Dream - Chinese Classes

I had another dream this morning. I dreamed that I was back in school (in America), and our department decided to start a new program to teach the Chinese language to all the students (mostly Americans, except for me and a couple others).  Of course I did not need to take the class, but I decided to audit the class just for fun.

During the first few sessions, the teacher had a very hard time with the students. None of the American students in the class knew any Chinese, so they could not understand a thing when the teacher spoke mainly in Chinese.

After this had been going on for a couple of weeks, it finally occurred to me that I might be able to help. So, during one class, I proposed to the teacher (and the class) that I thought it would be fun and helpful if the students would get their Chinese names, and I volunteered to help the class come up with their Chinese names.  I received unexpected positive feedback from the students. Most of them (if not all) were very excited to get their own Chinese names. Many of the students left their seats and formed a line in front of my desk.  I got a little overwhelmed and told them I didn't mean right now in class.

After the students went back to their seats and settled down, I gave them a quick overview of their options. Essentially, there were 3 things they could do.  One, they could pick a Chinese name that they liked and was completely unrelated to their English names. Two, they could pick a Chinese name that would approximate the sound of their English names, which might or might not conform to the Chinese naming format.  And, three, they could pick a Chinese name that would translate the meaning of their English names, which also might or might not conform to the Chinese naming format. I wanted every student to think about which approach he or she wanted to go, and get back to me in the next session.

When the students returned to the class the following week, they submitted their choices to me individually, and I started to help them pick their Chinese names based on their preferences.

I was in the middle of figuring out a particular name, when I woke up.