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Published: April 18th 2010
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Teaching in China has proven to be both highly rewarding and frustrating at times for the two of us. In a class of 50-60 students it can be rather difficult to engage all the kids into the lessons. I decided that it would be fun to have the kids learn about business related topics so I created a three week lesson plan to do just that. The first week I had them form groups between 2 to 5 students in which they would come up with their own company. Later in the class they would eventually interview for the positions they selected for their company. It went fairly well and there were a wide variety of companies from restaurants to employment agencies. Most kids selected President or CEO but I got a kick out of one girl interviewing for the position of janitor.
The second week they had all class time to work on a commercial that they would present the following week. I demonstrated my commercial that I had prepared at the beginning of class so they knew as to exactly what they would need to do. I started Cup City and used a cup with a picture of
a face on it as a prop. I wrote a script that the students would recite and act along during my commercial. I ducked behind the desk and used the cup to act as spokesperson for the company. When it was time to announce the phone number I used my cell phone with a smiley face to shout out the number. They really seemed to enjoy the prospect of creating their own commercials and preforming in front of the class. I announced a reward would be given to the best group which was to be selected by a class vote.
The third week came and it was time to preform in front of the class. A handful of groups claimed that they lost the paper or needed more time. I made these students go outside and work on their commercials while the others preformed. One of the classes Elyse joined to watch since she had a free period. One of the companies was named the Green Building Company which didn't sound odd since there were at least seven others in multiple classes. I am not sure what its exact translation in Chinese would be but it has some sort of significance in China. Each one of the Green Building groups had a different purpose yet one was rather unique. As Elyse and I watched the trio, one boy and two girls, preform we were in disbelief as to what we just witnessed. We looked at each other after their skit and and asked whether or not we just witnessed this group preform a commercial for a Brothel. The kids in the room all burst out in laughter. There were some Chinese sentences spoken during the skit so we don't exactly know what was said. I asked the group if they could tell me exactly what the company did. One student yelled out "huang se de", meaning yellow. They call anything with sexual content yellow; for example a yellow magazine, or a yellow film.
I felt conflicted since their skit in terms of the class assignment was really good. They all spoke multiple lines in English and recited them by memory. They spoke loudly and clearly so that everyone could hear. There was a few sentences in Chinese with was not allowed but other than that a good performance. I had an obligation as the "teacher" to reprimand them by telling them that they could not win and would receive any candy.
After school at our apartment Elyse and I recounted the entire situation and burst into laughter. It was pretty funny to us that they would think that this was a perfectly acceptable company to start in class. I guess there really are a lot of cultural differences between the US and China that we just don't consider. It is especially odd to us since the kids giggle when ever you talk about dating. The topic of sex is very taboo here and there is no sexual education at any level.
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