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Thursday, October 31, 2013

11-1-13 Bubbles, Minki's Okay, and Protective 3rd-Graders

9 AM: It's November. Duuuuuude. November. All of 2013's September and October were spent in Korea. I had my first American holiday--Halloween--in another country. I went to a movie because there aren't any Halloween parties or costume-wearing or hayrides or cornfield-exploring here. I didn't really miss the fun holiday stuff, but I did miss seeing my siblings all decked out in costume.

This morning, there was a mass exodus as the 2nd-graders boarded about 30 tour buses, each bus the size of a small planet. They're going to see a mountain, but I don't know which one. I told every kid I passed to have a good time and take lots of pictures.

This morning, I saw Byeongsu just wandering around the school aimlessly before classes, so I asked if he wanted to use the colored bubbles I brought. On a whim, I had bought 4 little tubes of colored bubbles at Homeplus, thinking the boys might like them. I was right. Byeongsu and I passed ten pleasant minutes on the school's porch, blowing bubbles and talking about how we miss Jaehyung, who is on the trip.

And a few minutes ago, Saturday Jeongmin came into the office. To borrow tissues! He said that he had lost his tissues, so could he get some of mine? Of course. I'd probably give him my whole desk and its contents, if he asked. This is the first time Jeongmin's been by in the morning, when the office is full of teachers. Many kids say that the 1st-floor office is scary because it's so large and full of teachers and the VP is right here, so I think it's cool that my boy doesn't feel intimidated by the bigness or officialness of the place.
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10:40 AM Well, teaching 1-3, 1-4 B without a co-teacher was a doozy. They were reeeeally not paying attention and I actually snapped and shouted at them to be quiet once, but we had fun. The class mostly descended into the kids play-fighting and looking out of windows, but we did bond over the game.

After class, all the boys I knew by name came up and asked for candy in the "May I have chocolate please?" format that I taught them. For some reason, since "please" is not a unique word in the Korean vocabulary ("please" is implied by the relative politeness of your verb ending), I think the boys have a heinous time with remembering to say please. So I work on their sweetness and politeness levels in English.

Got 3 new names--Yoohan, Jaehyun, and Jeongho. I have written down who they hang out with and where they sit in the Document O' Kids. While I was writing down the new boys' names in hangul, Walk-to-School Minki came up and said, "Teacher! Me too," wanting me to spell his name. Of course, I could. Then Bossy-Dongseok wanted me to write his name as well. It was quite sweet. And Dongseok finally called me Sem, resisting the powerful urge to address me as either "girrrrl" or "Hey man".

As that tumblr account about teaching in Korea says,

When my Students try to speak English to me outside of class, they're just like...


This is Dongseok's vocabulary, in a nutshell. All this, coming from a 13-year-old with wide eyes and a bowl cut and blue lips from the raspberry candy he ate.

And a tiny miracle happened in class. When the game got going, the kids crowded around the front of the room, and Bully-Jaekyung and Minki were sitting together on a desk, watching the forest game on display on the wall. They were talking and joking. 
I. I....what? I guess we're just...okay now? Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that Jaekyung is being kind to Minki and that they've resolved their differences, but I truly wonder how we got from Jaekyung pounding Minki's face into a mess of tears to everybody chatting like old pals. But hooray for that anyways.  
One unique thing about the boys here is that they are incredibly affectionate and have zero self-consciousness about how much they touch other boys. They carry each other piggyback, fall asleep on each other's shoulders, sit in people's laps, etc. They seem to have no idea that their actions could be interpreted differently, and of course they're utterly oblivious to how many eyebrows they'd raise if they did this stuff in the States. For my part, I think it's sweet, and the snuggly-ness seems to partially counteract the violence problem.
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3:45 PM My only other class was good. There are some boys I really love in this class, and those ones paid attention. Soon, everyone was paying attention because the game was really fun. Smile-Byeongseon made everybody shut up for me once, and Jjang-Donghui scolded somebody for saying "boo" to me. That's how protective they are. 

I got 4 new names--Bowlcut-Yeongjin, who I met once at the playground near my apartment, Nice-Seongjoon, the boy who I could never quite meet because Daeho kept stopping me,  Boo-Jongha, the kid who said boo, and Model-Seokho, a kid whose actual aspiration in life is to be a model. With his height and bone structure he could make that happen, but I kind of wished he wanted something more substantial as a career.

Mr. B actually called me over to introduce Model-Seokho, who was sitting in the back of class. Seokho looked like he'd been crying, and Mr. B said, "Please remember this student. His name is Seokho. He wants to be a fashion model someday." I could tell the boy was feeling bad and insecure, though I couldn't precisely read the situation, so I said, "Oh, he's got a good face--he could do it!"

Then Mr. B told me, "He's a handsome kid. The problem with Seokho is that he always sleeps in class. But remember his name, please." Not sure if Mr. B was trying to embarrass Seokho a little bit by telling me about his penchant for napping, or if he was genuinely trying to make sure that I saw this kid as important. Whatever it was, it wasn't meant in a mean spirit--he wants to help Seokho. And Seokho came up to me after class to ask for chocolate and to remind me of his name and write it down for me.
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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

10-31-13 Schedule Change, Lion Hair, and Game Popularity

10:45 AM: Had two good classes.

2-1, 2-2 A was beautiful. We played our forest game--well, mostly Euigi played it--and everyone was pleasantly going bananas. There was such shrieking and wailing, mostly from Byeonghyun and Seongmo, the former of which tried to scare me by grabbing my shoulder and saying "boo". Byeonghyun, you forget that I have brothers.

At the end of class, I hung around for a few minutes to let Artist-Joohyun play the game for two minutes. I offered it to HH, who had been kicking up a fuss over Euigi getting picked to play instead of him, but he opted not to. Joohyunnie had fun and said he'd come to my office during lunchtime to play.

But Saturday-Jeongmin's already coming to play at lunch. And the 3rd-graders will be wanting their UNO time. I'm triple-booked for lunch.
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12:00 PM  Holy moly, there has been a schedule change. The class I taught at 11:40 has been switched permanently to 10:45, meaning that on Thursdays I'll teach three classes back to back. Oy vey. But the good news is, I have the rest of the day free!

At 10:56, Hunmin from 2-5, 2-6 A came to get me, telling me there'd been a schedule change. I went upstairs to find my B-class boys sitting alone in a room with no coteacher, even. I went downstairs for my materials, and we played our forest game.

I got new names, too: Jeongho is the twin in this class, Jonghoon is the bespectacled kid who told me he was an "English ace," Kangjae is the big kid who was so rude to KBR-Teacher he had to have detention, and Munseong taught me how to say "I love you" in Korean, though I knew how to say it already. I thought Munseong was just repeatedly telling me "I love you," but then he followed it up with "saranghaeyo" and it became clear that he was trying to teach me Korean. So. Cute.

In 1-9, 1-10 B, Seonghoonie and Governor-Yunho were the main players for the forest game, and everyone had a good time.

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12:50 PM Ate lunch early so I could be here when Jeongmin and crew came by.

One really smart 3rd-grader named Hobeom played the forest game in the break between classes. He's got good English, and I was looking for an excuse to talk to him.

Jeongmin and crew came to my office and played the game for a good 15 minutes. It was wonderful, 6 1st-graders crowded around the desk, getting more and more invested in the game as time passed.
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1:30 PM Played UNO in the math room with Jaehyung, Byeongsu, Myeongchun, and one kid who insists on saying that his name is No Comment. We had fun, then the 3rd-graders came in, looking betrayed that I'd been playing with other kids. I had hoped that we could all play together, but I should have known that the hyungs would kick the underclassmen out.

Well, they did let Jaehyung stay in the game, and Myeongchun stayed in the room, observing. I could have gotten the other two boys to stay, but I could tell they'd rather be elsewhere. Sometimes the age gap between boys doesn't matter, and sometimes it's a wide gulf.

We had a fun couple of games, though I had to prod Tiny-Mimic-Jaehwan to use his "yo" ending with me, because he was speaking too informally. Did the same thing this morning with a 1st-grader who was saying "na! na! na!" to get my attention. "Na" is the informal way to say "me," and as soon as I raised an eyebrow at him, he changed it to "jeo! jeo! jeo!" (formal, polite "me"). 'Twas funny.
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2:40 PM: Jinhwan and Jaehwan were in the hallway quizzing G-Teacher, a young Korean English instructor, about how to ask me for chocolate. Since they asked sweetly, I gave them some.

Still showing C-Class Jeongmin and Spritely Youngchang how to play Canon in D. I think it's a month-long sort of project.

