Cultural Interpretation

This evening I had an experience that shed a little light on my students' behavior in the classroom.

I was attending a cultural performance and the seat next to me was empty. There was a woman holding an adorable little boy (who looked about three) one row in front of me. This little boy couldn't stop squirming and all of a sudden realized the seat behind his mother was empty. He tugged on her shirt and pointed at the chair and she sighed and put him down. He toddled over to the chair and climbed up until he was sitting in the chair. Then I hear, "Mom. Mo-om." And when she turns around, exasperated, to say "shhh," he chatters a question and she nods. And he stands up in the chair.

After about a minute, he gets down, toddles back to Mom and asks for some juice. Then he toddles back to the chair and climbs up. After a minute I hear, "Mom. Mo-om. Mo-OOOOM." She turns around again with her finger on her lips, and he chatters the same question. She nods. Again he stands up.

This happens at least three more times and it finally occurs to me that you never see an American child asking for permission to stand on a chair, particularly if that permission has already been given. And I realized that the tone of his voice was identical to the tone my students use to say "Teacher!" as soon as I've given them an assignment that involves any independent thought. They can't even write down an answer until they've asked for my approval.

Which reminds me. One of my students has been driving me crazy recently in class, talking back, talking out of turn, etc. But yesterday she came to class and said, "Teacher, my mother says when I was sleeping last night I said, 'Teacher, teacher, teacher'." Good to know that I'm haunting their dreams as much as they're haunting mine!!