Counting with dragons
To the editor:
It’s exciting to try and teach in a foreign environment. Many habits and customs are called into question because of this. One such item is keeping score. I have been having my students take a chapter of their textbook and prepare a presentation to teach the central ideas. This has led me to discover a strange conglomerations of misunderstandings, political interpretations that we would find bizarre, and lots of good humor about cultural clashes.
In many of the presentations my students have prepared game shows to illustrate key points. As with any game show, part of the success depends on keeping score. In the U.S. we can write the arabic numbers, 1,2,3 and more. Usually we use the tally mark form which is four vertical lines crossed by one horizontal lines. This represents five points and makes it easier to count groups of things. Tic Tac Toe games often feature this score keeping method and elementary school teachers can tell you of moments when the skills of a diplomat are needed to settle miscounts. Lots of teachable things appear at such times.
Chinese students also keep score. Their method is different and stunningly simple. Our Western score keeping comes from counting bundles of wheat. Those four vertical lines represent wheat stalks and the fifth line ties them together. This is a guess just based on imagination and insight. I could be wrong. Chinese writing is based on a square. When students are learning to make the Chinese characters they will practice on big sheets of paper with squares. As you try to read the characters you begin to see how the lines divide the square. Keeping score follows the same pattern. So I will attempt to describe how students count to five. It probably is a free lesson for all the elementary school teachers to have fun with before the Christmas break.
The first mark is made at the top of the square. you draw one horizontal line. Then you divide the line in half by creating a capital T. For two, draw a vertical line down. This line goes from the top of the box to the bottom. Now that you have two lines you need to give the T a tongue. On the righthand side of second line, at a point halfway down you draw a short horizontal line. Now you have three lines. A hat, a body, and a tongue. Line four is horizontal. You start to the left of the vertical line and provide a foot to the T. You now have three horizontal lines and a vertical line. The fifth line is to the left of the long vertical line. It starts halfway down the box and ends when it meets up with line four. If you look at this design you can perhaps see a dragon. With the top line representing a head, the right hand line representing a tongue, and the tail curling up behind, you now have a total of five lines. Repeat as you count some objects.
I will admit to some of my own interpretation of the shapes. Unlike our bundles of wheat tally markers, you now have the lines more spaced out so its easier to see. Have fun.
Orpheus Allison
Guangzhou, China
orpheusallison@mac.com