Governor-Yunho, Bossy Dongseok and two other B-class 1st graders came by the office to play the forest game. Then 3rd-grade Hobeom came back for another round. It's the game of the century, according to the student body. Had to remind Dongseok yet again to call me Sem, not "hey man".
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3:30 PM Played UNO in the special needs room and was part of a serious ongoing discussion about my hair. I often let Yeongchang play with my hair because he's still young and because it makes him happy. But he does get it just a teensy bit tangled, so this time I brought him my hairbrush and O-Teacher showed him how to use it. Yeongchang proceeded to brush my hair for ten minutes, happy as a clam, while I played UNO with Inha and Jaehyung and Seongwon.

Yeongchang said "Hair..your hair. Is my toy." He learned that grammar form from Inha, who is fond of saying that his friends are toys. It was nice to see Yeongchang applying an English phrase he learned to a situation that warranted it. The boys said I have "saja meorikaragi"...it translates to "lion hair". Daesung wanted to know if we had lions in America. I said only in zoos.

Also, some other kid was standing nearby (Yeongshik?) and that kid said something about "waygookin..." which means foreigner. I don't think he was trying to outright label me as a foreigner--which is not an insult, because I am a foreigner, but it's a tad dehumanizing--I think he was pointing out the difference between Korean hair and foreign hair. But Yeongchang just went off on this kid in Korean: "What did you say? She's not 'foreigner,' she's 'Sem,' okay?!??" It was such a kind thing to say. I haven't taught this boy a single time, but to him, I'm his teacher.
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6:10 PM  Good day, all around. Offered to let somebody play the forest game in afterschool, and Jinseop leaped at the chance, since he didn't get to play it during his own class during the week. Sanghwa was quite interested in watching the game play and asked me to turn the volume up.

I spent a lot of time talking with Byeonghyun about the logistics of the game, and also about where the 2nd-graders are going on their field trip tomorrow. Some famous mountain with beautiful scenery all around it. When I told Sanghwa to have fun at the field trip tomorrow, he said "No fun." I said, "No, you'll have a good time!" He replied, "No, no good time, not this, no." Sanghwa's too cool for mountains.

Saturday-Jeongmin met me at the bus-stop corner and offered me a bit of his fish-cake-on-a-stick. I obliged, and it was really tasty. He said he'd see me tomorrow and Saturday, but then I had to break it to him that I'd be gone on a business trip on Saturday and someone else would be teaching him. Baby boy was not pleased at this turn of events. But still, I get to see him tomorrow.
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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

10-30-13 More Magic, Computer Games at Lunchtime, and Happy 3rd-Graders

11:00 AM: First classes went well. Got 3 new names for the 1st-grade class of 1-1, 1-2: Soonhyuk (brown bowlcut), Joonseo (cute, huge eyes), Sangho (tall, funny, fights a lot).

We had a fun class and they were very into the game. I enjoyed spending time with them and while most of the boys were crowding around the computer, I had the chance to speak to some others and finally get their names. I look forward to classes where I have more names, and now I feel like this class will be more of a favorite. I already like them--we just needed a more personal connection.

2-3, 2-4 A was lovely. BY's in there, and any class with him is going to be fun. They loved the game and they did better at it than any previous class. A-Class-Minwoo was chosen to be the representative for his team and play the game, but he was so nervous he flew out of his seat and let Hojin take his place.

After class, BY showed me another magic trick with cards, and Peter-Pan-Taehoon and Loud-Hyunmyeong came in to watch. It was so much fun and BY loves an audience. During class he was telling the boys what I was saying, then he turned to me and said, "I'm such a great translator, aren't I?" Brag on, little magician, brag on.

Started teaching "Heart and Soul" to Byeongsu, and got Jaehyung to help. Jaehyung was actually teaching Byeongsu the song when I left class.

The 1st-grader who keeps proposing marriage gave me an orange-flavored sucker today--you know, in lieu of a diamond. But you can't eat diamonds, so I feel like I got a good deal. His name is Heejoon and he's super-brave.


And I do realize that I was being unfair to class 3-3, 3-4 B, yesterday. I expect everyone to treat me like the diva that I am, and if they don't fall over in adoration, I feel slighted. I was upset at those boys for not being interesting and for not being interested in something I worked to put together for them. I put in the effort, therefore they should appreciate it. Not so.

Next class with them, I'm not going to worry about entertaining them because that would just be setting myself up for another bad attitude if they don't deliver the reaction I want. It's okay if they don't want to learn English and if they don't want to have fun with the games. Maybe it can just be enough for me to be with them and try to learn their names and talk to them instead of trying to dazzle them with cool stuff. I should love them. God loves them. I should view them the same way, not as reflections of how well I'm doing at my job.
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1 PM: My sweet Saturday-Jeongmin brought three of his 1st-grade A-class friends by my office to play the forest game. Apparently, the 1st-grade A-class has been gossiping about the game and Jeongmin told them that he could get them hooked up with an opportunity to play, since I don't teach the A-class and they won't have a chance to see the game other wise.

We played for 10 minutes and it made me the last teacher to eat lunch, but it was worth it to let the boys have some extra fun. Jeongmin just offered instructions to the others--he still thinks the game is too scary to play. And it was so brave of them to come into the office, because they had to explain themselves to the Principal and Vice-Principal, both of whom wanted to know why the boys were keeping me from lunch. We explained that it was only going to take 10 minutes, and all was well.

2-9, 2-10 B was really fun. Sangwoo's name is actually Sangwoon, and I've got a new boy's name--Athletic Woonki. The boys had a great time with the game, and there was a really sweet moment with Huge-Eyes Jeonghee.

Jeonghee is a darling kid, but he usually sleeps through class. In most classes this week, the boys will crowd around the computer while we play the forest game. For the past few days, I've gotten used to being surrounded by the boys like we're at a standing-room-only concert, just a few pushes away from being a mosh pit, and it hasn't been awkward; just companionable.

But Jeonghee took things a step further--he laid his head over on my shoulder for the longest time. Jeonghee's one of the boys that's still a child at heart, so I let him do it. Some of the kids his age are already more like men, but Jeonghee simply seemed to need someone comforting to lean on.

Need-You-Junho would be one example of a boy in the older-thinking category. He saw me in the hall earlier and said, "Leigh-Teacher! My...girlfriend!" Then he came into my last class at the end and smilingly announced, "Leigh. You my girlfriend. Understand?" I can't be your girlfriend, Junho--I'm already engaged to a 1st-grader and I have the orange-flavored sucker to prove it.

Played post-lunch UNO with the usual crowd, plus We-Are-the-World Dongyeong, minus Jinhwan. Yeonghyo tells me that he has a younger brother named Yeongbin, who goes to this school and is in 2nd grade, but Yeonghyo doesn't know whether his brother is A-ban, B-ban or C-ban, and doesn't know if I teach his kid bro or not. I...that's kind of weird not to know which class your own brother is in, isn't it? Dongyeong has an older sister and Inhak has two older sisters. We had a good game. They asked what state I was from and I drew them a map on the chalkboard.
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3:40 PM: 3-1, 3-2 B was dreamy. Could I have had better 3rd-graders? I think not. They were all up in the game and moved as one being to the front rows so they could watch it play out and shout advice. Hyunbin and Dongyeong played mostly, and some others joined in, and they collected 5 out of 8 pages--the most any class has done within the game so far. Some of them hung around afterward to gossip with/about me and where they had seen me in town and when they'd seen me. I wanted to hug them all for being so special.

Played UNO in the special needs room. Am teaching C-class Jeongmin and Spritely Yeognchang how to play Canon in D--will get to the other boys soon.

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6:15 PM: Afterschool was fine. Sunbin transferred out and I got a new kid called Myeongkeun. I fed everybody nachos, and three bags full were sufficient for my boys, but not sufficient enough for the extra twelve boys that piled in at the end. One of the big, rowdy C-class boys told me he was hungry, and all I had to give him was candy.

Byeonghun proudly told me about a piano competition he played in, today. He thinks he won, but he won't know the results for a few days. I told him I was proud.

Hyun asked me to type in the forest game in English, so he could play it on his phone. They're really enjoying it, lately.

Seongyeol fed me one of the dumplings his mother sent with him. And he told me....that he's C-class. C. Class. I finally asked him today because after 2 months of teaching, I finally established that I don't see Seongyeol in any of my 2nd-grade classes. Gosh, and in those early weeks I was rattling off so much English at him, thinking that he and all the other boys were English geniuses.

Oy, I was so ignorant. I wish I had known how little they know. But now I see how boys like Seongyeol and Jinseop bloom with a little love and time.

