The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

So, you might be wondering, what sort of students am I teaching? In many ways they are just like middle school students from the US, but with several key differences. The following are some of my students’ answers to a survey that I conducted during the first week of classes:

Oliver dreams of being an astronaut and likes playing ping pong.

Maya wants to join the army and likes playing badminton.

Kit wants to be a doctor and likes playing badminton.

Tybalt wants to be a doctor and likes playing basketball.

Claudio wants to be a sniper and likes playing ping pong.

Zander wants to be a police officer and likes playing chess.

Bailey wants to be a fashion designer and likes singing.

Stan wants to be an inventor and likes playing basketball.

James doesn't want to join the mafia and likes playing basketball.

Percy wants to attend college and likes playing basketball.

Serena wants to be a teacher and likes jumping rope.

Luna wants to allow her parents to live a comfortable life and likes running.

Rose wants to be a detective and likes reading.

From these few examples, you can see the broad trend of what my students like to do outside of school and what they dream of doing later in life. The most common favorite activities were basketball (by a landslide), ping pong, badminton, jump rope, singing, and listening to music. The most common dream jobs were doctor, soldier, teacher, inventor/scientist, attend college, and police officer.

For me, the answers that most revealed my students’ differences with American students were some of their favorite hobbies (ping pong and badminton especially) and some of their answers to “What is your dream job?” (allow my parents to live comfortably, soldier, and attend college especially). While I believe that one could find almost all of these answers in US middle schools (depending on where you are), their frequency and the overall attitude betray to me some part of that which is uniquely Chinese.

In other news, I received my first piece of mail today here in Dazhai. Many thanks to my Mom for sending the beautiful card that, after about three weeks in transit, arrived here today (the address works!). The card is now hanging proudly on my wall!