Escaping class

A couple of weeks ago, out of 45 students, 16 students were missing from my sophomore class. A couple students were actually running out of the class when I arrived- so much for subtlety. The remaining students told me that the missing students had choir practice....


Being not too far removed from my time as a student, I knew they were lying. All the misbehaved students are not in choir! I had someone write down all the missing students names, in Chinese, to show their head teacher.


After class I went to the Chinese teacher's office and showed someone my list. They said, "Oh, last period is the worst, all the students have activities and miss class". Unconvinced, I told another Chinese teacher, but never got the list of names to her. Apparently I didn't need to. I made quite an impression on the students.


The next class not a single student was missing. I gave the students their exam as planned and at the end of the class I received a flurry of letters, one more hilarious than the next. The students apologized for skipping my class. Here are some excerpts:


"I'm sorry for escaping class. My English is poor and I don't have much English knowledge." -Charles


"I'm a naughty boy. I like playing basketball. When I saw a lot of students went outside I can't help following them. I'll work harder then. I don't know what to write...." -Venn


"I'm sorry that I escape from your class as a result of my poor spoken English." -Eudora


"I will show you another me in next lesson. That's all. I hope you can forgive me." - unsigned


"Now I've realized that being absent from foreign teacher's class is nothing good to me. I just lose an opportunity  to improve my English. The foreign teacher's class is the only class that we can learn and have fun at the same time. Also, it is the class that we don't have endless homework." - Shaw


"Before class, some people in the classroom said they would go out of the classroom because they thought your class was very boring. Someone asked me to go out of the classroom and I agreed. I really regret going out. I feel ashamed that I didn't respect you." -Joy


"We are students and listening to our teacher is our duty." -Tale


One student titled their letter "My self-criticism", and another signed their letter, "Yours, wrong student". Out of all the letters, only one student attempted to write my name, and that person spelled it wrong.


I have to say that Chinese students are incredibly hard working. During the week, they attend class from 7:30 am until 9:00pm at night. They also have class on Sunday afternoons. They have no social life whatsoever. I was actually surprised that the students cut my class because their Chinese teachers are so strict, but as a "foreign teacher" I am not as intimidating. All in all, I think the students learned their lesson. And if more than three students are missing from any of my future high school classes, I'll be taking attendance!


On another note, you can see from the excerpts above that my students have chosen some odd English names. In second grade, the students are assigned names by their teachers. I believe the teachers use a list of names from the 1920s. I have many students named Fanny, Betty, Dorothy, Percy, Greta, Stella, and Shirley.


In high school, the students are allowed to choose their own English name. In one class I have one student named Cloudy and another student named Rainbow. Other personal favorites include: Camera, Meepo, Echo, Cico, Mars, Purple, Verse, and Cassipeia. The students truly believe that these are mainstream English names, despite my insistence otherwise.


Just last week, one of my students approached me about changing his name. His name was John, but he is henceforth known as Obama. I tried to ask him if he wanted to be Barack, since that's the president's first name, but I'm not sure he understood, so I said Obama was okay, while suppressing laughter.


But I saved the best for last. One of my students is named Lucifer! I could make him change it, but I love it too much when I get to call on him in class.