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Monday, October 28, 2013

10-29-13 Game Success, 3rd-Grade Apathy and Elizabeth

9:50 AM Hahaha, first class was beautiful. I mean, just....so good. 2-7, 2-8 A might be a 3-ring circus, but 2-7, 2-8 B is full of energetic angels whose participation levels are waaaay awesomer than their A-level counterparts. (B: Sweet-Voice- Chansu, Glasses-Intelligent-Jungbok, Jolly-Sanghyeop, Cardsharp-Minsu, Date-Danhee, Loud-Team-Three-Duyeol, Joonwoo (Chansu’s friend—smart, high voice), Changyo (Team 3—sharp, mischievous).)

At first, I walked into class to find S-Teacher teaching, so I walked back out. Somehow, our schedule got fiddled around weird, and it turns out that last year S-Teacher taught 2-7 once a month while the former foreign teacher taught it 3 times, but now I teach it 4 times a month, and everybody's right confused about it.

When I walked in, the boys all cheered. Which was delightful, but I couldn't figure out why. Then when I left there were loud protestations and much fussing and howling. Again, I wasn't sure why--they said something about "game" and I thought it was because I always played a game with them.

Downstairs, I was just getting settled back in when S-Teacher found me and brought me upstairs, saying that it was my class to teach after all. It was 12 minutes into the class period, and the boys cheered triumphantly when I said "I'm back!" S-Teacher said, "They're so happy to see you, but they hate me." I told her that I had kids who hated me, too--it's just how they are, sometimes.

Again, as I set up my computer, the boys started buzzing about "game," and when I looked up at all the game-talk, they made a mime of gossiping (with their hands representing mouths and said, "Teacher! A-ban....say." Ahhhh. So the dreadful class of hooligans from yesterday did actually enjoy the forest game enough that they talked to other kids about it. Enough that the other kids were anticipating the game so much, they were quivering like hummingbirds around a hollyhock blossom.

How sweet. I never imagined that I'd have a lesson where students gossiped about it ahead of time, letting the other know what was coming their way. And I thought the game had been really boring yesterday. Wrong again, Leigh-Sem.

Also as I was setting up, Date-Danhee asked, "Your name...Elizabeth?" I don't know where he heard it, but I was discussing my full name with Byeonghyun just yesterday. Soon, Danhee, Chansu, and Sanghyeop were all quietly chattering about my name being "Elizabeth," and then I heard them say "queen". I said yes, Elizabeth was the name of a queen, and Danhee said, "good name!"

I wrote my full name on the board, then spelled each one in hangul, explaining that Elizabeth was my mother's name, then I had a family name, and my middle name is what friends call me. Which of course made Chansu think he could call me "Leigh" to get my attention.

The lesson I was doing was introducing an American monster/legend that not really too scary, about a faceless man in a suit who gets stronger if you look at him. The forest game is you walking through a dark forest, finding pages of clues while avoiding the suited man. I don't believe in horrifying children, so this story and game were more like "intriguing" than "frightening". Even the baby 1st-graders did not seem scared yesterday, just excited.

But for 2-7,2-8 B, they were determined to believe the legend and to have fun being scared. Their reactions to virtually tame stimuli were so dramatic and arm-flail-y, it was hilarious.

Students: "Oh, oh, oh, no face! Ahhhh!!!!!"
               "Legend or real? REAL?"
               "He's behind you!"

Then when I dispensed maps to help the kids in the crowd give directions to the kid playing the game, each group of boys had an immediate serious pow-wow around the maps. They began to stake out the probable location of pages, and figuring out where to avoid the suited man. I could barely get Team 2 to come up and play because they were strategizing so much.

Cardsharp Minsu was the first to play. He almost never participates in classroom games, but he was volunteering Scattergories words left and right because the team with the most words got to play first. He had fun with the game and it was lovely to see him so happy.

Next, Sweetvoice Chansu's friend Joonwoo played. He got so flustered at one point, he ran away from the computer and let Duyeol play in his place. Danhee hung around the monitor and supervised. Jungbok plopped himself down in the front row and sewed a cloth pencil case. Yes, sewed. With a needle and thread. Making a pencil case for himself. Jungbok is surprisingly domestic.

The other new name I have is Mischievous-Changyo from Team 3. He introduced himself to me while I was meeting Joonwoo, again because they know that they need facial and name recognition in order to get candy. Date-Danhee, Boisterous-Jinbong, Mischievous-Changyo and Sweetvoice-Chansu all followed me out into the hallway to get chocolate, and thus concluded one lovely class.
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1 PM: 1-5, 1-6 B was great. Got 4 new names: Sangwoo, Sanghyun, Yongyun, Yunghyun. I've written down how to discern the difference in each kid, and I've known them by face for a while. They had heard about the new game, too, and were insisting that I rush through my presentation. Not happening, kiddos. And we had a lovely class and everything was grand.

Some A-class 1st-grader keeps proposing to me in the hallways. He'll be sitting on a bench, then when I walk past, he stands up and steps into the middle of the hallway to make himself more visible, then says: "I love you. You're beautiful. We get married. You and me, marry."

Saw Guide-Jaewan in the hall and insisted on hearing his name pronounced right.

Saw Trouble-Yejae from Saturday class and we exchanged pleasant greetings.

Pepper-Dongmin just came by my office to ask for chocolate. Darling. He even said "please".

Smile-Byeongseon asked about his speaking test results. I told him I thought he got a 9. But I gave that test on Friday; and I can't recall yesterday too terribly well at present.

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6 PM  After the magical wonderland of well-engaged 2nd-graders, the 3rd-graders of 3-3, 3-4 B definitely brought me back to business as usual. They wouldn't answer any questions, wouldn't do anything, and only 3 of them were interested in the game. Well played, boys. I've got to give you credit; your apathy is Like Whoa.

It wasn't sad or depressing...it was just boring, teaching to little mounds of stoic rock. But Jaebom was hilarious while playing the game.

Me: "Why did you run away? There were pages back by the tanks!"
Jaebom: "Monster by the tanks."
Me: "But now we're lost in the woods."
Jaebom: "But alive. Alive is better. Alive is most important, I think."

Okay, so maybe the part of class with Jaebom in it was fun.

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8 PM: Also, got candy from a 3rd-grader I don't know, because I gave him candy earlier today.

Saturday-Jeongmin ran after me in the hallway to ask me about the forest game. He said his friends had told him all about it, but he didn't want to play it because it sounded scary. I love how he just comes up with topics for discussion and the other kids in the hallways are all like, "Oooh, English..." Because there are 10 kids at the school who can have a full conversation with me in English, and Jeongmin's one of them.

And HH took my picture today. He said it was for a competition where he had to show our city to a foreigner and be seen interviewing a foreigner, so he took a picture of me using my phone, then a picture of me talking to Daehoon, then Daehoon took a picture of me talking to HH, for an interview. The boys were so nervous about asking, they spoke Korean to each other almost the whole time. Their English is incredibly good, but they kept forgetting simple English words. It was darling. I hope they win whatever it is.

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Sunday, October 27, 2013

10-28-13 Video Game, Sweetheart, and Greetings

11 AM: First class went well. We played our video game for slightly too long, and instead of giving directions in English, the teams gave them in Korean. But they're first grade babies and they had fun, so we'll call it all even.

Instead of remaining in their seats, they all crowded around my computer, and there were so many kids Baby-Hyo couldn't see. I lifted him up, but even that wasn't high enough, so I finally got him a chair to stand on. It was kind of a sweet bonding experience, being huddled around the monitor with 15 students, everybody in jackets and parkas and murmuring with excitement over the game.

The A-class 1st graders spilled into class pretty quickly at the end and they were all telling me their names, trying to get recognition so they could have a chance at candy. The boys are catching on to the fact that if I know your name, your chances of candy increase hugely.

Saturday-Jeongmin was waiting for me outside of class. He gave me a chocolate that looked like a soccer ball, and I gave him one of my chocolates in return. Now that I think about it, Jeongmin's given me a lot this month--candy bar, first slice of "pumpkin pie," and now the soccer ball. I think he's a Gifts person.

Acapella-Hyunho met me in the hall to ask for chocolate. He adorably answered the question and other passing kids were in awe of his bravery.

Tangerines in the office today! Vitamin C for the win. And KBR-Teacher's friend drove me to school so I didn't have to walk in the cold. Everybody's so nice.
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6 PM: Good day. Mondays are terrifyingly exhausting for me, but this one went fine. I don't have time to spend with the special needs and C-class kids on Mondays because my schedule is so packed, but I stole a minute here and a minute there. Both Spritely-Yeongchang and C-Class-Jeongmin can play most of both parts of Heart and Soul. I keep saying it, but I gotta learn a new song for them.

