Rotting Bananas

I have been feeling really good about teaching lately. Managing a classroom for an hour at a time is finally coming more naturally, and I feel that I am able to cater to the needs of multiple students in one lesson plan. This progression has made me happier and because I am happy and energetic, my kids are generally more excited to be in class and learning. We laugh a lot more and I see a lot more smiles in the sea of faces forced to listen to me.

All of the teachers in our office have variations in teaching philosophy. We all stress a little something different. We find some methods more valid than others and rely on methods that others would never dream of introducing to their classroom.However, there is one consistent commonality; get students to connect with intellectually stimulating material in a way that will alter them in a significant way.

I have realized that laughter is an important part of my teaching philosophy, and a goal I set for every single class I enter. I want my students to learn, of course, but I also want to get a good hearty laugh from the whole class at least once everyday.

To accomplish this new teaching standard, I have opened up the first few and last few minutes of class for story telling, random YoutTube video showing, and friendly banter between the students and myself. This morning was a perfect result of the hilarity that can arise when friendly banter opens up between my non-native English students and their teacher.

Somehow the question of my hair color came up. My hair has always been pretty unique and full of natural highlights. At times it has been a full out blond. Sometimes a few strawberries manage to sneak in. Lately, however, it has become significantly darker than it ever was in the past. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I haven’t honestly seen the sun in at least two months, not to mention the consistently thick cloud of city smog my hair is forced to reckon with each day I step outside. Add to that the diamond hard water that comes out of my showerhead, and you've got the perfect storm for darkening hair.

One student began with the simple question, “Ms.C, what color is your hair?” To which I replied, “Why is that a question? You are the one looking at it.”

Then another student chimed in and said, “Well, its not blond.”

“No, its not blond,” I replied matter-of-factly.

“And its not dark brown,” another said.

“Not yet,” I agreed.

Then, a new voice chimed in, as excited as if he has finally discovered the next biggest prime number:

“Ms.C! I know! I know what color your hair looks like.”

“Oh, really, Jin? What color?” I inquired.

“Old bananas!”

I was shocked, but my shock soon turned into a contagious laughter that spread throughout the classroom. I laughed because it was so true. It was such a vivid description, and not one that a Native speaker would have been able to think of due to the routinization of language at a fluent level.

“So, what you are trying to say, Jin, is that my hair looks like a rotting banana?”

“Yeah. Because some parts are light, but some parts are dark. Just like an old banana.”

Point well taken.

These are the moments that light up my day, and the moments when my time here in China makes some sort of cosmological sense.