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Published: December 4th 2011
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The whole class
My art students Before exam day, one of my art students sent me an email. I found it buried in my spam folder, but whenever I get something with a mess of random symbols as a name in my spam folder, I tend to open it just in case it is from a student. What awaited me is the longest email I've ever received from a student:
Hello!Kris ,my name is LXX . This Wednesday night we will have an oral lesson .Now I need you to do me a favor .The thing is that my roommate ZXX whose birthday is this Wednesday and My friends and I do want to give her a birthday party and this is a Secret, But unfortunately that day we have a exam and I can’t sure when her turn .Importantly ,I do not want to influence our courses and I want to give her a surprise, so I want you can make her the last person for the exam .Subsequently we can celebrate her birthday in the classroom . Of course, we hope you can attend our party. That’s all ,thank you .
I am looking forward your reply.
How
could I say no?
I wrote back quickly that I would be delighted to help. I suggested that she create an emergency so that she and the birthday girl would arrive to class late on exam day. My policy is that anyone who is not there when the bell rings takes the exam after all the on-time students. So if they arrived late, I could easily ensure that the birthday girl would be the last student to go.
I took attendance (oh, gee, look who's not here) and started giving exams in the hallway. After exams were finished, one by one, students took off to get the cake, disappear, etc. Then the cake and student appeared and then vanished into an empty classroom. While all this was going on, a few of the boys explained to me what was going on and invited me to the party, unaware that I was in on the whole thing!
Finally, it was time for the birthday girl to take her exam. Since "I was cold" we moved the exam inside the classroom, thus allowing all the students to pile up around the corner and light the birthday candles. We sat
down and I greeted her with my usual, "Hello, how are you?" and she replied, "Oh, I'm well. Today is my birthday."
"Really?" I replied. "Do you have anything special planned?"
"Oh, no, nothing special is planned."
"Oh, well, I hope you can have some fun to celebrate anyway. Shall we begin your exam?" I really enjoyed this exchange.
We finished up and collected our things. I was thinking I would walk out with her, making sure she went to the other classroom. But the rest of the class had other ideas, and suddenly the lights were turned off and the cake, accompanied by singing students, appeared. The birthday girl was shocked, to say the least.
We flipped the lights back on and cut the cake. Somehow, I was given the first and largest piece. Even at a birthday party they show their teachers respect!
We stood around chatting and eating and just enjoying the time. One of my more animated students noticed some extra cake on the cardboard plate the cake had come on, and grabbed it, stuffing it in his mouth. Another student noticed and yelled out that the bit of cake
Really, we can do this.
It takes a lot to get everyone in place. had been on the floor, prompting the animated student to spit it out with the speed of a cartoon character. Half the class dissolved into laughter while a few students cleaned up the now sticky floor. The "five-second rule" does not apply in China. (For those readers unfamiliar with the "five-second rule," many Americans joke that if something lands on the floor and is only there for 5 seconds or less, it's still safe to eat. If the floor/surface looks clean, they'll brush or blow it off and eat it anyway.)
After we took some class photos and wiped up all the frosting from the tiled floor, we said good night, and I went home, my belly full and happy.
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