Generation Gap

On my way from one job to the next, I think I saw one of my high school students at the MRT station. He looked familiar, and I immediately thought that he was in one of the cram schools I work at. He saw me, too, but didn't say anything. He just... stared. I smiled in case he did turn out to be a student.

That's pretty much how it is with the high school students. I ask a question, they stare at me. I say hello, they giggle and run away. The elementary students are, thankfully, a different story.

I ask a question, each one tries to raise their hand higher and scream louder than the others for my attention. (Almost) every one of them wants to be heard. When I see them outside of class, they say "hello" or ask me a question. I talk to them and ask them questions, too, and even though I don't always get the right answer, I still give them credit for having more guts than the high school kids.

This evening one of the elementary students was walking on the sidewalk in front of me. He turned around, saw me, and walked over to talk to me. He asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"I'm going home, how about you? Where are you going?" I replied.

"I'm going... to my... little sister's... school," he said, followed by a punch in the air that said success!

"Oh. Where is your little sister's school?" I asked.

"It's.. umm," was all he could get out before scratching his head and just pointing forward.

"That way?" I pointed in the same direction.

"Yeah, that way."

"How will you get there? Will you take the bus or train?" I asked.

"Umm... My little sister's school." he said. "Umm... My mother, father, little sister, and me are in my family."

Okay, so that wasn't exactly what I was asking, but it's still a hell of a lot better than just staring at me. He gets extra credit for that.

I thought that this was just a case of curious little kids always asking questions or wanting to be the center of attention. I thought all of these elementary students would just grow up to be like the shy high school kids. From what I understand, this isn't true. This really is the difference between two generations of English learners. They encourage these kids to talk to the foreign teachers as much as they can, which is great. Well, it would be great, but...

Last week a student came up to me while I was going through some papers and asked, "What time is it?"

There was a clock on the wall behind me and he was looking at it as he asked, but I knew he just wanted to say something. So I looked at my cell phone and told him, "It's 6:30." I wanted to keep the conversation going, "Do you have class later?"

"Umm... no class," he said.

"Did you have class today?"

"Yes I have class at..." He was looking at the clock, trying to get the time out when suddenly the Queen of Subtlety screamed, silencing the entire room. The student talking to me spun around in his seat. The Queen of Subtlety screamed again and the student ran back to his seat. He buried his nose in his textbook as the Queen of Subtlety screamed a third time.

I looked at her with a WTF expression on my face. "Was he bothering you?" she asked.

"No, we were talking in English," I said.

"Oh."

Crimany! Let them learn! Stop screaming!

And close your damn mouth when you eat!

Jason