Kids say the Cutest Things….. 7-4-07
So it isn’t everyday that you get the chance to hear a baby’s first words. This is kind of the situation I have here in China. The children say new English words everyday and you just have to be alert to catch them. Today’s adventure started with Basketballs. I was trying to get the kids to say “basketball” rather then just “ball” which they know how to say. Anyways, this one kid named Bond…..yes, after James Bond, and I were playing catch. I was getting him so say Dribble, Dribble, Dribble, Pass. Yes not the hardest thing, but then again English is probably your first language. However my story doesn’t really start until I went to play with two girls named Evanna and Jenny. I asked them what they were doing. Evanna and Jenny both replied together, “We are playing house!” They both had big smiles across their faces. I asked them if I could play with them. They responded, “Yes, but first you have to ring our door bell.” I was amazed they even knew what a doorbell was because they aren’t very common in China. Anyways, I ring the doorbell and sit down as they instruct me. They then present me with a gift… (This is very Chinese) and say “here is a pretty flower for you; Please put it in your hair.” I had no idea either one of these girls could speak much English so I was pretty much in shock. I played along and then asked them if it looked good. They told me in Chinese, it looked beautiful. Then, Bond returned to the story and broke an entire branch of a bush in an attempt to put more flowers in my hair. This is when Evanna turned to me and said, “Teacher Audrey, You know that breaking trees is bad. We need them for oxygen. If people break all the trees in the world we will die.” Now what 3 year old Chinese Student do you know that could say words like those? Some native English 3 year olds don’t even understand what oxygen is, let alone that we need it to breathe.
