A Japanese saying

The students seemed to enjoy working out the meanings of the color based sayings today.  At first they were very reluctant because everyone wants to get everything right.  I managed to get them to write things down, though.  After some time working alone, I counted them off and they paired up.  That's when things went well.  I'll have to keep that in mind moving forward.

Then they had to come up with Japanese sayings based on color.  I asked some students to write a saying on the board so the entire class could see it.  It seemed most knew the saying before the first kanji was even completed.  I managed to guess half of their meanings.  As far as sayings go, I learned my favorite so far.  I could not figure it out

 

You change to red when crossing vermilion.  The bear and cats were meant to explain the meaning to me, because everyone in class struggled with it.  It means a person takes on the traits of those around them.  I can see that as being a warning and encouragement depending on how you feel about things.  The saying makes perfect sense once you know.

We'll see how tomorrow goes with the discussion of education in the US.  I still don't have good questions for them to discuss, but something will come to me at dinner tonight.  It always does.