I like to use a lot of pantomime and drama to teach, whatever level my students are at. But one thing I’ve found that NO Taiwainese student will abide is me blowing a kiss in the air or kissing an inanimate object. Even from my kindy kids, this elicits a loud “ai-YUH!” instantly. Even if it’s in nobody’s general direction and obviously not sincere, it still offends them.
The other thing I’ve found students can’t wrap their heads around is a grading system for tests that isn’t a percent. Even for a very minor quiz, they’d rather see “70” than “7 out of 10”. I think the latter sounds far less severe, and is easier for grading purposes if I give 10 quizzes. But it’s meaningless and disappointing and weird to them.
double post please delete
Most kids I’ve taught believe anything below 100% is “bad” or “very bad”
Is this a fill-in-the-blank kinda thread?
I’ve learned the hard way not to make kids just say sorry if they hurt someone. It really hit home with how empty it sounds when after hitting a kid, a Chinese teacher made a boy say sorry to the crying child. After he said it, he ran away laughing and she was satisfied with this, even though the boy obviously did not learn anything about empathy and the consequences of his behavior such as hitting hurts other children, hurting others makes it hard for them to want to play with you, or simply that there are alternatives to hitting when you are upset about something such as using words like “I don’t like it when…”.