11:45 AM Oh, this morning I was heartbroken. I walked into 1-3, 1-4 A to find a large 1st-grade boy slapping Walk-to-School-Minki repeatedly.
It was in the back of the class, but even when I shouted at the boy in Korean to stop, he kept smacking Minki's face, which was red and covered with tears.I ran to the back of the room and pulled the bigger boy away, still shouting "What are you doing?" in Korean. The boy let me move him away from Minki, but he was seething with anger, like he'd been defending his sister's honor or something.
We just stood there for a full minute, the big boy glaring hatefully at Minki, my hands on the boy's shoulders to keep him in place, Minki sitting in a chair next to me, crying. Finally, Co-Teacher got to the room and I explained to her that the bigger guy had been hurting Minki. Minki left the class, presumably for the nurse's office, and the bigger boy was made to do punishments in the hallway--not sure what.
The rest of that class was awful. 1-3, 1-4 A's TV doesn't work right, so my lesson was ripped to pieces since none of the visuals could work and we couldn't play our game. By the end of class, I had one kid throwing paper airplanes, four kids loudly requesting that I play "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, and two kids standing on tables. Oh, I'm doing a bang-up job as a teacher, by all evidence.
But I did get to bond a bit with Bossy-Dongseok, Loudmouth-Sangyeop, and Round-Faced Heesu from that class. We had a good time talking together. Next week I will remember that their classroom has no video and I'll prepare something else.
After my second class, I went to the 1st-grade wing and found Minki--I knew he'd be either in 1-3 or 1-4, I just wasn't sure which. I slid in next to him at his desk and gave him candy, since he hadn't gotten one in our class. He looked so much better and he brightened up with the candy. Dongseok came over and sat by us, since Dongseok can't stand anyone getting attention when he's not in on it. When I left a few second later, Minki called out "Thank yoooou!" What a sweet baby. And he's so tiny. How could anyone hurt him?
2-1, 2-2 B was a little better. The class has Shotputter Jinseong, Thank-You-Minseop, Taylor-Swift-Yoontae, and Twin-Seungho (who is half of the only pair of twins at school). 1/3rd of the boys read manhwa (comic books) through the whole class and didn't bother to participate, but the rest of them were fairly interested. I was trying so hard to keep my energy up when I was still ready to cry over Minki in the last class.
The activity was over their heads, but they like the "Price Is Right" money guessing game at the end. And during a video, I played my English Word-Korean Word game with Yoontae, who I hadn't gotten to speak to before.
This morning, O-Teacher told me that the bullying problem with Seongwon is an ongoing issue. He comes from a poor family and O-Teacher says that his parents have told him not to hit anyone back, because if the other kids parents decide to sue, they can't pay for it. I wondered if Seongwon could just stay away from the 3rd floor where the big kids are, but O-Teacher says that a little 1st-grader once threw all of Seongwon's spare clothes in a toilet, so the problem is not confined to a floor of the building or an age group of children. I need to pray.
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3:30 PM: Well, 2-3, 24B was another massive technical glitch. The internet in their room was busted, so I couldn't play any videos, just my powerpoint slides. Several of the boys were into the games, though, including one of my favorites, Tall-Sweet-Junho who told me loudly at the start of class, "I WANT TO PLAY GAME. READY." Hurrah for enthusiasm, Junho. Class went okay but not smoothly, and Magician-Byeongyoon came into class at the end. He still has a cast on his foot, but his crutches are gone, so he can move around better.
Then I had 3-7, 3-8, 3-9 B, but one of the three classes was on a field trip, so there weren't many guys. We had a lovely class, shockingly, and they liked everything we did. I never thought I'd see the day when my 3rd-graders comprised the best class of the day, but they really did this time.
Secret-Daeho wormed his way into class for his second round of candy this week. He's not even in my class, but he always shows up when there's candy to be had. Secret-Daeho was walking with me down the hall and when I greeted Hyunkyeong and Sooncheon, he said that I should "pay attention to only me". Cute.
Then I thought I had lost Daeho when I was on a different floor, asking another 3rd-grader from my class what his name was. The boy told me and I repeated his name to get it in my memory, but I forgot it when Daeho suddenly came up and said, "His name not important! Only my name. I am special--only one who is special." Sadly, his interruption strategy is fairly effective; I can't remember anybody else when Daeho is butting in and talking over them.
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