FIRE!!!! in the Classroom and One Happy Teacher

Oh, happy day! We finally hit pay dirt! I had everybody talking and going for it today! Yeah! Yippee yeah!!
Let me remember how this whole thing got going�. I think I wrote something on the black board about English studies�. It went like this: English is a world language.
That inspired one of my students, Henry, (also known in our class as �hungry Henry�, lol) to state that he felt Chinese should be the world language, and if that was not so right now, it was going to be in the future. I asked him, why he thought that. His answer: Right now, America is the number one country, but one day, China will be the number one country. And then, everybody will have to speak Chinese.
I said: �China will be number One one day, yes, but English will always be the world language number one.�
That was all I needed to do to put the torch to the dry hay stack!
We had everybody up in arms, talking loudly and all at once, AND, believe it or not! In ENGLISH!!! Because they were talking to me, so they needed to make themselves understood. They wanted to convince me that I was wrong, and why Chinese will become world language. Their main argument: There are more people in the world who speak Chinese than any other language, so by numbers, we will make everybody change for Chinese. After that, we looked at economic patterns, such as which economies are the ones where people speak English, and where do they speak Chinese. We found out together, not only that it is already a fact of life that all western countries have opted for and are practicing English, but also that there is a country called India, which rivals China in numbers and has two official languages: Hindu/Hindi and English. So, that settled that.
Then, we talked about the big population in China and whether that is a problem or a boon. They, of course, brainwashed as they have been, like most of the rest of us, think it is a doom. Personally, I explained to them how we can consider it a boon. Well, it gave them lots of things to think about this weekend.
We also discussed the idea of how much impact one single individual can have on a community, a country. They believed they could have no impact whatsoever, being only one insignificant person. I asked them whether they thought Confucius had been born famous. They conceded, no, he had been a normal person at birth, and he became famous because of his concern for the Chinese education system, and not overnight, but little by little, all along his life time and beyond. We found a new meaning to the term �yi ge ren�, meaning �alone�, or �one person� in English: One person at a time, each person her/his contribution.
We learnt the phrase that Kennedy coined: �Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country!� I noticed thoughtful faces on some of the students.
Ah, in one word: I had a happy day, you cannot believe how!
Then, we talked about exchange student programs, because most of them would love to go abroad to study in a foreign high school. To my surprise, I discovered that money was not the hindering element at all! All their parents have money. I tallied up for them what to expect if they were to go to high school in Saint Louis. The school tuition of 6,500 US bucks seemed peanuts to them. I was slightly surprised. They assured me their parents would have that money, no problem at all. Then what is the problem, why don�t they all go? Well, they have no connections to America, they know nobody! Some of them told me how one or the other of their good friends was sent to England to study three years, and it cost their parents (hold on to your seats, now, please!) 1 million 400 thousand RMB to pay for those 3 school years, tuition, room and board! Divide by 8 and you get the dollars: One hundred seventy five thousand US Dollars!!! For 3 years of school! Yeah, I am typing this in all letters so you don�t get the idea I hit one too many zeros by accident. I was very �sticker shocked�! They all assured me that is the usual going rate. The rich Chinese parents are desperate to send their kids out to learn English and the Western style of life. And they have the money to pay for it! Well, I don�t know about you, but that was news to me!
So, you can see for yourselves what a productive day we had today in class, I�d say it was beyond average productive. On the small talk side, we also had the topic of who has a girl friend and who has not, lol. Seems that our two �hunks�, Victor and Kobe, have so many girlfriends, our classroom would not be big enough if we invited all of them.
To see how they all activated their brains to use that vocabulary they have accumulated in English, and probably use it for real for the very first time in their lives, given the fact that I am �first contact� for all of them, I�d say they did amazingly well! We agreed that since they could not travel to America to practice English there, I was the best bet for them to do so right here, their little piece of America right in the middle of Rizhao/China. Alright, that was my Saturday morning. Now, my family is standing in front of me, practically on my feet, waiting to finish this journal entry, so that we can all go to the sea side and have a good time on the beach.
I got to get going! Take care y�all and have a great weekend yourselves! I will think of you!