Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

An idiot who eats dog shit

Whenever I teach a class, I'll always ask intermittently, "Do you guys have any questions?"

Rarely will anyone raise their hand. They shake their heads or they'll utter a drone-like "no." My students are often shy, afraid to speak out, which is very commonplace among many Chinese students. So it seems futile to even ask. Still I always wonder, what's really on their minds.

One way I've been able to find out is through QQ, an instant messaging program popular in China. Many of my students wanted to know if I used it, so I eventually signed up for an account, and now I go on to it maybe once or twice a week. It's led to interesting conversation. A few students have offered to cook me a meal, with me trying to politely refuse. Another told me anonymously how I could improve the lesson, which was good. And some just like to practice their English or know more about America.

Today I talked to what I assume is one of my students. I don't know if it was he or she, but the student refused to give me their name. Whatever, I thought.

The conversation started off well. The student wanted to know where I was from, and so I replied. Then it got weird.

"You bully students who don't know English," the person said.

I did? I thought I was always pretty nice in class, but I could see how that might happen.
If the student's English level isn't very good, I'm sure it would be easy for him or her to feel embarrassed and out of place. There have been times where I've called on a student and they've been maybe too shy or they just didn't know how to respond. I know some students don't come to class because they don't feel the class is "suitable" for them.

Unlike some of my other students, this one wrote all in Mandarin. Seeing, that this might be serious, I wanted to be clear and so apologized to the student by typing in Mandarin. I said I was sorry if I had caused him or her to feel that way.

"You're a pig's head," the student then wrote.

Uh, what? Was this person joking? Or did the phrase mean something else I did not know? "Did you call me a pig's head?" I typed back in Mandarin.

"You're an idiot," the student wrote back.

Then the student elaborated even more. "You're an idiot who eats dog shit."

I read the phrase again, but it was clear. WTF.

All my students have been so nice to me, so I was a bit shocked. I wrote back in mandarin, saying, "If there is a problem, please tell me. Is there something I'm not doing right?"

The student than cryptically wrote, "That was not me who wrote this."
"Oh," I replied. I wasn't quite sure how to respond after that. Then the student went off-line.

Weird. I have to admit, a little bit of me was hurt by the words. But for the most part, I'm more puzzled. Makes me worried, I'm committing some terrible taboo in my classes, but I'm completely unaware of it. I am a teacher though, I suppose it's natural someone's gonna hate me; I did yell at some students last week.