To Copy or Not to Copy

First, you will be happy to know that we finally have an English speaking doctor in Beilun!!! Of course no one wished for Line to be sick, but we were so excited to find out that after her hospital visit, she had been treated by a Taiwanese doctor who was fluent in English. Hallelujah! It's just a comforting to know.

Second, I finally have a phone again. I have the most awful luck with phones. I already lost one this year. Then I broke my second one. June lent me hers, but it could only text in Chinese. Erich lent me an old one, but it wouldn't accept the sim card. And finally Fan, a Cup of Joe barista, gave me her "old" phone, which is an HTC smart phone. AHHHHHH. But it works! So ladies an gentleman, I actually have a smart phone with a touch screen. Never thought I would see the day!

Third, our 100th day of school is tomorrow. For the occasion we are having a door decorating competition. I regret to inform you that I don't yet have a picture of the final product (coming soon) but I can assure that my kiddos have been working very hard on "Linky the 100 Caterapillar and his Ocean Island Habitat". Yeah. The door looks really well done, they divided up jobs, they worked carefully, there was no scribbling ... but Lara just had to laugh and say, "That's one of those projects where you know it was completely student directed. You had nothing to do with the planning of this." Of course she is absolutely right. My elves were obsessed with the links that my Aunt Denny gave me. We've been using them to count the days of school. So naturally we hung those links up in front the of the classroom door in the shape of a caterpillar, dubbed him "Linky"and drew him a habitat!

 

And finally ... to copy or not to copy? I have one student in my class who grew up in China, in a Chinese home. He is therefore, very Chinese. And stereotypically has been taught to copy everything and repeat by rote memorization. It has been so engrained in him that we can't get him to produce his own ideas and sentences. He has no remorse for cheating on tests, and frankly doesn't understand why he gets in trouble for hiding the book under the desk and taking peaks at it. Of cousre, with his limited English, it's hard to explain the value in being able to think for yourself.

 This became even more pronounced during my language lesson with my Chinese friend Shelley this week. I had her check over some of my own book work that I've been doing. The book is getting harder, and it's a lot more difficult for me to find my own mistakes.

- The sentence: "The old man is very healthy because he practiced shadow boxing for almost 15 years."
- The question: "Why was the old man healthy?"
- My answer: "He is healthy because he has practiced shadow boxing every day for a long time."
Shelley: "This one, you are right. But you should have copied the answer. "
Me: "Did I answer the question wrong?"
Shelley: "No."
Me: "Is my grammar correct?"
Shelley: "Yes."
Me: "Woooohooo! That's awesome!"
Shelley: "It is not the best answer. You should have written 'The old man is very healthy because he practiced shadow boxing for almost 15 years.' That is the most correct answer."
Me: "But Shelley, that's EXACTLY what the original sentence says."
Shelley: "Yes. It is most correct. I know, I know, you answered in your own words, and I can see that you understand, but it is much better to copy. On a test, your answer would only get 3 points out of 5."

It's just crazy the way the Chinese would approach a problem vs. how I approach a problem. We ended up not settling this dispute, as both of us thought we had given the best answer.


Also, one last little thing. This little guy, who hogs the covers, is coming home with me to the States. I can't wait to bring him to the Crab Fest!