Many of the students I teach in China are extremely polite and well behaved. Some are disrespectful brats or know it alls, but so far those have been relatively few.
At one of the schools where I teach, I meet with students after class to have short talks to help practice speaking.
Usually students bring me a coffee or a water or something like that. Tuesday was a little different.
I had to go to the nearby store, and on my way met some students who were coming to see me. One of them handed me a glass bottle with a pink liquid in it. The label indicated that this was a "breezer".
I took a double take. There was a Bacardi logo on the bottle. I spun the bottle over, and it indicated that there was 4% alcohol.
I quickly asked the student what the drinking age was in China. He said 18. I started heading towards the building with the english office.
I asked him, do kids at the school drink these. He said "Yeah".
I told him that I was going to bring this bottle to the head of the english department because he should not have alcohol at school.
He tried to grabe the bottle away from me, to which I gave him an "oh no no no" and bade him follow me.
In the english office, there was only one teacher. An older woman. I quickly explained that this student had given me an alcoholic drink on school grounds.
She looked at the drink and said she didn't understand. I turned the bottle over and showed her that the drink has 4% alcohol. She quickly understood what was going on.
Anyway, I think that this school has a pretty big problem with teen agers drinking.
It is important to understand that not all students in China are intelligent. Many of them are the same slackers and goof balls that you find in American schools.
It is interesting that alcohol is readily available to students at a store next to a high school. Further, it is fascinating that a 16 year old student, wearing a school uniform, was able to enter a store next to the school and buy alcohol during the school day.
What is different than in the USA. After this incident, the student helped me carry my bags about a mile to get a taxi. I assume it is because he was told he is not in trouble, I made it clear that I was not angry at him. I am never angry at someone who brings me a cocktail. Not ever.
The issue is more about my role as a teacher and not a drinking buddy of my underage students. I think they figured this out pretty quick.
At one of the schools where I teach, I meet with students after class to have short talks to help practice speaking.
Usually students bring me a coffee or a water or something like that. Tuesday was a little different.
I had to go to the nearby store, and on my way met some students who were coming to see me. One of them handed me a glass bottle with a pink liquid in it. The label indicated that this was a "breezer".
I took a double take. There was a Bacardi logo on the bottle. I spun the bottle over, and it indicated that there was 4% alcohol.
I quickly asked the student what the drinking age was in China. He said 18. I started heading towards the building with the english office.
I asked him, do kids at the school drink these. He said "Yeah".
I told him that I was going to bring this bottle to the head of the english department because he should not have alcohol at school.
He tried to grabe the bottle away from me, to which I gave him an "oh no no no" and bade him follow me.
In the english office, there was only one teacher. An older woman. I quickly explained that this student had given me an alcoholic drink on school grounds.
She looked at the drink and said she didn't understand. I turned the bottle over and showed her that the drink has 4% alcohol. She quickly understood what was going on.
Anyway, I think that this school has a pretty big problem with teen agers drinking.
It is important to understand that not all students in China are intelligent. Many of them are the same slackers and goof balls that you find in American schools.
It is interesting that alcohol is readily available to students at a store next to a high school. Further, it is fascinating that a 16 year old student, wearing a school uniform, was able to enter a store next to the school and buy alcohol during the school day.
What is different than in the USA. After this incident, the student helped me carry my bags about a mile to get a taxi. I assume it is because he was told he is not in trouble, I made it clear that I was not angry at him. I am never angry at someone who brings me a cocktail. Not ever.
The issue is more about my role as a teacher and not a drinking buddy of my underage students. I think they figured this out pretty quick.
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