“Not good student” (London, UK)

When Alex first cancelled a lesson by email, which he did in pinyin (Chinese written in romanised script)—something I encourage my students to do rather than in English as at least they get to practise their Chinese, if not the writing of the script as well—he signed off as bù hǎo de xuésheng (“not good student”). 

The second time he cancelled a lesson, he signed off as hěn bù hǎo de xuésheng (“very not good student”). 


The third time, it was fēicháng bù hǎo de xuésheng (“extremely not good student”). 


The fourth time, tài bù hǎo de xuésheng (“excessively not good student”). 


The fifth time, zuì bù hǎo de xuésheng (“most not good student”).

The first time I had to cancel, I did it by text/SMS.  A few minutes later, my phone rang, and it was Alex, who asked, “wéi, shì búshì wo bù hǎo de lǎoshī (hello, is this my not good teacher)?”  


(London 2004)