many crazy things that can happen in a classroom. The amount of craziness triples when you’re teaching a class full of toddlers. I will say, as a teacher, there have been a couple of times when I’ve not been sure that a student should be in school yet. Usually it’s behavior related, where a student just can’t understand acceptable behavior. I know I’m not the most experienced teacher, but I can now tell the difference between a student who understands the rules and just doesn’t follow them out of spite, a student who doesn’t understand because they haven’t learned the rules yet, and a student who has trouble understanding the concept of rules entirely. But even students who are at an age where they can be in school can still have problems at times. I mean, they are only 3.
So there’s a student in one on my Small Star Blue classes; let’s call him Mark. Mark is a fairly smart little boy. While it can sometimes take him a little while to pick up on vocabulary, once he does get it, he’s good. Mark is one of those students who knows the rules, but sometimes just doesn’t follow them. He often has to have stars (our reward system) taken away to remind him to behave, but overall he’s good. A couple of weeks ago, we started class and Mark seemed a little off. About 15 minutes into class, Mark passes gas very loudly and for a long time. The TAs and I had to stifle laughter because it was a really long and loud fart, but we didn’t want to embarrass him. So I get control of myself and continue with the class. A few minutes later, Mark lets out an even louder and longer fart and, this time, I can’t hold back my giggles. I looked at Mark and asked him if he needed to use the bathroom, then had one of my TAs take him.
After Mark left, I continued on with the class. I was so focused on teaching, that I didn’t notice how long Mark had been gone. After about 10 minutes, I notice that he’s still gone and am about to ask my TA to go see what’s happening when the door opens. In walks the PA with Mark, who is now naked from the waist down. I mean it! No pants, no underwear. At this point, I’m flat out laughing. How could I not!? I felt so bad, but there was just no way to hold it in. A few minutes later the dashu 大叔 (Chinese word for uncle, but used to address any adult male stranger) brought in a TA shirt and used it to cover Mark up. While we’re still all giggly, we’re finally back on track.
Apparently, from what I gathered, Mark had an unfortunate accident in his pants. Being 3, of course it managed to go all over the place and ruin his clothes. Unfortunately, his mother did not have an extra set of clothes with her. As such, she was forced to go out and buy a new pair of pants, which they later brought into the classroom and put on Mark. My questions from this aren’t about the little boy, he’s still a toddler and accidents happen. No, my question is why they brought him back into the classroom with no pants on, especially since they brought in a shirt a couple of minutes later. I mean, couldn’t they have done that before they brought him in. It would have saved the kid a lot of embarrassment, although it would have cost me a great story. I sincerely hope that this child is too young to feel embarrassed and that this incident didn’t scare him for life.
Well, I hope you all have enjoyed this little story. I’m sure there will be many more where that came from.
Goodnight,
Kristen
