If you don't give me candy, I will do bad things to you, but they won't be with evil intentions!--Nina

We just had a wonderful Halloween here at Yongfeng. The weather was gorgeous, the kids were only slightly more energetic than usual (which means that they were their usual crazy selves), and everything was all-around adorable. I hope that everyone on the east coast has an equally great day, despite the weather. 

A Very Yongfeng Halloween - Abby

Halloween at Yongfeng was a big hit! 

Nina and I stumbled upon some Halloween costumes a few weeks ago and decided we needed to celebrate with our students.  We began making masks in art class last week from paper plates and bamboo skewers.  We collected them at the end of the period (so that they didn't all get lost over the weekend) and explained that we would give them out again on Wednesday so that we could celebrate Halloween together.  Some students took to the idea better than others. 

Patriotism in science class --Nina

I realized recently that most of my students are incredibly patriotic. There is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes this manifests itself in disconcerting scenarios. For example, my current science unit with the 6th graders is all about the earth. In the first lesson, we learned about different ancient theories about the earth (that it was carried on the backs of turtles, that it was flat, etc). After I had them draw some of the theories from different cultures, I asked what I thought was an innocent question: "Who thinks that the Indian theory is the most interesting?" As soon as I finished this sentence, Sam (the same guy who spilled milk on my computer) shouted vehemently: "Anyone who chooses anything besides the Chinese theory does not love our country!" Those who had raised their hands quickly put them down. Frightened, I then asked about who thought the Chinese theory was the best, and the vast majority of the class proudly raised their hands. When I asked about the ancient Greek theory, two girls timidly raised their hands, and I joined them in solidarity, also very timidly, feeling conspicuous for the first time this year as the only non-Chinese person in the room. Hopefully they'll maintain their current opinion that having a foreign teacher is a positive thing. (If not, I'll get our local police officer to come to my defense and argue that I'm Chinese.)

The past three weeks--Nina

Many, many many things have happened in the last three weeks, despite the fact that I haven't posted anything. This is my attempt to summarize some highlights.