This was a really great lesson! I'm a kindergarten teacher and I overheard my Chinese co-teacher telling one of the kids to 还手 so I asked her about it. Even though I have been in China teaching for 3 years this was the first I had heard about it. She told me that apparently if you write with your left hand you cannot form characters properly and this can go against you in important primary school tests :s My Mum is a lefty and she told me how the teachers used to bully her for having slanted 'ugly' handwriting. Interesting to read in the other comments how this dislike of leftiness is translated in most other cultures too!
Posted on: The Left-handed Child
February 20, 2011 at 3:50 PMThis was a really great lesson! I'm a kindergarten teacher and I overheard my Chinese co-teacher telling one of the kids to 还手 so I asked her about it. Even though I have been in China teaching for 3 years this was the first I had heard about it. She told me that apparently if you write with your left hand you cannot form characters properly and this can go against you in important primary school tests :s My Mum is a lefty and she told me how the teachers used to bully her for having slanted 'ugly' handwriting. Interesting to read in the other comments how this dislike of leftiness is translated in most other cultures too!