We were checking the spelling on the vocab quiz and since one of the words was poisonous I thought, 'Oh, ok, let's do a fun extracurricular reading exercise.' So I picked up the book of Guinness Records and flipped through to find "World's Most Poisonous Snake" (which is apparently the Black Mamba of Africa...capable of killing 200 people with the venom from one bite...yikes). So I read the description to the class and we talked about it and I thought that would be it, but nooooooooo, because once I said it was a member of the cobra family —
Student 1: What's a cobra?
So I drew it on the board and the whole class went, "Ooooooh." And I thought ok, they get it, they've probably seen shows on TV about cobras and stuff... cuz growing up cobras were about as out-there as anacondas — not exactly something I ever had to worry about bumping into. They were in the cool story Ricki Ticki Tavi and the Jungle Book and stuff — not in my part of the world. They might as well have been dragons for all the reality they held. So I'm thinking that their comprehending, "Ooooh"s are simply due to book knowledge.
And then one of them pipes up, "Teacher, Teacher, one time when I was little I was at my grandpa's house and I found a baby cobra and I pointed at it and said, 'Grandpa, look!' and then he stomped on it. So I jumped on it, too."
Me: *blinking owlishly*
Student 1: Ya, teacher, one time I found one at my friend's house...
Student 2: One time there was a little one at my elementary school and I picked it up and threw it out even though everybody else was really scared.
This students' English is superb, but I had a moment of hopeful denial and said, "You don't mean a cobra, do you? Like a real cobra?"
Cuz cobras are like dragons... haha
Student 2: Yes, a real cobra.
Me: But that's so dangerous. Of course everyone was scared!
Student 2: No, it was so easy!
Me: Ooooooook....
Honestly, I questioned his intelligence at that moment. Haha. But yes, so apparently I live in a country where you can find cobras at your elementary school and your grandpa's. No rattlesnakes or copperheads here...
So ya, apparently my kids have had real-life experience with them.... Yuuuuuuuck... hahaha and don't get me started on the spiders... It's bad when you live somewhere where you know there are a LOT of poisonous spiders but you have no knowledge about any of them so every time you see a spider you sit there wondering whether it's harmless or not. Fun times!
For the curious folks out there, here's a massive site on the snakes of Taiwan - you've been warned. Hehe. http://www.snakesoftaiwan.com/Start_Page_EN.htm
