Heard any great proverbs lately?

Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones at hand do more toward a happy life than whole volumes that we know not where to find--Seneca

If you want to learn fast about a culture--or a family--pay close attention to the proverbs handed down from generation to generation. If you are a middle school or high school student, pay very close attention to the proverbs you hear from your elders. You can learn a whole lot about a culture by the proverbs that it shares with kids.

Proverbs are words to live by, inspirational sentences, or taglines of well known legends or fables. They often indicate collective wisdom rather than individual experience. Seneca aside, we generally don't know who authored our proverbs.

Here are some beloved proverbs from my own childhood:

THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM

NEVER DO HALF A FAVOR

YOU CAN"T DANCE AT TWO PARTIES  (meaning you can't be in two places at one time--even if you want to be)

I am rediscovering the conversational and literary value of proverbs as I teach English as a second language to middle school kids.  Overall, young adult literature is teeming with proverbs. And proverbs, as you can already see from my own examples, are great conversational ice-breakers.

Which brings us to the  dead chicken that scared the monkey.
And a Mexican proverb
Because it all started last semester when my Reading Club for middle school kids who speak Mandarin as a first language began reading the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan.

Click here for the Scholastic Readers Guide

If you are keeping up with our reading, you are already familiar with this riches to rags story about the adventures and misadventures of Esperanza-- the thirteen year old daughter of a wealthy Mexican landowner. When her Dad is killed by bandits and a mysterious fire destroys her ranch, she flees Mexico to become a fruit picker in California. But her timing couldn't be worse. She arrives just after the Dustbowl of the 1930s.

The book is filled with proverbs like: HE WHO FAILS TODAY MAY RISE TOMORROW.
Which we will discuss at length in class next week.
Even the name Esperanza is symbolic. It is the Spanish word for HOPE!

Last semester I told my student readers:
"None of us are really sure how proverbs--well known wise sayings--began. But every country and every culture seems to have them. Some may be serious and some may be funny. Do you know any proverbs?"

And ALL OF THE STUDENTS--ALL OF THEM--recite in Mandarin

 杀鸡儆猴 (shā jī jǐng hóu)

which means:

KILL THE CHICKEN TO SCARE THE MONKEY!

Killing the chicken to scare the monkey-- a classic Chinese proverb

Are you familiar with this proverb, as well?

Of course, if you know the tale, then you already know that the Mandarin proverb is there to serve as a warning.

You make an example of the chicken to get the monkey to behave.

Why do you want the monkey to behave?

Well it ties to a folktale (chéngyǔ) in which a street entertainer has a performing monkey.

Here is the tale--from the Web site That's Mandarin: Learn English in China.

There once was a street entertainer who attracted large crowds with his dancing monkey. Whenever he played the drums, the monkey danced to the rhythm, helping his master earn lots of money. Yet the monkey soon grew tired of this work, and one day refused to dance for his master. In order to force his monkey into compliance, the master brought a live chicken to the monkey and killed it right before his eyes. The monkey got the message and resumed dancing, knowing that if he stopped, he would suffer the same fate.

You may already be familiar with this theme which is also expressed in popular young adult fiction like The Hunger Games and Divergent and even The Giver.

And perhaps we'll have more discussion about these books in another class. For now, we need to get back to California and Esperanza rising during the Great Depression.

Last semester, one thirteen year girl asked, "Why didn't the monkey just run away?"

Answered another twelve year old boy:

"That's what would happen with an American monkey!"

Do you have a favorite saying or proverb that your family has shared with you?
If so, please share it in a response to this blog.
Don't have a proverb in mind?
Check out some wise sayings from a collection called 365 Days of Wonder: Mr Browne's Book of Precepts by R.J. Palacio
Ms. Palacio is that author of the best selling young adult novel--Wonder.

And keep in mind that I use 365 Days of Wonder in my ESLwriting tutorials-the precepts/maxims serve as great essay prompts.