Sometimes teaching is great. You'd be amazed at how non-sequitur kids' comments are.
Going over word lists.
me: Do you know what these words mean?
Casper, 8: I'll draw what the word is.
me: ok. The word is a-n-t-e-l-o-p-e.
Casper: draws a square with a little square inside it. You put it in the mail?
me: haha, no. That's envelope.
Casper: oh. [puzzled] So what is antelope?
me: uhm. I don't know the Chinese word. Let me draw it. [epic fail]
The whole class: A PIG? A HORSE? WHAT IS THAT???
me: ugh, it's the orange Fuwa guy... the Tibet one... Ying Ying, right?
The whole class: YESSSsss ohhhhhhh ok. [making horns with their fingers] Like this!!
Talking about dinosaurs.
Dorothy, 11: Do you know how tall the small dinosaur is?
me: uhm, 2 meters tall?
Dorothy: Eighty-one cen-ti-met-ers.
me: ok. thanks!
Talking about money.
me: Do you get money from your mom and dad sometimes?
Ariel, 7: [in a little mouse voice] Sometimes when I am good my daddy gives me the money and I put it on the the ... I give it to the lady.
Dorothy: I got high score in 4 Chinese dictation so my daddy buyed me a remote control car.
I asked them how old they were.
Dorothy: I will be 12 this year.
me: When is your birthday?
Dorothy: December. So I am almost 12.
me: OK, I'll put 11.5
Dorothy: no, I am 11.9!
We were talking about what you study in school.
Sunny, 8 yrs old: History is just a bunch of dusty, rusty pages!
Note: this kid also dances every time we start class. It's hilarious. And he sings Chinese pop songs when we play Uno... which they ALL pronounce "you-no!"
