11:00 AM First class was good! Little 1-7, 1-8 B is a great place to be in the mornings.
In there: Hyo, Hyunmin, Cutiepie Best Friends Chanjin
& Mingyu, Cool-Hyunjoon, Smart-but-Stubborn-Hyukjae, Sleepy-Front-Row
Moonshik, Next-to-Hyo-Minjoon, Quiet-Sits-Behind-Hyukjae-Hyunwoo,
Poet-Necktie-Jangyeop, Tan-Kyeongwon (sits with Hyunmin)
We had a nice class. Hyunmin's team won again, and though they were trying their hardest not to care at the beginning, they got caught up in Scattergories pretty quickly and they even began to police the Compound Word game, protesting when other kids got too long to answer their questions. There are few things as fun as watching the overly-cool kids getting invested in something.
I hated that Smart-Stubborn-Hyukjae's team worked so hard and answered every last question, just to have their points switched at the last minute, but Hyukjae wasn't bothered--he knows the way to get candy after class, even if you don't win. Today, he lined up his three best friends and instructed them on how to answer my question, "Who is your hero?" -"My hero is Iron Man!" "My hero is Won Bin!" "My hero is youuuu!" Explosion of cuteness. Candy dispensed everywhere.
Then the A-class kids roll in, asking things like, "Oh teacher, I like candy very much because it tastes good. Do you mind if I have some candy?" Beautiful English, and I have to act like I'm not impressed because my B-class boys are watching, waiting to see if I fawn over the smart kids. I don't. The A-kids don't have a better shot at candy than the B--everyone can answer the questions I pick.
Saturday Jeongmin was coming in from another class and he followed me out to the hallway to tell me, "Teacher Leigh, Saturday was really fun. I enjoyed it. What are we going to do next time?" Oh, you darling, beautiful child, I can't bear to tell you that preparation for Saturday class is quite arduous and is the opposite of HappyJoyFuntimes for me.
But! I was really touched when it dawned on me...there's a kid who's looking forward to what I do. I made his glum Saturday nicer, which is what I was aiming for. I so appreciate Saturday Jeongmin's sweetness and his reminder that this isn't just a job for me--time with the boys can be something I look forward to, something I try to make good for everybody. It's a chance to bless them, and to be blessed, if I'll accept it.
----------------------------------------------------
1 PM: 3-5, 3-6 B was good. They've got Love-You-Sungjae, Enthusiastic-Yeonghyo, Confident-Hyunjoon, Quiet-Hwangmin, Teacher’s Pet Jeongmin, Braces Sooncheon, and Lawyer Junhee.
I wrote down four new names--Juha, Chanwoong, Sangwoo, and Jonghyun, though now I can't remember which kids they go with.
They did pretty well with Scattergories and flipped out over the Compound Word game. My little favorite, Teacher's Pet-Jeongmin, wouldn't do his worksheet, but he would earn his team points by shouting out answers and he represented his entire side of the room in a rock-paper-scissors face off to determine who earned the right to answer a question. He cheated at rock-paper-scissors, too! Boy is shameless.
Confident-Hyunjoon told me, "Teacher, accent is very difficult." I don't know if I was being especially Southern this morning, or if he was just being picky. My money's on the latter, because he was full of sass today. The 3rd-grade boys asked if my makeup was different today, and sure enough, it is just subtly different, but I didn't think that boys noticed that sort of thing. They noticed my cross necklace, too, and were asking if I was a Christian. I think they may be mega-observant of details, and I just don't perceive it at all times.
------------------------------------------------------
6 PM 2-9, 2-10 B was fine. Fully half the kids laid their heads on their desks and slept, but those who were invested in class were really, really into it. We had fun.
