My youngest class consists of students who are all, as they tell me, five and a half years old. (well, two exceptions, a 6 and a 7 year old). Even though they know their age down to the month, 9 out of 10 don't know what year they were born in. However, when I asked them what zodiac sign they belonged to, they all knew immediately. "Dragon teacher!!! I'm a dragon!!" they all screamed. I think that's interesting, I would think that knowing what year one's born in would be easier to know than one's zodiac sign. I don't really remember, but when I was 5 I'm pretty sure I knew what year I was born in, but I definitely wouldn't know my astrological sign or any sort of equivalent thing. Though I guess the zodiac in China is a bigger deal than the astrological calender in America. On a side note though, people do follow our monthly astrological calender as well. In fact, people often ask me what sign I am. I've tried and repeatedly failed to remember the word for sagittarius, so I just mimic shooting a bow and arrow, and they understand.
But getting back to teaching, I have to say that there are lots of benefits to teaching little children, mainly that they are incredibly sweet. I often get little gifts of soggy cookie, lint-covered candies, an scraps of paper that say, "I like teacher" in Chinese with a picture of me in a pink dress and of course, copious amounts of flowing blonde hair. They are also very physically affectionate, and often run up and spontaneously hug me.
posted by Britta @ 11:13 AM
3 Comments:
That's an interesting thing with the birth year... The only thing I can remember is that sometimes people's ages (not sure what situations) are counted from conception (well, approx. nine months prior to birth).
Little children are sweet. How do those lint-covered candies taste?
so far i have managed to avoid eating any of the little treats my 5 year olds give me. but the other day, i was wearing a shirt and when i lifted up my hand it showed my belly button. the kids all started screaming "teacher, we can see your belly!!!" and then they all wanted to poke it. then one little boy lifted up his shirt and said, "teacher, you can see my belly too."
Hello, I am on your site via a variety of other sites. It is fun to read your anicdotes. I teach second and third grade in the states and almost none of the kids know what year they were born in without doing the math. I should think that remembering that they were a dragon wouldn't be that hard since it is an animal name and they are probably told at every new year celebration.
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