I have a new student!

And I'm actually not very excited about it. This kid is just starting school this week, so he knows nothing. We've been studying English for a couple of months now, and he's coming in not even able to say "hello," "I," or the alphabet. In addition, he doesn't understand Chinese. I was telling him that he needed to come to my room after lunch to review, and he's nodding. It's only when another student (who is actually one of my weakest students, and seems to have some sort of learning disability) comes up and tells me (in dialect) that the kid has no idea what I'm saying.* I'm able to communicate through my other boy, and we've started reviewing, but I just don't see how this kid is ever going to be able to catch up. Not only is he extremely far behind, there's just no time to review, and he's not going to understand any grammar explanations that I give in Chinese unless I have a student translate for him.

*A lot of the times the speak to me in dialect and not even realize that they're doing it. I'm the only person in their lives who doesn't speak dialect, so it's hard for them to speak very standard and clear Mandarin to me. They'll also sometimes speak really idiomatically, and that can also be problematic. For example, "teacher, release my hands!" means "Can I go to the restroom." I've actually started saying a few of the more dialecty things that they do, so if I go to a different part of the country people are going to be confused and bemused by some of the things that come out of my mouth.