2-7, 2-8 B was also good. Everyone was awake, and they were super shouty and interested. High-Voice-Chansu, when asked what he would do if he had only one month to live, said "I would plant an apple tree." Dawww at the cuteness. We-Go-Date-Danhee's also in this class, and he sat by Jolly-Sanghyeop and did a good job with his paper. Smart-Jungbok had a lot of good answers and kids that don't normally speak were answering. Now, that I think of it, it was a really beautiful class.
After 2-7, 2-8 B, Jiwoong and Taehoon rushed up to tell me the name of their hero so that they could get their candy. They both named famous Korean historical characters.
Saw Piano-Jaehyung in the hall. He asked "Jibe gayo?" or "Are you going home?" I told him mournfully in broken Korean that no, I was sticking right here for afterschool.
Saw S-Line-Dongjin in the hallway. He said, "Hello, Leigh-Teacher! My honeyyyy..." It was such an unexpected new endearment, I turned around and said "What?!!??" at the same time that every other boy in the vicinity spun around to ask him, "Mwo?!!??" (Korean for "what"?). It was pretty funny.
Double-afterschool was fine. I played the boys more Star Wars and this time I brought a massive bag of popcorn for them. I spread out paper towels and poured everybody a little lump of popcorn. While getting his popcorn, Letter-Byeonghyun said, "I love you. I mean it, I love you so much." Joker-Seongmo said the same. Behold, the power of food.
I thought I'd brought way too much popcorn, but every boy had seconds and most of them had thirds, and some of them still wanted more after I'd given the last to Jiwoong. Upon hearing that Jiwoong had gotten the last of the popcorn, Byeonghyun moved to the back of the room to sit by Jiwoong and eat his stash.
I got Joon to play the word game with me, but only for 2 minutes. He's hard to engage, but I tried. I played the word game with Seongmo, then I flipped it around where I'd write a word in Korean and he'd have to write it in English. I teased him mercilessly for not knowing "선풍기"(seonpunggi) in English. It's "fan," as in ceiling fan, and I've heard him say the word fan before, so I know it was just a brain blip. Soon, Letter-Byeonghyun, Stoic-Seonghak, and Clever-Seonwoo were all playing the game, laughing over words they spelled wrong and words I couldn't recall.
Somewhere during break, Seonghak disconnected our movie and I couldn't find the internet link again, so we just sat in silence and played UNO. I played with Seonwoo, Seongmo, and Byeonghyun, but soon we pulled Seonghak into the game, and though Assistant-Seongyeol claimed he would only watch, we got him in the game, too. It was my intention to involve other people, but Cardsharp-Minsu was playing his own game with Hyun, Sunbin, and Seonghyun, and Joon wanted to be left alone, and Jiwoong and Taehoon were happily chatting in the back with their friends--somehow my afterschool classroom collected an extra 3 boys from I know not where.
So we had fun. I fed everybody, I talked to everybody, I heard a lot of "please" and 'thank you" from Taehoon and one begrudging "please" from Jiwoong. Clever-Seonwoo, who had never seemed too thrilled with me, was smiling and talking and laughing up a storm as we played the game. Seonwoo complained a few times in the past about never winning games, but he won UNO three times in a row. The six of us were talking in a mix of the two languages, and it was a light, enjoyable time.
My longest day of the week went well!
----------------------------------------------------
1 PM: 3-5, 3-6 B was good. They've got Love-You-Sungjae, Enthusiastic-Yeonghyo, Confident-Hyunjoon, Quiet-Hwangmin, Teacher’s Pet Jeongmin, Braces Sooncheon, and Lawyer Junhee.
I wrote down four new names--Juha, Chanwoong, Sangwoo, and Jonghyun, though now I can't remember which kids they go with.
They did pretty well with Scattergories and flipped out over the Compound Word game. My little favorite, Teacher's Pet-Jeongmin, wouldn't do his worksheet, but he would earn his team points by shouting out answers and he represented his entire side of the room in a rock-paper-scissors face off to determine who earned the right to answer a question. He cheated at rock-paper-scissors, too! Boy is shameless.
