communication gap

In general, I really like my classes here at Nankai. My classmates are fun. My teachers are generally very enthusiastic and helpful. And I'm learning quite a lot. But there is one thing that, although kind of funny, really gets on my nerves here. Every once in awhile, we'll come across a new vocabulary word, and in an attempt to get us to practice using it, one of our teachers will ask a question, the answer to which we could not possibly know.

For example, one day, in an attempt to get us to use...um...I don't even remember what vocabulary word, our teacher asked us very earnestly, "What do Chinese elementary school students always say?" The room was absolutely silent. Um, lady--how in the world would we know that? Do any of us look like we were once Chinese elementary school students?

Or one day, one of them asked, "If you're a hostest as a restaurant, what should you say when customers come in?" Now, I've heard them mumble off something that ends with "huanying" (welcome), but honestly, I had no idea what the rest of the phrase was. And neither did anyone else in the room. And anyway, when are we ever going to use that phrase? What is the likelihood that any of us are ever going to be hostesses in a Chinese restaurant?

This is a problem among the young recitation instructors (and actually, it's mostly one teacher in particular, who really drives me crazy, although I won't go into that right now). I chalk it up to lack of experience. But it seems that, if your job is to teach language to students who aren't from your home country/culture, it's probably an important part of your job to recognize when there's absolutely no way your students would (or should need to) be familiar with a particular cultural experience.