Today’s textbook topic was Valentine’s Day, so when else was I going to simulate a dating show for my students?

I started things off with a (benign?) task: write the profile for the ideal man (my precept had all female students). Students were required to give certain attributes, such as occupation, age, zodiac sign, etc, but they were given more free rein when it came to devising the man’s life story. As they worked, I walked around the room, looking at the personalities being pulled out of thin air, occasionally catching a glimpse of something like “Job: Engineer/Architect/Lawyer”. A very busy man, to be sure.

I then revealed that the profiles would act an aid while we watched some episodes of a new dating show: Fatal Flaw. For each episode, three of the girls would pretend to be men—their ideal men, to be exact—while one of the girls would portray herself, trying to find an eligible bachelor to date. The girl would interview the “men”, asking them simple questions. However, there was a twist: before the episode, I took the three “men” out into the hallway and assigned them each a “fatal flaw”. Some examples:

– cries whenever he eats tofu

– calls his mother every hour

– collects Xi Yangyang dolls

– has hooks for hands

After interviewing the men, the girl was informed of the three flaws, but she was never told who had which flaw. This left her with a bit of a gamble (and in one of the episodes, Mr. Hooks For Hands was the lucky man). However, she had plenty of other qualities to judge the men on.

Some memorable moments:

Girl: What are you good at?

“Guy”: I remember both my mother’s and my father’s birthday.

Girl: What is your job?

“Guy”: I am a boss. I am a big boss.

Girl: What is your hobby?

“Guy”: Taking care of you, of course!

– Cameron