Confident-Hyunjoon told me, "Teacher, accent is very difficult." I don't know if I was being especially Southern this morning, or if he was just being picky. My money's on the latter, because he was full of sass today. The 3rd-grade boys asked if my makeup was different today, and sure enough, it is just subtly different, but I didn't think that boys noticed that sort of thing. They noticed my cross necklace, too, and were asking if I was a Christian. I think they may be mega-observant of details, and I just don't perceive it at all times.
------------------------------------------------------
6 PM 2-9, 2-10 B was fine. Fully half the kids laid their heads on their desks and slept, but those who were invested in class were really, really into it. We had fun.
2-7, 2-8 B was also good. Everyone was awake, and they were super shouty and interested. High-Voice-Chansu, when asked what he would do if he had only one month to live, said "I would plant an apple tree." Dawww at the cuteness. We-Go-Date-Danhee's also in this class, and he sat by Jolly-Sanghyeop and did a good job with his paper. Smart-Jungbok had a lot of good answers and kids that don't normally speak were answering. Now, that I think of it, it was a really beautiful class.
After 2-7, 2-8 B, Jiwoong and Taehoon rushed up to tell me the name of their hero so that they could get their candy. They both named famous Korean historical characters.
Saw Piano-Jaehyung in the hall. He asked "Jibe gayo?" or "Are you going home?" I told him mournfully in broken Korean that no, I was sticking right here for afterschool.
Saw S-Line-Dongjin in the hallway. He said, "Hello, Leigh-Teacher! My honeyyyy..." It was such an unexpected new endearment, I turned around and said "What?!!??" at the same time that every other boy in the vicinity spun around to ask him, "Mwo?!!??" (Korean for "what"?). It was pretty funny.
Double-afterschool was fine. I played the boys more Star Wars and this time I brought a massive bag of popcorn for them. I spread out paper towels and poured everybody a little lump of popcorn. While getting his popcorn, Letter-Byeonghyun said, "I love you. I mean it, I love you so much." Joker-Seongmo said the same. Behold, the power of food.
I thought I'd brought way too much popcorn, but every boy had seconds and most of them had thirds, and some of them still wanted more after I'd given the last to Jiwoong. Upon hearing that Jiwoong had gotten the last of the popcorn, Byeonghyun moved to the back of the room to sit by Jiwoong and eat his stash.
I got Joon to play the word game with me, but only for 2 minutes. He's hard to engage, but I tried. I played the word game with Seongmo, then I flipped it around where I'd write a word in Korean and he'd have to write it in English. I teased him mercilessly for not knowing "선풍기"(seonpunggi) in English. It's "fan," as in ceiling fan, and I've heard him say the word fan before, so I know it was just a brain blip. Soon, Letter-Byeonghyun, Stoic-Seonghak, and Clever-Seonwoo were all playing the game, laughing over words they spelled wrong and words I couldn't recall.
Somewhere during break, Seonghak disconnected our movie and I couldn't find the internet link again, so we just sat in silence and played UNO. I played with Seonwoo, Seongmo, and Byeonghyun, but soon we pulled Seonghak into the game, and though Assistant-Seongyeol claimed he would only watch, we got him in the game, too. It was my intention to involve other people, but Cardsharp-Minsu was playing his own game with Hyun, Sunbin, and Seonghyun, and Joon wanted to be left alone, and Jiwoong and Taehoon were happily chatting in the back with their friends--somehow my afterschool classroom collected an extra 3 boys from I know not where.
So we had fun. I fed everybody, I talked to everybody, I heard a lot of "please" and 'thank you" from Taehoon and one begrudging "please" from Jiwoong. Clever-Seonwoo, who had never seemed too thrilled with me, was smiling and talking and laughing up a storm as we played the game. Seonwoo complained a few times in the past about never winning games, but he won UNO three times in a row. The six of us were talking in a mix of the two languages, and it was a light, enjoyable time.
My longest day of the week went well!
----------------------------------------------------
