The Betel Nut Beauties

Tonight, I got to really eat crow in my adult pre-intermediate class. I told them I had completely misjudged their abilities and been wrong about what they wanted out of an English class. I asked for their suggestions and told them I really wanted to know what they wanted out of our class. So I think I have patched things up and we can move forward in a more productive mode.

For this evening's class, I brought in a photograph of what the guidebooks to Taiwan call "Betel Nut Beauties" and led a discussion about their place in Taiwanese culture and society. Betel nuts are a kind of nut often chewed by truck drivers and others because they have the same effect, I gather, as several cups of coffee or a bottle of Jolt cola. In recent years, it has become common in Taiwan for betel nuts to be sold out of roadside booths with very scantily clad women as salesladies. Competition in the betel nut trade has become very fierce, resulting in these women wearing less and less. And so the women have become a source of some controversy.

I learned, in the course of the evening, that the trade at least is not dangerous. Video monitoring and call buttons prevent these women from being raped or molested by the men who stop in to buy betel nuts. But the overall impression I got was that my students found the betel nut beauty an embarassment, something decidedly not good for Taiwan's image abroad. Mainland Chinese often mention the betel nut beauties in connection with visiting Taiwan.

We had a very spirited discussion about what, if anything, the government can or should do about the clothes worn by the betel nut beauties. There was disagreement about whether the government even has the right to tell these women what to wear as they ply their trade. There was also disagreement about whether any rules about the dress of betel nut beauties could be enforced.

I think it was interesting to get a glimpse inside my students' minds. It's good to have a better idea what they want from the class, and I look forward to doing more discussion-oriented classes in future.