Questions

I always get questions about my hair color from the students, because they all have the same color hair color here. I get asked all the time if it's natural, and in Higashi JH one of the girls asked me a ton of biology questions, like, "What happens if a person's parents have blonde hair and brown hair? What color would their hair be?" Needless to say, I had difficulty explaining all of those questions through the language barrier...



In Nakanayoro Elementary today one of the grade 1 students came up to me and asked me, "Jenna, why is your hair blonde?" I didn't need to answer though, because there happens to be a little girl in that grade whose father is a Canadian. She told the other girl, "It's because she is Canadian." Then she said to me, "My hair is brown and black mixed!" She said it with pride, which made me so happy! I've heard that many kids who come from interracial parents here are ashamed of their background. I then explained to the girls that there are people with all different kinds of colors of hair where I am from, red, brown, blonde, etc...



To tell the truth, I never even considered that I would be explaining things like this to my students. It just goes to show that I am teaching a lot more than English over here...