So a large brown spider of the (looks vaguely like this) variety was found clinging to the side of a chair in my
class the other morning. As you can imagine this caused quite a stir amongst
the little six- and seven-year-olds. I rescued the poor thing and deposited it
in the school gardens, which I have now come to view as a potentially silly
thing. The gardens in question are situated in a quad surrounded by classrooms,
meaning that if dear Mr Spider decides he's not entirely satisfied with his
relocation, his only means of migration is down various passageways or through
the classrooms themselves.
As you can imagine we found him again yesterday. Once again I had to rescue him. This time he was on the side of a bucket which the grade ones were using to clean the floor with. In the spider's defence, he wasn't really in need of saving. His mere presence was enough to keep even the most enthusiastic grade one at arm's length, their best efforts contained at little more than splashing water hopefully on the wrong side of the bucket.
Once again I deposited him back into the garden in the hope of future entertainment.
The spider, however, has nothing to do with the worry mentioned in the title. That came from a student, being rather talkative outside of lessons, who was trying to engage me in a discussion of whatever was on his mind at the time. His words were a little confusing and so I had phased out slightly, my attention more on the work on my computer. I was passively listening.
Whatever he was saying began catching my attention because it sounded wrong somehow. I started actually listening to discover what he was talking about. The boy had spoken of things sticking and how he found he had to remove them with his hands. It dawned on me that he was speaking about lavatory functions and I immediately began searching my memory for everything I had seen him touching.
The look I gave him must have registered, because he then began defending himself, saying it was the only way to get some of it off - or out, I forget which - while I told him that tissues and loo paper was better. In retrospect I don't believe I attacked his idea enough. My partial silence and confusion may have been seen by him as acceptance.
This incident worried me as hygiene is important, especially in a city as sickness can spread quickly. Today two of my students were at home sick and three left early to visit the doctor. From what I've witnessed my students tend to have very good habits in terms of health and hygiene (I reserve judgment on discipline and learning habits at this time). Some may think of bad hygiene habits as an Asian thing, but the boy who was talking to me was one of my students who'd spent a few years in the U.S.A. I think one of his parents may even be a citizen of the U.S.A.
As you can imagine we found him again yesterday. Once again I had to rescue him. This time he was on the side of a bucket which the grade ones were using to clean the floor with. In the spider's defence, he wasn't really in need of saving. His mere presence was enough to keep even the most enthusiastic grade one at arm's length, their best efforts contained at little more than splashing water hopefully on the wrong side of the bucket.
Once again I deposited him back into the garden in the hope of future entertainment.
The spider, however, has nothing to do with the worry mentioned in the title. That came from a student, being rather talkative outside of lessons, who was trying to engage me in a discussion of whatever was on his mind at the time. His words were a little confusing and so I had phased out slightly, my attention more on the work on my computer. I was passively listening.
Whatever he was saying began catching my attention because it sounded wrong somehow. I started actually listening to discover what he was talking about. The boy had spoken of things sticking and how he found he had to remove them with his hands. It dawned on me that he was speaking about lavatory functions and I immediately began searching my memory for everything I had seen him touching.
The look I gave him must have registered, because he then began defending himself, saying it was the only way to get some of it off - or out, I forget which - while I told him that tissues and loo paper was better. In retrospect I don't believe I attacked his idea enough. My partial silence and confusion may have been seen by him as acceptance.
This incident worried me as hygiene is important, especially in a city as sickness can spread quickly. Today two of my students were at home sick and three left early to visit the doctor. From what I've witnessed my students tend to have very good habits in terms of health and hygiene (I reserve judgment on discipline and learning habits at this time). Some may think of bad hygiene habits as an Asian thing, but the boy who was talking to me was one of my students who'd spent a few years in the U.S.A. I think one of his parents may even be a citizen of the U.S.A.
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