Be careful what you wish for

I was pleased with the way my first class had gone, but I hoped that from now on, the students would be able to focus a little more on their English and a little less on kissing my ass. We had gotten into an interesting discussion about homosexuality (they brought it up and pushed the issue, I swear!), which surprised me. I had been told to avoid controversial issues at all times, and while homosexuality in China isn't controversial, it's not exactly embraced, either. But, I wanted to keep my students engaged, so when they went there, I happily followed. My third session of class was devoted to a "formal" class debate over gay marriage. Before we began, I assigned roles and positions and made it clear that they should not voice their personal opinions, but those of the roles I had given them. Everyone was really into it, and despite a few bumps along the road, it went really well (pro-gm won). I was thrilled!
Up until this point I had been feeling kind of lost. Having been given no text or guidelines to follow, how would I make this a cohesive course, rather than, "every week we get together and play games in English"? Thanks to these first few classes, I now had a vision. The students were clearly interested in hot topic issues and wanted to know about American culture, so every week or 2 I would base the lessons around a new contemporary theme (racism, global warming, etc). They would learn about America, I would teach them English, and I have clearly become China's Greatest Teacher.
I was totally excited for class this week. What should we tackle next? The war on terror? Gender issues? Why democracy is a better political theory than communism? (lolz, jk! please don't arrest me, China) As China's Greatest Teacher, I was totally going to open their eyes to a new world, equal parts Whoopie from Sister Act II, Julie Andrews from The Sound of Music, and Julia Roberts from Mona Lisa's Smile. Nooot so much Dangerous Minds' Michelle Pfeiffer (Meg Ryan? Melanie Griffith? Which is which? I never know, except that Meg Ryan has those god awful new lips, and 1 of the others married Antonio and is now completely unrecognizable with her new plastic face. But as far as their acting resumes, I have no idea. I digress.).
I am China's Greatest Teacher, my life is like a movie, blablabla ...and then I receive an email from my "classroom monitor," aka student in my class who takes attendance and erases the chalkboard:

Dear WCBF,

We are happy to have you teach us and your hard-working has made us interested in English much more than before. However, in order to make our class more interesting and lively, we have some suggestions. [smiley face]

1.As you know,We'll go out to teach Chinese as a second language.So maybe you can tell us more about interculture communication.

2.Some of us would like to improve their listening.Many of us are poor in listening.What about telling us more perfect usages or American slangs?

3.Would you show us some part of movies or English songs that are more about culture?

All of us like you very much and Thank you a lot.

Wish you have a happy teaching with us.

PS:Maybe there are some mistakes [smiley face]

I'm really sorry for so many classmates not coming for class

Oh hell to the naw! Seriously, this student is giving me tips on how to run my class so that it will be more interesting and lively!? But they love me! They all run up to talk to me after class, and they all tell me how beautiful I am, and they all want to be my friend! Also, we've only had 2 weeks of class, out of 17, so unless someone forgot to tell me that this was actually "Intercultural Communications: American Pop Culture through Film and Music," I'm pretty sure it's ok that I haven't shown them Mean Girls yet.
I held off replying until I had a chance to talk to some other teachers (verdict: I'm right, students are stupid). This delay resulted in a text message from my monitor, asking if I would be responding. Clearly not China's Greatest Teacher, quite yet.