I walked by the room one time and Jaehyung and Little-Byeongsu were standing outside the door, waiting for me to get there. Then they both smiled hugely and waved: "Leigh! Leigh Sem!" Byeongsu interacts with me regularly now, greeting me and being a part of the group.

Taught Acapella-Hyunho the cups game that Jaehyung knows. One kid at a time, we will master this.

Made Cardsharp-Minsu insanely happy in afterschool by giving him four helping of popcorn. And I found him in the hallway after and gave him chocolate. And he still wanted another when he saw me giving one to Diamond-Seonghyun. Patted all the heads of my afterschool boys and gave them all popcorn and asked them all how they were feeling, which resulted in a broad range of answers. Sanghwa was in a good mood and said he was feeling, "fine".

I tried to teach my afterschool crew the cups game, but they have so little rhythm, they might as well be white boys. Seongmo pouted and quit trying to move his cup at all because he couldn't be the best. I've seen Seongmo do a lot of pout-quits. It's cute, but he needs to grow out of it because he's getting too old for that kind of thing.

When Tiny-Minho, a 2nd-grader who isn't in my afterschool but who always hangs around anyway, came through the doors I greeted him with a sunny, "Minho! Hello, sweetheart." Byeonghyun and Seongmo simultaneously said, "WHAT?" Then they said, "Minho is "sweetheart"?" plus several expressions of disbelief/dismay in Korean. I had no idea that the boys had registered how often I do the Southern lady thing by calling them "sweetheart, dear, darling," but they do, and they have some idea what it means, too, because they think that kids that are not them shouldn't get these nicknames.

Seongmo got my full name in the wrong order, so I told him the proper order for first-middle-last, and Byeonghyun said my full name was beautiful. What a sweetheart.

Emphasized that the word "red" is one syllable long to Seongmo and Jinseop, who finally stopped pronouncing it "Reh-duh'.

I wondered how long it would take Daehoon to find a new thing to tease me about besides my penchant for yelling, but today he decided to say that all fans of a particular pop group I like are scary. I gave him a big, overblown reaction of denial so he could enjoy seeing that his joke had hit home.

Smart-Yeongjoon has graduated from suggesting that we play baseball near my house, to saying we should exchange Kakao numbers. Kakao is the main text-messaging service in Korea and I use it quite a bit, but it'll be a cold day in August before I ever let Yeongjoonie get access to my phone.

Lunchtime UNO with the 3rd-graders was good. They were precious and We-Are-the-World-Dongyeong joined us.

Was greeted by an alarming number of kids on the way home. Normally, many of them will talk to me on the way home but today's count was about twice the usual number. B-Class Minwoo slowed down his bike to ride by me for a while. Duyeol weaved his bike around me in a serpentine. Taegyoon shouted and waved out the window of his passing bus.
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8 PM: Also, my boys are often extra-hungry at afterschool. I was feeding them popcorn and Byeonghyun mentioned that he was hungry because in the lunch line, the lunch ladies just "throw the food," plopping out a portion of everything for each kid, but not having the time or ability to give them as much as they want.

I felt so guilty. The teachers have our own food line where we spoon out our own portions. If you want double veggies or extra meat, you can have it. The few days when the food wasn't set up for us, I remember getting in the student-food line and receiving nowhere near the amount of food I wanted. And there are no snack machines at school. Some of the boys pack food from home, but never very much because it could get squished or lost or, more likely, taken.

So I'm going to keep bringing snacks for the boys. I can't carry enough food to school for real-food meals, but I can do something.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

10-27-13 Peanut Butter Saturday

1 PM: Yesterday's Saturday class went well. The cool-boy first-graders Hyungro, Yejae, and Other Boy 1 and Other Boy 2 were wonderful and participated like mad. Like they actually outplayed and outperformed the studious good girls at Scattergories AND the bomb game. It was rather epic.

And we made edible modeling clay from peanut butter, sugar, and honey. They molded it into various shapes, according to their fancy.

My girls Jeongin and Dabin preferred to spell out the name of their favorite Korean boy-band members:

J Loves Chanyeol.

D Loves Dyo.

This is what it means to be a thirteen-year-old--writing the name of your beloved in peanut-butter dough, then eating it.

My darling Saturday-Jeongmin did a progressive clay-modeling project. First, he molded a pumpkin, referencing our earlier conversation about how hard it is to carve pumpkins:

Pumpkin, and Peanut-Butter Spoon.

Then he flattened his pumpkin and made it into a circle with a flat center and a crust. And he took a butter knife and shaved off little pieces of a chocolate bar he had, as a topping:

Lovely.

See? He made a pumpkin, then he turned it into a pumpkin pie. And he sliced the pie and offered me the first one: "Teacher, I made a pie. Would you like to try a piece?" I ate it, and praised his cooking skills. He's so creative and thoughtful. After all, he did return my umbrella in that singularly sweet fashion a while back:



The 2nd-graders were good. 1/3rd of the kids (mostly girls) played their phones the whole time, but the rest of us had a hilariously awesome time. I came in to the 2nd-grade room and asked if they wanted to separate into Boys vs. Girls again, and Daehoon said, "Geon and HH are out playing basketball. Maybe we could wait until they show up. Then you can yell at them. *high voice* "Guys!""

I get teased so dreadfully for that. And sure enough, when Geon and HH got into class, they smiled at me and whisper-yelled "Guys!" in mimicry of my call-to-attention. I glared at them, but I was smiling too, because they're pretty funny and they know it.

The three boys from the other middle school had fun, too--Jeongbin, Changhwan, and Minki. They're incredibly smart and good at English, and they had fun playing my games, and my boys had fun explaining me to the other boys, even though the other kids have seen me once before. 

I heard Daehoon saying, "Leigh-Sem this" and "Leigh-Sem that" to the other boys and I asked what he was saying. He explained that he was telling the boys they should not get their hopes up for the winning the games I was playing, "Because Sem always makes it where the points can switch". I told that that today there wouldn't be any point-switching---the team with the most points would get their peanut-butter dough first, and that was that.

But how much do I love the fact that my kids are explaining me to other kids? Two weeks ago, they were bragging to the other boys about how their teacher was learning Korean and this week they were discussing their extensive knowledge of how I operate class games. 

The Scattergories answers had me gasping for air, as the boys came up with increasingly funny things that fit the category--

"Expensive Things That Start With "L": Louis Vuitton, Lamborghini, LG, limbs, leg, life experiences.

"Cheap Things That Start With "M": Mustard, maps, mayonnaise, my glasses (Seohyung), math textbooks, middle-school uniform, mushrooms, macaroons. 

Daehoonie started a small war when he said that mushrooms are actually expensive in Korea, not cheap, so when I erased the word "mushroom," the other boys nearly executed Daehoon for the betrayal.

During the break, I got out the UNO cards and played with 2 girls (Smart-Yejin, Sweet-Suyeon), plus Other-School-Changhwan and Daehoon. We played two viciously competitive games, and then HH and Geon came running in from yet more basketball. As usual, HH can't abide being left out of anything, so he slapped his hand down on the table and triumphantly declared, "I'm playing the next game!" As expected, the addition of HH made the game even more competitive. There was shouting. There was cheating. Yejin viewed us all with great suspicion.

Then they all crowded around while I mixed up the sugar-honey-peanut-butter dough. It was like we were a big family in the kitchen. HH kept stealing the honey bottle on the grounds that I was putting in too much, Geon kept stealing  the honey bottle to try to eat some himself, and Haneul (girl), kept grabbing it back to add more to the bowl. 

Daehoon: Teacher! It's a calorie bomb!
Me: Yes, it's my goal to make you fat.
HH: It's too sweet.
Me: You don't have to eat it.
Haneul: More, more, more...
Me: Geon, don't eat that!
Geon: Awwww.

A lovely, loud time was had by all.

And in other news, at my favorite coffee shop, you can buy lattes that look like bears.

Cup-Bearer.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

10-25-13 Headcolds, Good Times with Sanghwa, and the Jjang's Jacket

9 AM: Friday! I have a cold this morning, but I have a Sprite for my throat and I can get more cold medicine later. And there were tangerines in the office this morning, so I got my vitamin C. Also, when he found out I had a cold, one of the teachers rubbed my hands in an accupressure-y way and I actually felt better--maybe it just surprised me so much I forgot to sneeze, but it worked!

Planning out some edible-playdough crafts for Saturday class tomorrow. Only got to make it through 4 hours of Saturday class, then I can rest before church.

