“Are you confused or something?”
In primary school, I was in a public school with a foreign population of 75%.
On the first day I transferred there, a teacher went:” Stand up. Okay… If you’re from Singapore/ Singaporean, sit down.”
I sat down as I had been in Singapore for 5 years. But the guy beside me went:”Stand up! Didn’t you say you were born in Indonesia?”
So I stood up. The teacher continued: ” If you’re from China, Taiwan or Hongkong, sit down”
I sat down as my mother was from Taiwan and because I’ve spent part of my childhood there. The guy beside me told me to stand again.
The teacher, who noticed me standing and sitting at invervals asked me why was I doing what I was doing. And continued to ask if I understood Chinese and where exactly am I from.
I repiled in Chinese:” My mother is from Taiwan so I’m sort of Taiwanese. I’ve lived in Singapore for almost half my life, so you can say I’m abit of a Singaporean. Lastly, I’m Indonesian because I was born in Indonesia.”
The teacher shook his head and went: ” Are you confused or something? If someone asked where you’re from, they ask for your passport nationality .”
June 18th, 2008 at 9:19 am
So what is your passport country?
Maybe the teacher was new and wasn’t used to the internationality of the students? Usually the responses like that are from people who haven’t moved much in the international community…
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:27 am
In situations like that, they DO usually mean your passport country, and it’s best to call it simple, there.
Keep the long story for small groups.
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June 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
This is quite funny…at least now it is. As a child you must have been really confused.
What a perfect tck moment though.
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June 18th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
“Are you confused or something?” Having that kinda background how does that not make it confusing?
I feel that this question shouldn’t even been asked after you told the teacher your background :p
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June 19th, 2008 at 1:28 am
After that incident, I just told the other teachers I was Indonesian.
The ironic thing was when they found out I had been in Singapore for 5 years, they said that I should have told them much earlier. Probably because they thought I wouldn’t be able to catch up and gave me concessions when it came to homework.
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June 19th, 2008 at 3:19 am
LOL. That’s great!! =) The only time I ever experienced that was when I ended up in college!! =P I just say “originally from the Philippines…”
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October 18th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I can’t believe I just came across this post. This is very interesting. Because you started with “I was in a public school with a foreign population of 75%” I thought the teacher would expect you to answer in depth, not just your passport country. How confusing this can be? When you think you know the teacher’s intention and the teacher tells you you must be confused?
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