One thing about Yew Wah that sets it apart from many other schools in China is that it has a Character Education program. Each month is labeled with one particular character trait (e.g. honesty, charity). The students' homeroom teachers take one lesson each week and devote it to teaching about the monthly trait. This month of December, the character trait is "compassion."
The last week before the holiday, the Grade 1B homeroom teacher, my co-teacher and I each taught a part of the lesson on compassion. When it came for our turn, my co-teacher and I shared pictures of people showing compassion towards one another. To clarify, we acted some of the pictures out, and explained others both in Chinese and English. Afterwards, we began a discussion with the question, "What is compassion?" We asked the question in both languages, and explained to students that during this time, they were free to speak in Chinese or English. Two students were eager to share many stories and tell us what they thought about it all. As for the other students? Crickets.
I began a slightly new train of thought, and asked my co-teacher to translate. "Do all students in China have good clothes, good pencils, and nice pencil cases?"
The majority of the class replied, "You [yoh]" (Extended meaning: "[They] do have.")
I was stunned for a moment. They think everyone is like themselves! After taking a deep breath, I recovered my mental footing, and made one last effort.
To be continued in Part 2...
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