Geography Lessons

Americans are notoriously bad at geography. I clearly recall my elementary school teachers regalling us with this information prior to our test over the countries in Africa. In a way, it was encouraging. I felt compelled to single-handedly raise the level of geographical knowledge in America. I went home and studied with new vigor the globe I received as a Christmas present at the age of six (which I had spotted on the top shelf of my parents' closet weeks before). I remember spinning that thing around like mad then stopping it with one finger to see where I ended up. I remember carressing the mountain ranges under my fingertips. I remember it getting dusty on the shelf when I was in high school.
Americans may be terrible at geography, but we can't be that much worse than Chinese. In the first two classes that beginner students take we teach them countries, nationalities, and languages of more than 30 countries. Which countries is up to the students and teacher. The students are usually asked to name some countries they learned from the computer software or happen to remember from their school days. They usually come up with China, Japan, Korea (which, I have to tell them, is not a country), America, Canada, England, France, and Germany. Usually if I prod them they can add Poland, Brazil, and Egypt. After this, I'll teach them other countries that border China, European countries, and Mexico.
What I realized though, is that they don't even know which countries are near China in the first place. I concede that America has it easy as far as the number of bordering countries is concerned, but I really think you should know what countries border your own.
Outside of Asia they have little or no concept of where countries are. If I ask them what continent Brazil is on they will often guess Europe. Since in Brazil they speak Portugese I teach them where Portugal is. Then I tell them that all other South American countries speak Spanish. More than once I have been asked, "How do you know all of this?" It is common knowledge for me. I don't know what to tell them.
After my free talk class on Monday a student told me they don't teach much geography in school. They don't focus on geography because it is not on the college entrance exams. The entrance exams are concered with Chinese, English, and math, then two subjects the students can chose themselves, like physics, biology, or history. The student who mentioned this then told me they should pay more attention to geography in school because it is important to know.
So this Monday we learned all the countries that border China. Maybe next week we'll learn the countries of South America. And next week Europe. The next week Africa. Which means I have to get online and make sure I know where everything is! One thing I really appreciate and enjoy about free talk is that it can be used as an opportunity to teach myself.