9:10 AM: Went to the school nurse and got some cold-pills and a warm tonic that tastes like molasses. Score. I have been much fussed-over by the other teachers this morning, once they found out I was sick. I love being fussed-over. :-)

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11:50 AM Good times. 1-3, 1-4 B was fine. Walk-to-School Minki, Bossy-Dongseok, Tan-Loudmouth-Sanghyeop, Round-Faced-Heesu, Inho. Tiny-Quiet-Seongyu (middle of room), Personality-Jaeseon(tan, back of room-revenge minecraft song), Bully-Jaekyung, Supersmart-Eunchan.

Not much interest at first, but they were riveted by the bomb game and Bully-Jaehyung was answering with all the vocabulary he had. He was really interested in answering the questions. Not a word from Minki. He hangs out in the back of the room and I can't seem to ever see him.

I had to explain to Bossy-Dongseok that he couldn't address me as "hey girl" OR "hey man". I explained that "Sem" was fine. He didn't seem like he wasn't trying to be disrespectful, just like he was trying out some cool new vocabulary he had learned, and it wasn't quite matching up with the social situation.

The same "What to Call Teacher?" issue cropped up in the very next class, 2-1, 2-2 B (Shotputter Jinseong, Thank-You-Minseop, Taylor-Swift-Yoontae, Twin-Seungho, Cutie-Hyunki, Smart-Sits-Next-to_Seongho-Hyunmook, Glasses-Yonghan), because Smart-Hyunmook was trying to get my attention during the Scattergories game and after trying "Teacher!" and "Sem!" and getting no answer since I was listening to other kids, he resorted to "heyyyy girl!"

Now, the pleasant-neutral expression on his face did not match the intonation of "heyyy girl," so I just corrected him and went on, assuming the he was just repeating something he heard in a song. Kid's definitely heard some American R&B at some point.

After 2-1, 2-2 B was over, HH came in, sliding to the front of the candy line with a nicely-worded, "May I have your chocolate?" And he answered the favorite color question I'd been giving to the C-class students, also.

HH: "My favorite color is yellow."
Me: "Last week you said it was green."
HH: "It changed."

I had to give him a piece after that.

Went to the special needs room briefly and found Spritely-Yeongchang practicing Heart and Soul on his own. I slid in to help him learn, but Jaehyung soon ousted Yeongchang because he knows he's my piano-priority. When I finally shooed the boys out to go to their respective classes, Yeongchang blocked the doorway because he's learned that if he gets in my way, I'll push his back until he moves. He's been getting in my way a lot, just for the push. He's another one who needs affection at home and probably doesn't get it.

Got candy from Daesung. It was good.
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3:50 PM Safe at my apartment, because Mr. B blessedly decided that I was too sick to stay at school until 4:20, and drove me home. I'm eating soup between bouts of typing. I'll be okay--I have supplies.

For 2-3, 2-4 B, a small miracle happened. Mr. B noticed I was low on energy and said that on the days when I'm really sick, I can just sit in the class and let the boys self-study. I felt like I could muscle my way through the lesson, but I'm glad I didn't. My strength was only at about 65%, so I sat at the lectern in the front of the class, arms propped on the top of it, looking for kids to engage quietly.

I called up Birthmark-Joonsang to work with me on the English-Korean word game. I wish I had a better mental nickname for him, but the birthmark on Joonsang's face is how I distinguish him. He hangs out with Inha some, so I've been talking to him in the halls, not even realizing he's in a class I teach every week.

Also...hahaha, C-class Minwoo is actually B-class Minwoo and I've been teaching him for 2 months! Ain't it a wonder? Minwoo just blends in, so until I started talking to him in the special needs room, his face didn't register as one I'd seen before. He played the word game with me and I found out that he's left-handed.

Now we come to the miracle.

As I wrote words with Minwoo, the other boys in class talked quietly or threw paper airplanes or read their textbooks. Then I noticed to kids creep up to the front to sit at the desks right in front of my lectern: Redhair-Joonyeong, a fun troublemaker who comes to my afterschool even though he's not even in my afterschool, and.....Sanghwa.

Now, Sanghwa was pretty well ticked with me for witnessing his breakdown last week, or at least that's how I interpreted it. This week, he wouldn't return my smiles or greetings, and he only grudgingly ate the food I gave him in afterschool, after a long pause.

But there was Sanghwa, looking casual, but like he'd appreciate being interacted with. I offered to play the word game with him and Joonyeong, fully expecting to be turned down. They didn't. They wrote English words, then I wrote the Korean, then I wrote Korean and they wrote the English. Sanghwa quietly asked Joonyeong how to spell "chocopie" in English, so now I know that the food-gifts did register with him. Food=love, to most boys, and I've been feeding my kids chocopies.

We chatted a bit, too. Sanghwa said the Joonyeong had a phone with him, and that according to school rules, I should confiscate it. Sanghwa also said that Joonyeong likes girls "very very much," particularly ones with long hair. I told him that liking girls was a good thing for boys to do. They didn't want to play UNO, but they hung around while I played UNO with three other boys, so it was quite magical.

Also, Joonyeong and Sanghwa know the routine with me well enough to know that I've probably got goodies, so they asked if there was candy. They told me their favorite colors (Sanghwa's is yellow) in exchange for a chocolate piece--the very thing that Sanghwa would have none of last week. Will living wonders never cease? I was fed up with trying to reach this boy, and now I spent 40 minutes sitting across from him, thinking how he has beautiful eyes and the most precious fuzzy head, and admiring how many English words he was using.

Magician-Byeongyoon came by for chocolate. HH found me in the hallway and asked for more candy:

Me: I already fed you today.
HH: No, you didn't.
Me: You can really be a brat sometimes. Brat means "bad child".
HH: I'm not a brat!
Me: Only sometimes.
HH: My favorite color is blue.

I also found out that he has one younger brother, who is 10 years old. B-Class Minwoo has two younger sisters.

Then it was time for the speaking tests for 3-7, 3-8, 3-9 B. I sat in the hall at a desk and waited for them to come out, but there were 30 of them and the process was exhausting. I had my coat on, but the school only heats the offices and the hall and classroom windows stay open, so I started to get really cold, which did not help my health status.

But then...three of the boys rushed out of the classroom to give me their jackets. Don't know if Mr. B told them to or if they planned it on their own, but it was sweet. And necessary. One of them put his jacket around my shoulders, and the class jjang (leader) immediately removed the first jacket and replaced it with his own. So for the last 20 minutes, I wore the jjang's purple jacket over my coat and used the other two as lap-warmers. The jjang's name is Donghwi, and he did well on his test.

The other two names I got were Tall-Jaekwang (who is really-super tall with really-super pale skin), and Guide-Jaewan, the charming boy who directed me to the correct class last week. He said one sentence, then quit, looking tearful. I told him gently that he was B-class and he could do better than this, and he said he knew. I think he was fairly disappointed in his own self.

After lunch, I had put my head down on my desk and was thiiiiiiis close to getting some sleep when my office door opened and I heard the query, "Oh. Sleeping?" in Korean. It was Yeonghyo and a crew of lost boys (3rd-graders), all bright-eyed and ready to play UNO. Yesterday, they waited for me outside the math room. Today, they came and got me. I could have said no, but I decided to rally and spend time with them: Yeonghyo, Inhak, Jinhwan, Tiny-Mimic-Jaehwan, Swimming-Suyeong, Dokyung, and Byeongkeun. We had a fun time and I found out that except for Yeonghyo (B), they're all C-class. I'm so glad I had the chance to meet them. They matter.
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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

10-24-13 Candy Rush, Troublemakers, and Yo-Yo-Bro

10:45 AM First classes went well.

In 2-1, 2-2 A we've got Letter-Byeonghyun, Joker-Seongmo, Poet-HH, Artist-Joohyun, Kimchi Power Kyeongbae, Glasses Seohyung, Red Sweater-Keundeok, Perpetually Sick-Byeongmin, Sits-by-HH-Euigi.

We just did Scattergories and the bomb game, but they were in a great mood. I have a scracthy throat today, and they were very sensitive about it and behaved wonderfully. We had so much fun with people stealing each other's ideas and people trying to get attention--Kimichi-Kyeongbae is a wild child when he wants to speak out.

HH was in fine form today. Instead of raising his hand to answer Scattergories, he sat there and rattled off lists of items that matched the category--dozens of items each time. Show-off. When I needed someone to write down the team's points, he volunteered. But since I wouldn't listen to him and count "tea" as a dessert, he snuck and wrote "tea" on the board with the other dessert names, just to prove he was right. I shoved him slightly for that, and he was happy.

The new kid I met is Euigi, who sits next to HH and is pretty amazingly smart. It was high time that I met him.


