What have I got in my pocket? Well...

If you are playing a game on your cellphone and slide it half way under your book as I walk past, guess what, I will see that what is on the other half of your phone does not even remotely look like a dictionary.  It looks like a little guy jumping around on a blue background. 

Result:  Phone goes into my pocket until the end of class.

If you are on your phone (not even texting; there is really no way to even fake that you were using the dictionary) in class, I will consider this a behavior that is distracting you and I will deal with it.

Result:  Phone goes into my pocket until the end of class.

So cellphone use in class is a major issue here, probably more so than in America.  (Really, when was the last time there was a student on the phone in one of your classes?)  It's something that I have pretty strict policies about -- first time, I keep it till the end of class.  Second time, you have to come to my office to get it back.  After that, it will be going home and you can come visit my apartment to get it.

Those were the rules that every class seemed to be paying attention to the first time we went over them.

When I had lunch with some of my students, one of them asked me, "Have you been in China before?"

"Yes," I told her.  "I lived in Fujian province."

"Ohhh," she said, nodding sagely.  "I thought so."

I was curious.  "Why?"

She laughed.  "Because when you read the rules -- about the cellphones -- my deskmates and I said, Ah!  She knows the Chinese students!  But I think maybe in America, is also a problem?"

[Sidenote:  I laugh so much in China, because there are constantly things that surprise me.  They figured I've spent time here because of the cellphone policy?  Not because I had talked about it in class -- I'm not sure that they were listening to that part -- but because I warned them strictly against texting in class.]

"It is also a problem in America," I agreed.  "But maybe not so much."

Oh, life in China.  There is always something new.