Cultural exchange like whoa

Earlier this week, I taught my students how to FLOSS.

We were doing a lesson on daily routines. I talked about how it is quite common for Americans to brush their teeth in the middle of the day, after lunch. And that some Americans even floss after lunch. I asked the class if anyone brushed their teeth or flossed after lunch, knowing full well the answer would be No.

Then I asked the class if they ever flossed. They all shook their heads and said No. One student, Lisa, said, "Chinese people don't floss!" I asked her why that is. She said, "Nobody has ever taught us! So we don't know how to. I want to floss! But I can't because I don't know how."

So during the break, I got some floss and some mirrors, and I taught them how to floss. I don't think they enjoyed it. One of my students, Allan, started bleeding (I warned them that might happen the first time!) One of my students even explained that she didn't floss because she thought flossing created gaps between your teeth. I argued flossing doesn't create the gaps, flossing just removes the tartar so that you can actually see the gaps clearly.