Saw Need-You-Junho in the hall. He smiled and spread out his arms for a bear-hug. I smiled and kept walking. I may occasionally hug the 1st-grade babies, Junho, but if you're taller than me and are known as the king of the entire 2nd grade, you're officially not a baby anymore.


In 1-9, 1-10 B there's Laryngitis Seonghoon, Teddybear Deokryung, 8-bit Glasses-Seonghyun, Wide-Eyed Joonpil, Tan Skin-Sanggyu, Baby Deukhee. Crazy-Hair Yooseok (sits by Sangyu), Glasses-Right-Side-Daejeong, Friends-With-Seunghoon-Hyunseok.

And though they didn't want to pay attention at first, and though the audio in their room is busted, they got into Scattergories pretty intensely. 8-Bit-Glasses-Seonghyun didn't want to participate, but after I went back to his desk and patted his head and asked him a question directly, he was raising his hand all the time after that.

Governor-Yunho also didn't want to say anything, so I repeated the action of going back and patting his head and asking him a question directly, and that got him into the game. Teddybear-Deokryeong was excluded by the other kids. Tan-Sanggyu didn't even want Deokryeong registered as part of Team 1 (Sanggyu was their unoffical captain) even though D was clearly sitting in Team 1 territory.

After class, there was the maddest rush for candy I've yet seen. Every teaching website says that offering candy turns kids into monsters, and it's sorta true, but when I consider that these children do not have much to brighten their day, I can't find it in me to stop bringing the candy.

So Team 2 got their candy, then all the kids I know by name managed to tell me their favorite color in English, so they got candy, then a few random kids who I don't know got a piece for saying their favorite color. But soon I decided it was time to leave. I had to save some for later, and we were done. But when I announced that I was leaving, one kid with a duck printed on his shirt shoved my arm and yelled, "WHY?" I slapped the palm of his hand hard, then pointed to myself and said, "teacher," in Korean, as in "you don't behave that way to teachers."

Duck-Shirt nodded and started to move away, but I could see that he was about to cry. I called him back: "Ori! ("duck" in Korean). What's your favorite color?" He said it, and I dug out another candy to give to him. The students can't act ugly and get rewarded, but I also don't want to shut down a child who for whatever reason has attached more-than-usual significance to winning something sweet.

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2 PM: Final class went fine, with Big-Eyes  Injae, Dongjun (looks like Sooncheon), Yoopil (sits behind Dongjun), Snappy-Seongsu, S-Line-Dongjin,  and Tan-Glasses-Taekyoon.

Snappy-Seongsu and his whole crowd of cool kids decided they were flat-out not participating, but the other half of the room was going mad for Scattergories and the bomb game. There were two kids on Seongsu's side who would answer questions if directly asked, so I did a lot of direct asking.

At the start of class, Dongjun informed me, "Play movie! If...no movie, then...I'm not study! Understand?" I didn't take his ultimatums too hard because he was talking to me with his arms tucked inside his puffy purple thermal vest, so he resembled a tall penguin with glasses and blinky-eyes.

Taekyoon was the new boy I learned in this class. He's smart and happy and participate-y, and Smart-Yeongjoon introduced me to him in the hallway. I'm also nearly 100% certain that the next thing Yeongjoon told me was I smell good, but he wouldn't repeat his statement when asked.

Annnd after not saying a single word in class, Seongsu got up to worse trouble. While I was coming back from my after-lunch walk with O-Teacher I saw Seongsu smoking in the 2nd-floor boys bathroom. I told Mr. B about it, and he checked the situation out and said he caught two of the guys smoking. Gosh.

Before lunch, I also eventually pulled Shotputter-Jinseong off yet another kid. The kid was smiling, but he couldn't get away. Jinseong outweighed him by like 80 pounds, and he had the kids legs pinned, and his arms, too. Jinseong doesn't need to get his fun by keeping other people where they can't escape. So I got one of Jinseong's hands and held it until he agreed to let the kid go.

I wonder if Jinseong gets much love from his mother. He's always kind to me, but he's so big he could break bones, and he seems to want affection, but all his physical expressions seem to be negative. Does anyone hug him? Do they pat his back and tell him he did a good job at his sporting event? Does he receive positive attention at home or is he ignored?

Played UNO with Yeonghyo, who was waiting for me at the math room with additional 3rd-graders. "Teacher, new players!" Yesterday, it was just me, Yeonghyo, Jinhwan, and Inhak, and today we added Tiny-Mimic-Jaehwan and two kids whose names I don't recall.

Tiny-Mimic-Jaehwan does a killer impression of not just my voice, but everybody else's, and he's small enough to be a 1st-grader. We had fun, and I've been informed that they will come looking for me after lunch tomorrow. Card-playing funtime with Leigh-Sem is not an event to be missed, if you're a compatriot of Yeonghyo.
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3:40 PM Played more UNO in the special needs room. Jaehyung, Byengsu, Inha, Spritely-Yeongchang, C-Class Minwoo and Teddybear-Deokryeong all crowded around a table and we had fun. Somebody said "I'm sorry" in English, and we all ended up singing the chorus of an older Korean pop song that starts with those words: "I'm so sorry but I love you, da gojitmal...iya mollaseo ijeya araseo niega pilyohae.." (basic translation: "It was a lie when I said I didn't love you, because I was ignorant, but now I understand things better". It was a great moment in UNO history. Very emotional.

Before we left class, Inha was calling Seongwonnie his "1 dollar toy" in English while pushing him around, basically saying that Seongwon's cheap and you can do whatever to him because you can always find more 1-dollar toys. It would be funny, since I know that Inha truly does care about Seongwon and is a real friend to him, but it hurt to hear. Way too many people treat Seongwon like he's not valuable. The kid already looks like he thinks of himself as a piece of busted-up plastic--he doesn't need to hear that confirmed.

Spritely-Yeongchang told me in Korean that he sees me in the ____ coffeeshop all the time. I told him it's my favorite, and through O-Teacher I told him he should stop inside and say hi next time. He nodded and said he would. What. have. I. done. The kids are already in the convenience stores and gimbap restaurants.
 If they have permission to follow me into coffeeshops, I'll have no boy-free refuge left in town!

Funny moment: earlier today, I thought Need-You-Junho was going to greet me again, but his attention was focused behind me, on B-Teacher. Junho said, and I quote, "Yo, whattup bro my man? Teach me dougie?" The dougie is a hip-hop dance, and B-Teacher is African American and was cracking up at Junho's little speech, so I'm guessing that this particular piece of racial stereotyping in Junho's standard greeting for him. I get extravagantly flirted at and B-Teacher gets the "yo yo my bro-man" stuff. Junho's command of the English language is limited, but wildly entertaining.
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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

10-23-13 My Church, UNO with 3rd-Graders, and Sharing Food

8:30 AM: Walked out on the school's porch to find Shotputter-Jinseong sitting on some kid. But the kid was almost as big as him and when I asked how he was, he didn't look upset, so I'm going to assume that this is Jinseong horsing around with friends, not Jinseong bullying people.

With Jinseong, I saw Giant-Shion. Yesterday, he didn't come to class for his 3rd-grade speaking test, so I had to fill in the lowest grade for him. I asked him in Korean why he didn't come to class yesterday, and he said he was playing sports. *sigh* I really wish Shion would try harder, but I don't know what's going on with him.

Saw Acapella-Hyunho in the hallway and gave him a hug. He's a 1st-grader and a tiny child, and he always greets me sweetly in English. Yesterday, he saw my cross necklace and said, "Teacher! You go church?" I said yes, and he said he goes to church, too.

I haven't mentioned my church much yet, but I've found a great English-speaking place about a hour hour away by train, and on Sunday, I got there by myself for the first timeout of three visits. I got turned around in the subway, but it went okay. Next week, I should be having lunch with the praise and worship team, so hopefully I'll get to meet more like-minded people--I've already met several lovely families, plus other grade-school teachers and college professors.

Sunday, the message was about being vulnerable for Jesus, about being willing to open yourself up and give to him. It absolutely convicted me, because I often want to just stop giving to the tough kids. But I don't think that the impulse to withdraw and ignore tough people is godly at all. The Lord never stops giving to me, and I shouldn't stop giving back to him or giving to others.
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10:40AM 1-1, 1-2 B was great. Co-Teacher wasn't there for the first 20 minutes. They're a rowdy bunch, but I managed to get them interested in Scattergories. And they went loopy over the bomb game. I think threats of bodily harm were exchanged at one point. We had a fun time.

2-3, 2-4 A was good.

