I put some candles and some lotus flowers on our table just to brighten it up a bit. Little did I know that a major topic of conversation would be those candles.
I encouraged the ladies to ask each other questions, this is English class after all, we can not just sit there and not say anything.
One student said "teacher, why do you have candles on the table?". I told her it was because this was a special lunch so the candles are there to signify that it is special.
I learned today that in Japan, you NEVER, NEVER, NEVER burn a candle during the day it is only for night time.
I learned today that in Korea, candles really are only used in the temples to appease the gods.
The students were very intrigued by the fact that we had candles on our lunch table but they said "thank you for putting candles on the table to make it special."
We talked about New Year celebrations in all the different countries. In Japan the monks will hit a big bell exactly 108 times on New Years Eve. He hits the bell 108 times because they believe that each person had exactly 108 bad emotions the hitting of the bell clears the bad emotions out of the way before the New Year. I asked when the bad emotions return my class told me immediately they return.
We talked about fireworks and many other topics ranging from hamsters to the fact that in the U.S. you would kiss your husband right at Midnight, they were shocked that we do that and they were especially shocked that we would do that even at a party with other people around to see it.
Much English was practiced today, much laughter was had, relationships were built and my students now understand what a casserole is and they now know how to play hang man, (they drew their man with slanty eyes \ / )
It was a potluck kind of day.
Fascinating post, Randi! I'm glad everyone was able to learn something about another culture, and it sounds like it all went amicably. There's hope for us after all. :)
ReplyDelete