The Industrial Revolution and other Problems

Today we did the Industrial Revolution in my World Civilization class. I was able to finish the chapter and hopefully got some points across. Both my 1230 class and my 1400 class were very attentive and I tried to ask enough questions to keep people involved. This was not the real story for today's blog.

That night I received an email from one of my Chinese students, Ms. X. She was not able to drop by on Thursday for our practice session. She usually comes to my office twice a week to practice her English and to ask questions about World Civ. She did not make it so she wrote me an email explaining why.

Dear ajarn,

i am sorry about today that i did't go to ur office. today i had diarrhea and a stomach ache.
these days , i am having bad luck . my wallet was stolen by some body in class. 5555~~~GONE - my money ,ID card , and so many things .
i think i only can get a 5 on ielts . i got lost in the listening and the readings were about science and technology. so hard. the writing question was not difficult but i wrote it as if i was writing for an english 1 class . :(
i was so stupid during the speaking test . i don't know what i was talking about . I had no logic and no grammar. i was so nervous .5555~~~~~~ i will go to hell.

by the way , do u need something from china , please tell me , ok . it's my pleasure

yours respectfully

My immediate response was for her to please not go to hell as I have heard it is a very bad place. I also encouraged her by telling her that the bad luck is always followed by the good luck.

She is a very good student, second year, and has not developed any confidence in herself. She will be more than ok in a few more months. One cannot help but like and respect these "mainland" Chinese students.