I had to confiscate Hyun's playing cards because while the boys can run free in afterschool, there's got to be a limit in regular class, and KBR-Teacher wasn't there to help me regulate them. They had fun, though.

BY was my scorekeeper for the game, and when I asked if he had any magic tricks today, he said, "Well, if you really want to see more, I suppose I can show them to you next week..." And suddenly he's the benevolent entertainer, bestowing magic upon the masses at his leisure.

And Tall-Yoonjae struck up a conversation with me! Of all things. I sat down to get my computer in order and he asked if I knew the song "The Fox." I said I did, and he said it was very funny and interesting and the he doesn't sing it, but he likes listening to his friends singing it at noraebang. What a sweet kid. I'm not used to the students trying to start actual conversations with me.

Although yesterday on the walk home from school, I had a great talk with Saturday-Jeongmin. From the school gates to the bus stop, we discussed Halloween traditions and how hard it is to carve pumpkins. He said he tried to carve a pumpkin just once in his life, and it was so arduous, he slept for 13 hours afterward. I asked him how he was doing and he said this:

"I'm doing fine, but...it's Tuesday. People say that Monday is bad, but I think that Tuesday is more bad because it's three days until weekend. But tomorrow will be Wednesday, and Wednesday's not as bad."

Why so adorable, Saturday-Jeongmin? I feel like I'm missing out on so many delightful things the boys might say because I don't have enough of their language to really hear them speak their minds, as Jeongmin can do in English.

11 hours of sleep and still sleepy. One more class, then I can rally myself over lunch.

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1 PM Definitely feeling better after lunch! It was very filling and I'm more energized.

2-9, 2-10 started out rough, but got better. Mr. B wasn't there with me in the beginning and only 4 boys wanted to participate. They weren't bad boys, but it's kind of draining to conduct a class for so few. But after Mr. B stepped in for two minutes, they got into it.

In there: Sweet-Afterschool-Jinseop, Sangwoo and Seulbin (smart guys), Tall-Roundface-Minchan, Braces-Donghyuk, Tan-Frontrow-Byeonghyuk.

 The new names I got were Minchan, a big kid who never participates but did today, Donghyuk, a boy with not just braces but silver tooth fillings who always looks like he's hurting, and Byeonghyuk, a smart boy who sits in the front and talks nicely. After class, I saw Minchan in the hallway, and said, "Hello, Minchan!" He gave me the widest smile, and I don't think I've seen him smile before.

After lunch, my C-class boys were playing outside and I leaned out the window to ask if they wanted to play cards, but they said they couldn't because they actually hadn't gotten their lunch yet. Which kids get to eat when is strictly regulated because our cafeteria can't hold them all at once. Oddly enough, BY was hanging out with the C-boys...maybe they're in the same numbered-class and that's how he knows them.

Saw Saturday-Jeongmin and told him I was think about an art project for Saturday class. He said, "I think that's good. Though what to you think about making candy?" Ooh, good idea Jeongminnie. Maybe for the following Saturday class. Saturday-Jeongmin was standing next to Baby-Hyo in the lunch line, and I like the idea of them hanging out.
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1:30 PM Played a few rounds of UNO with one of my favorite 3rd-graders, Yeonghyo, and his two friends Jinhwan and Inhak. Every time I'd send a bad card his way, Yeonghyo would whine "Teacherrrrr...." It was fun. And O-Teacher was nice enough to let us use her room to sit and play. The 3rd-graders tend to get into trouble when they just have free time to roam, so I was glad that this time they were in a safe place, doing something friendly.

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3:20 PM 3-1, 3-2's speaking test went pretty well. They, at least, prepared for it, unlike yesterday's boys. And only one kid failed! And nobody cried! It was lovely. They kept shuffling out into the hall, despite all best intentions to keep them inside, away from the speaking-test area.

The class jjang came outside to sit behind me while others others talked to me, and to play with my hair stealthily, so I wouldn't notice. My hair is attached at the root, kids. I know you're touching it. I handed him more hair and said it was okay to do, whereupon the whole enterprise lost that ooh-I'm-doing-something-I-shouldn't flair and became pretty dull.

We had ten minutes left after all the speaking tests, so I played UNO with them, which is one of the best bonding activities ever. We had a great time and We-Are-The-World-Dongyeong, the class loudmouth, had the time of his life and requested that we play next week, too. Dongyeong got that particular mental nickname because every week in class, he requests that I play the Youtube lyrics video for the song "We Are the World". Of all things.

Piano-Jaehyung came by to ask me to come to class, though we didn't have time to play UNO. We played our cups game and chilled for 5 minutes.

C-class-Minwoo was looking really down. I tried to ask him what was wrong, but our collective language abilities weren't enough to suss it out.

Seongwonie was really upset that we had no time for UNO, and he looked like he was about to cry. He has a big scrape on his chin, which I hope came from falling in PE, but I doubt it.
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6 PM: Afterschool was fine. Seongmo was splitting up a pastry he had brought to class and he broke some off for me, "Teacher...here!" Oh, it was so sweet. I haven't had a student give me food yet, other than Byeonghyun's coffee can.

We tried some new card games and I played the movie Peter Pan for them, skipping some parts because I forgot how racially insensitive the portrayal of the indians was. Seongmo and Jinseop insisted on calling the main characters "Pizza Pan" and "Captain Chicken," and as soon as Peter appeared on screen, another kid pointed to the screen and said, "Taehoonie!" See, I'm not the only one who sees Peter Pan when they look at Taehoon. Also, Byeonghyun showed up wearing a Bruno-Mars-style fedora.

On the walk home from school I was greeted by A-class Minwoo, he of the pony-fish sounds. I told him I liked his shoes and he replied, "Oh, they're trash," with a smile. Ten seconds later, I could see why he might say such a thing because Minwoo's father picked him up in what appeared to be a Benz. A BENZ.

Also on the way home, C-Class Minwoo said, "Hi teacher." I stopped him on his bike to give him candy, because I had meant to give him some earlier when he looked so sad. Near home, I heard, "Teacher, teacher, teacher!" From behind me and turned to see Taekyeong, Byeongmin, and Keundeok, all from afterschool, happily waving.

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Monday, October 21, 2013

10-22-13 Scattergories, Time With Byeongsu, and Sleep-Debt

10 AM: 2-7, 2-8 B was good. In there we've got: Sweet-Voice- Chansu, Glasses-Intelligent-Jungbok, Jolly-Sanghyeop, Cardsharp-Minsu, Date-Danhee, Loud-Team-Three-Duyeol.

The new name I've got is Duyeol, a smart, loud boy who was essentially the only member of Team 3 and who won 90% of their points for them. When we did the "musical instrument" category for Scattergories, he got out his music book and cheated to get the word "oboe". When the other boys pointed this out, I erased his score for that word.

Cardsharp-Minsu usually doesn't participate worth a flip, but he was participating during the bomb game at the end. And squinting his eyes so terribly...I'm worried about Minsu's eyesight. Date-Danhee answered a few questions, which was good since he's a cool kid who normally doesn't try.

During the game, Sweet-Voice Chansu got so animated, he would stand up to answer questions. When he picked a question that stole points from another team, he was so enthused and ready to rub the victory in, he got up and danced Gangnam Style. This happened in my class. I heart Chansu very much.

After class, when the boys were crowding around for chocolate, I asked the newbies "How many brothers and sisters do you have?" Jiwoong came in and said he had one younger sister. So he's an oppa!

Need-You-Junho came in from the C-class, and I wanted to give him chocolate, so I asked him what his favorite color was, then had to repeat the question in Korean so he'd understand. He said "black," and so did his friend, Boisterous-Jinbong, who I got to write down his name so I'd remember it.
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11 AM: Went down to the special-needs room and played UNO with Jaehyung and the C-class boys, Jeongmin and Minwoo. That marks the sixth Jeongmin and the third Minwoo I know. They were darling. Seongwon insisted on holding our spare UNO cards and dealing out the correct number to the losers. Daesung came by and told me he wanted to play it next time.

And apparently, O-Teacher facebook messaged me to let me know Jaehyung was waiting for me, so I wandered into class slightly ten minutes after he'd been waiting. Little-Byeongsu saw me playing the cups game and he was interested, so me and Jaehyung spent 15 minutes teaching it to him. It was great, bringing in the antisocial one with an activity he enjoyed.
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1:30 PM Secret-Daeho came by and opened my office door just to inform me that he noticed I was wearing skinny jeans (leggings) today, and he approves. My shirt is almost knee-length, so this is still super modest, but I think Daeho just ensured that I never wear this outfit again.

