Last semester in Chinese class, I think Keith introduced us to a new word and said something like, "We'll see this character a lot."

I've been thinking about that. Why did he say it? If I were a prof., I could see myself also saying stuff like that, but why?

It seems to have very little pedagogical value. What are students supposed to do with that information?

However, I have a hunch that it helps with student engagement. It's a kind of a tease. It may make us curious.

Further, I think it's probably just a fun thing for the prof. to say: to tease the students a little bit with a bit of incomplete information.