I do know Chinese…

Recently, I have had a student named Grace coming to my E6 classes. She is from the Junior High school, but she is Korean and her English isn’t as good as other students. So to catch up she has been coming to my class this semester. In my class there is a strict English only rule. I have one student whose English ability is very low and speaks to me in Chinese quite regularly. Usually, I just stare at her with a blank expression as if I don’t understand. This usually gets her to try and say whatever she is trying to explain in English. I forgot to go over the rules with Grace and she doesn’t know of the English only policy.

Last week, Grace was explaining to me that she had to leave early and would see me tomorrow. She said this all in Chinese. At the time, I was testing Rudy’s reading pronunciation. Rudy being one of my lowest students and also the one who tries to speak Chinese to me everyday was surprised when I answered back in Chinese. So surprised she exclaimed, “You know Chinese!” like it was a major revelation. I will have to continue using my blank expressions and hopefully Rudy will forget that “I know Chinese.”