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2:30 PM 2-5, 2-6 A was grand, with Yeongjoon (smart), Tanned-Minsu, Adorable-Insung, Talkative Jinseo, Tall-Gyuchan, and High-Voice Dongheum.

The new name I've gotten is Dongheum, a darling boy who looks like Gyuchan but is more babyish. Class was enjoyable--they went bananas for Scattergories, and we only ended up having time for Scattergories and the bomb game, but everyone was happy. I felt really at home with them. 

They tried so hard to cheat at "Dessert" scattergories, insisting that salad and burritos were considered desserts in Korea. Nice try, cutiepies, but Leigh-Sem knows how desperate you are to win and how few scruples you have about telling untruths.

Smart-Yeongjoon likes my leggings, too. He also thinks we should play baseball sometime near my house, since it's too dangerous to play on the school grounds. Double-no to that one, but I appreciate his ingenuity.

The C-class 2nd-graders are learning the song I'm teaching Jaehyung on the piano--by ear. They can plunk out a fair amount of the melody without my teaching them.

Played UNO with just Daesung and Little-Byeongsu. Byeongsu was laughing and protesting and teasing through the whole game, so he was enjoying the company of others and also having a normal social interaction. I think O-Teacher would be happy. :-)
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7 AM: Updating now because I went for a "nap" after dinner at 7 PM yesterday, and didn't wake up until a while ago. Talk about sleep debt!



Sunday, October 20, 2013

10-21-13 Speaking Tests, Bomb Games, and Seonghak

10:45 AM  First class went gooood. 1-7, 1-8 B has: Hyo, Hyunmin, Cutiepie Best Friends Chanjin & Mingyu, Cool-Hyunjoon, Smart-Stubborn-Hyukjae, Sleepy-Front-Row Moonshik, Next-to-Hyo-Minjoon, Quiet-Sits-Behind-Hyukjae-Hyunwoo, Poet-Necktie-Jangyeop, Tan-Kyeongwon (sits with Hyunmin), Big-Smart-Hweeyu.

The new kid I learned this time around was Hweeyu. He's big enough to be a 3rd-grader and he's terribly smart.

The Scattergories categories were a big success: Sports, Musical Instruments, and Desserts. I looked up the Korean words for each and wrote them down too, in case there was a miscommunication, and the boys jumped right in. The worksheet I chose for them--about recycling--was too complicated, but the bomb game at the end was massively well-received. Hyunmin and his cool crew were crawling over tables to get the right answers spoken first, as if they were A-class.

One 1st-grade child from the A-class came into the classroom at the end and said, "I saw...you! At coffee shop with a friend. My brother and I go by, see you." Awesome that he's got the language skills to communicate that.

Saturday-Jeongmin was coming into class as I was leaving it, and we greeted each other happily. Saturday-Jeongmin doesn't even do high-fives anymore; he goes in for a raised hand-squeeze, like we're bros.

My Lunch Co-Ordinator invited me to her office! It's nice. She fed me grapes, chestnut, and a duck egg, and we chatted in mostly-Korean. She says she has a sister who went to America to study at Duke University, and she has a son my exact age, so she feels like my mother. She also either hugs me or pets my hair when I walk by, like I'm a kitten. It's nice being loved.
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1 PM: 3-5, 3-6 B wasn't a class but a speaking test. The boys came out into the hallway and spoke 5 sentences about their favorite foreign food.

In there: Love-You-Sungjae, Enthusiastic-Yeonghyo, Confident-Hyunjoon, Quiet-Hwangmin, Teacher’s Pet Jeongmin, Braces Sooncheon, Lawyer-Junhee, Interestingly-Cut-Hair-Gyuyeong, Last-Jangwon.

I was given a grading scale of 7-10, and four kids prepared hard and got that 10. Two said only two sentences and got the 7. The 8's and 9's were hardest to figure, but I went with 9 anytime there was doubt. I'm an easy grader.

But poor Last-Jangwon, the kid who went last. He wasn't even going to try until I pointed out to Mr. B that one student on the list hadn't gone. Jangwon stepped outside with a casual expression, like a fun-loving slacker who hadn't practiced for the test and didn't care which way it went.

However, after speaking a couple of loosely structured sentences, he took several long pauses. He said another sentence, then paused for 30 seconds. He said a few words, then his face scrunched up because he was starting to cry. I told him "It's okay" and "don't worry" in Korean, then when he regained his composure, I said "one more" in Korean. Technically, I'm probably not supposed to guide the students in any way, but it was important to give Jangwon a chance. And on his own he moved his 7 up to an 8.

Braces-Sooncheon was the best of the bunch. He said clearly that sushi is his favorite foreign food because he grew up going to his grandmother's house, which was near the ocean, and she often served sushi. My goodness, the boy had reasons for his preference, complete with a detailed backstory! You go, Sooncheonie, you go.

My little friend Teacher's-Pet-Jeongmin barely prepared at all, then expected a 10 as his rightful due. His sense of entitlement is vast--it contains whole mountain ranges of things which are owed to him because he's Jeongmin.

Saw Saturday-Jeongmin again in the hall. He still wants to know what we're doing for this Saturday's class. I told him that I hadn't decided yet. *whimper* Saturday class, again? It rolls around really quick when you fill in for somebody. Whinetime now over. Back to being a big girl.
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6 PM: 2-9, 2-10 A was great. They went batty-bananas over the Scattergories game at the start. Jokey-Yoonseong and the adorable kid next to him were making owl noises through the whole game, begging for attention. It was great, energy-wise. Yoonseong's never been to keen on me, but I passed him on the bridge yesterday and told him I liked his shoes, so I think that made him more attentive.

Clever-Seonwoo from my afterschool was in fine form, answering every question in the world, grinning like a mad man, and making afterschool-related inside jokes that only he and I would understand. Cute.

2-7, 2-8 A was challenging as usual. For an A-class, they sure have behavior issues. BUT. When I revealed the bomb game at the end, the boys in the back rallied to win the thing. My Taehoon was yelling out correct answers and pushing his friends out of the way so he could be seen by me and therefore be heard better...I guess that was his logic.

At the end, the Team 2 slackers won, and they seemed to get a little bit of the point of why they should speak in class and actually, you know, participate, because when they all came by to claim their candy, I only recognized half of them and the rest had to get friends to prove that they were in fact members of team two. I gave them their candy in exchange for learning their names and their favorite colors.

Jiwoong had to bodily fight through 3 of his friends to get candy. I was trying to pave the way for him and he said something like, "Trying!" It was sweet that he knew I would get his candy to him before anyone else got any, because he's someone I know and care for.

Afterschool was good but exhausting. I passed out a worksheet like KBR-Teacher suggested, and 6 of them did it. From this "what do you want to be?" worksheet, I learned that Jinseop wants to be a barista serving up coffee for a living, Seonwoo wants to work for NASA studying black holes because he likes science and space, Seongmo wants to be a cellphone designer, and Seonghak wants to be a good father. Aren't they sweet?

And I even bonded a tiny bit with Perpetually-Sick-Byeongmin, who was teasing me about something. And when I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said "I haven't thought about it yet." Wow. Quite clever. I wasted so much time not getting to know this kid.

I served popcorn and played a movie for the boys, and I'm glad I had popcorn ready because Stoic-Seonghak told me at 2 PM that he was hungry. I said, "But we just had lunch!" He said, "Ate lunch, but I'm still hungry." Poor baby. I gave him extra.

Sanghwa was obviously still somewhat ticked at me for having witnessed his breakdown because when I poured popcorn for him, he didn't touch it. Every other kid dove in, but Sanghwa ignored his pile of popcorn for 50 minutes--then he caved and ate it.

Me and my front-of-the-room crew had fun, as usual. We had tons of new jokes about how Seonghak never wins, how Jinseop is sneaky, and how Seongmo's pouty when he loses.

Seonghak's nickname is "crane" like the bird, because the "hak" syllable means crane. They tease him about this. When I asked Byeonghyun what he did this weekend, he said he played soccer. Seonwoo said he hung out with a friend. And before Seonghak could answer the question..

Me: "Seognhak, what did you do this weekend?"
Seongmo: "Flying."
Byeonghyun" All he can do is fly."
Seongmo: "And lose."
Seonwoo: "You can't never win, Seonghak!"
Seongmo: "This weekend he flew to America. Caw, caw!"

Seongahk had the last laugh though, because he won.

I'm exhausted after today. The boys needed a lot of attention today, and normally I feed off of their energy, but Mondays are the hardest day. But! Today in the halls I was greeted by more students than ever. After 2 months of teaching, I know enough of them to greet bucketloads of them, and I smile at the ones I don't know. I'm in the process of becoming one of their people.
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