I'm fine too

In my middle classes (the children who are between four and five years old), I always laugh every time I ask them how they are. Now you might ask, "Why, Abbie? Why does this question or their answer make you laugh?" I will tell you.

Here is the dialogue when I start my classes:

Me: Hello! Good morning class!

Class: Hello miss Abbie! Good morning miss Abbie!

Me: How are you today?

Class: I'm fine, thank you! And you? I'm fine too!
(If you can imagine 30 four and five year old's saying this phrase all together in just one breath (with a Chinese accent, of course) then you have a good idea of how it sounds)

At this point, me and the other teachers in the classroom start to laugh. The children simply do not understand that when they ask, "And you?" they are not supposed to answer their own questions. They are supposed to wait for the other person (who, in this case would be me) to answer it. It would be very easy for the Chinese teachers to correct this and I don't know why they don't - they would just have to explain to the children not to say the last part unless someone is asking them the questions. I suppose, then, if the Chinese teachers aren't explaining it to the children, that the duty falls to me. It will be a difficult challenge, but I accept (I suppose I accepted that challenge when I signed the contract, correct?)

Next week if you are interested, you can ask for the results (or the update).