5 best moments of my day

1. A student telling me he passed his CET4 English Exam, after the 5^th try. He bought me ice cream to say thank you for helping him speak English more confidently.

2. Getting a beautiful email from a previous student Emma, who told me she missed my classes and that she took my advice about how to maintain her English.

3. Telling a student I have English corner the next teaching hour, and seeing him bolt to the front desk to get a token for my class.

4. A while back, a student by the name of “Joy” and I were discussing HIS (yes, a guy!) name and I suggested that perhaps he think about changing it to a more suitable male name (*when in my life would I actually have the chance to do this? Change someone’s name?! That is insane. That is China) Anyways, I had later suggested the name of “Josh,” as it sounded similar to his Chinese name. He looked a little hesitant and said he would think about it. A few days after that, he informed me that he not only changed his name to Josh, but he got a new name plate on his office door and new business cards made up for himself. He politely handed me his new card, to which I accepted (in the Chinese way) with both hands.

5.English Corner. I gave the students 15 random pictures of men and women of different races, varying appearances and styles. Each group was handed questions to answer about these people. Eg. “Who would you hire for a job? Who would you go on a date with? Who would you talk to on the subway? Who is most likely to be married? Who looks the most trustworthy?” etc. I wanted them to answer the questions, based solely on the people’s appearance. We got into a very heated discussion about the information we use on a person’s face and appearance to make our decision about their identity. Apparently, "all foreigners are untrustworthy" and “an ugly man is not allowed to have children”

Solid gold.