"Hands" around the world

We had a kite decorating event and a team of children, intending to draw hands holding the world, drew what looks a lot like a pair of something elses holding the world.

"Why don't you tell them exactly what 'bathhouse' means then."

Even though modern homes have indoor plumbing, it is customary for people in Yancheng and other rural cities to regularly go out and bathe at bathing facilities. [Although, some people still do it out of necessity, because, for example, college students' dorms don't have showers. And, during the winter months or times of high pollution, when the sun can't penetrate the cloud cover, home solar water heaters are useless.]  

packaging for a shower cap

The problem is, in English, the word "bathhouse" doesn't connote just "a place for bathing." So when a student (in a class of adults) told me she and her mother were going to a bathhouse this weekend, I went into the classroom next door to ask Tiffany's opinion on the proper terminology. She uses "spa," except then my students protested that "spa" was used for expensive establishments. 
Tiffany recommended I put an end to the problem by explaining just what bathhouse means. I got a kick out writing the following sentence on the whiteboard: a bathhouse: a place where men go to have sex with other men. 

The class agreed that "spa" was an appropriate alternative.

This is Judas.

Judas is wearing a wig. To keep her head warm, of course.

Yes, she has a perfunctory understanding of the denotation/connotations of her chosen name.

Someone's Personal Stereotypes Revealed!

The existing curriculum at my current school is usually a mix of prescribed program plans and teacher-contributed supplemental materials. I about died when I found these "passports" in a lesson on air travel:

 

unfocused eyes, but not really that bad...

...until you notice that the Chilean person just the Brazilian person with longer hair. South Americans are all the same people, right?

 

 'Kay...

 Oh Dear God what did the Germans do to you?!

YiWingKi's Grasshopper

This is YiWingKi [pronounced /ee-wing-kee/].

Self-named, YiWingKi is one of the most affable, eager students I have ever met. I'm pretty sure she'll be fluent in English by the time she graduates high school.


Today she brought in a hand-folded paper envelope with a live grasshopper inside. She only had it because it was cute, she said, and that after lunch she would do the kind thing and return it to it's home near her house.

When I avoided holding it, citing that I don't like bugs because they have so many legs, YiWingKi graciously offered to remove a couple for me.


I declined.

The tale of a hamster, a sheep, and a rat.

One of the students was trying to tell me about his pet, which I guessed was a hamster -- "a kind of mouse," -- so to help move things along, I drew a picture:

 The students all laughed because, you know, it's not good at all :) , and said it looked like a sheep. I disagreed, and proceeded to quickly draw a very rough sheep:

 The students laughed harder and said the two animals looked the same. 

After class the student drew a proper hamster for me: