10-17-13 Jeongmin and the Umbrella, C-Class Boys, and Chocopies

10:45 AM Two good classes!

2-1, 2-2 B was nice, with Shotputter Jinseong, Thank-You-Minseop, Taylor-Swift-Yoontae, and Twin-Seungho, and I learned three new students.

Cutie-Hyunki has, obviously, a very cute face and next to zero English. Last week, I thought he was one of the sullen kids because he sat with a group that never voluntarily talked in class. But I think now that they never talk because they have no words.

Hyunki was paying attention to everything I said, even though he didn't respond in the early games. So when I passed out worksheets, I went straight to sit by him and work with him. Even with me explaining every question in Korean, he still called over a buddy about four times to re-explain it in clearer Korean. His friend filled in his answers, too, but I still counted it as points for Hyunki's team. I'll remember him in the future--he's not a genius kid or a flashy kid, but he responds well to time and attention.

Hyunmook is a smart boy who sits by Twin-Seungho. Hyunmook had a lot of answers to give, and he seemed like a very amiable, likable kid--he also had the best English is his small know of friends.

Yonghan has glasses and is smart.

Shotputter-Jinseong was reading manhwa, but I went over and did part of his worksheet with him. I don't ever want to overlook him because he isn't trying in class. He's still important.


Next, I taught 1-9, 1-10 B, a group of my favorite 1st-graders. They are: Laryngitis Seonghoon, Teddybear Deokryung, 8-bit Glasses-Seonghyun, Wide-Eyed Front-Row Joonpil, Tan Skin-Sanggyu, Baby Deukhee. Crazy-Hair Yooseok (sits by Sangyu), Glasses-Right-Side-Daejeong, Friends-With-Seunghoon-Hyunseok.

The three new names I've got are Daejeong, who has glasses and sits by the right sight of class, Yooseok, who has a bit of an afro and sits with Sanggyu, and Hyunseok who is besties with Laryngitis Seonghoon.

Baby-Deukhee wasn't in class, and Governor-Yunho didn't speak, except to call me to help with his worksheet: "Juliet....Juliet...Juliet!!!!!" I was helping Daejeong at the time, and Yunho's friend died laughing when I turned and answered, "Yes, Romeo?" But then Yunho started punching his friend for laughing, and Co-Teacher had to split them up.

Teddybear-Deokryeong sat by himself in the front, but was single-handedly winning the compound word game for his team for a while. That's my boy.

I think some enterprising 1st-graders actually managed to steal what was left of my bag of candy at the end of class--because I had a bag with about 10 pieces in it and now I don't. But whatever. They can have it. :-)


When I walked into my office this morning, a little purple umbrella was sitting on my desk, along with a chocolate bar. Saturday-Jeongmin had returned my property, complete with a sugar-filled repayment. Sweet, sweet, sweet.
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1 PM: Saturday-Jeongmin came by my office in person to tell me that he felt guilty for taking my umbrella. I showed him my spare umbrella, told him I'd gotten a ride home from another teacher, and told him the candy bar had been delicious. I could see that Jeongmin was really burdened with guilt over the umbrella issue. Darling boy. It's really amazing to me that any kid can worry over an adult like that--most kids can't see past their own immediate needs to realize that other people have problems.

2-5, 2-6 A went fine. I had just enough candy left to go around. In there: Yeongjoon (smart—inside jokes), Tanned-Minsu(sits in back), Adorable-Insung, Talkative Jinseo, and Tall-Gyuchan. The new name I learned was Tall-Gyuchan, who is a very nice boy I've recognized by face for three weeks. It was high time I learned him.

Yeongjoon is one of my favorites because he's so intelligent, plus he makes jokes with me about things I said or about movie clips I showed in the past. Even if his English isn't on par with boys like Byeonghyun and Seongmo, he knows how to chat. He asked if my hair was different today, and it is--I straightened it. He also said we should play baseball together. I asked, "Eonjae?" (when?) and he said, "Every day!" Guess I'll bring my glove tomorrow and see if he's free.

Some of the boys in the class misunderstood the worksheet question "What would you do if you were kidnapped?" and thought it meant "What would you steal if you could get away with it?" Answers ranged from cars to video games. Still other boys interpreted the question as "Who would you steal if YOU were a kidnapper?" Answers were hilariously creepy. The joys of teaching English as a second language.

But we had a bucketload of fun.The boys were really involved with the games and didn't want to stop Scattergories. They requested that I divide them into teams by class--the boys of 2-5 versus 2-6. It made the final game way too close in scoring, but it worked out, overall. Nice that they had an opinion about how they should be split up.

There is a boy with long hair who always makes a point to bow to me in the lunchroom. I must find out who he is.

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3 PM Spent a massive amount of time in the special needs room. Played piano with Seongwon, moving his fingers along the keys despite the fact that his hands feel like he washed them in a mixture of dirt and fine-ground cornmeal. I disinfect heartily afterwards, so it's all fine. Seongwonnie likes individual attention but he also likes causing a ruckus, so he'll really only bother to learn stuff when few other boys are watching.

Piano-Jaehyung and I played a lot of piano and I spent a full class period with him, teaching him a game that involves cups and clapping. I hoped to teach it to the other boys when they got back, but half of them were in a throwing-stuff mood.

Met a new boy named Minwoo (he's the third Minwoo I know), who hangs out in the special needs room. And I've got Spritely-Yeongchang's name down in my memory, too. The reason I'd never seen Spritely-Yeongchang before is that he's 2nd-grade C-class, like Seongwon. I would never interact with this boy if it weren't for UNO games and talking in the special needs room.

My Document O' Kids has 105 names in it. One-oh-five. Whew. And I easily know 30 other kids who arent't in the document, who I never teach. 100 names in two months...maybe I can bring it up to 200 by December. :-)

My Vice-Principal taught me some new Korean phrases, using grammatical forms he knew I'd been studying. He also showed me a bicycle (fastened to a pole behind the school), give me the lock combination and said I could use it. I'm not sure what to do. On one hand, it would be really convenient; on the other, I don't know whose it is and whether I'd be putting somebody out if I borrowed it.

My VP asked what I thought about Korean students and I said they were noisy. He said they were rude, too, then I said, "Sometimes noisy, sometimes rude, and sometimes wonderful." I told him I had a lot of favorite students. He said that he knows I try really hard to be good to them. He said I should ask Co-Teacher if I need stickers or pens or other supplies, and she'll buy them for me. He's very thoughtful.

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6 PM: Whew, back at home! I have three more names of C-class boys: Round-Myeongchun, Black-Hair-Jeonghyun, Buzzcut-Yeongshik. They really want me to remember them and so help me, I'm trying. I don't know how many adults they have who care about them, and one more couldn't hurt in any case.

Before afterschool, Stoic-Seonghak came downstairs to say in his uber-deep voice: "Teacher. Key." He carried my computer upstairs while I went to KBR-Teacher's office to get the key. He just came to see me because he needed the key, BUT he still came to see me. Seonghak saw there was a problem and went to find the solution, even if it meant using English. So our UNO games have done some good--they've made me an approachable person for Seonghak.

In class, I brought Chocopies, an almost exact equivalent of Moon Pies, for each boy. I'm sure most of them couldn't care less, but they all ate them, and there was a possibility that some of them were getting hungry. So.

I made the mistake of joking with Seongmo that Byeonghyun was my favorite. That was definitely a mistake because Seongmo's every bit as awesome as Byeonghyun and he wants recognition badly. But when Seonwoo told me he wanted to kill Seongmo, I said, "Good luck with that--he's really strong." And Seongmo himself overheard me, snapped his head up and said "Thank you," so maybe that evened things out a little. I reeeeally shouldn't talk about favorites, though, even in jest. It's quite a serious matter for some of them.

And again, just as I was concerned about not schooling them enough, I asked Jinseop where he was going after afterschool. He's going to a hagwon--a private academy--for English and math. My boy is at school from 8 AM to 5:15 PM, then takes a bus to another school for who knows how many hours. I feel ill, just thinking about it. If Jinseop was your kid, how you you stand to send him out all day like that? To have him never be with you?

The more I learn about these boys' lives, the more I feel like their mom/sister. I say it all the time, but I've got to pray more for them. I've got a bunch of little C-class boys who feel like they can swarm around me and talk and be appreciated, and Piano-Jaehyung will just stand beside me in the hall for forever, like we're friends.

Sad news is that O-Teacher, my very dear friend, is only a substitute for the regular special-needs teacher who has been out on maternity leave. The regular special-needs teacher is coming back the first week of November, and I'm wondering how that will change things. I'll be minus one friend because O-Teacher will go to another school, and I kind of wonder if it will change how much I get to see the special needs boys.

I asked O-Teacher if maybe she could write a letter for the regular teacher, explaining who I am and that I want to spend time with the boys, so that she doesn't return to her school and find some random foreign woman hanging out with the kids, teaching them piano and playing UNO.

O-Teacher's worried about Little-Byeongsu. Schoolwork-wise, he's the most advanced of the special needs boys, but socially, he's way behind Jaehyung. Jaehyung cares and about people and smiles and engages, while Byeongsu...doesn't. O-Teacher says that when Byeongsu has free time, instead of playing or drawing or snacking or listening to music, he sits and does nothing. And Byeongsu's not even far into the autism spectrum--he can make eye contact and talk like a regular person, he just chooses to do nothing. O-Teacher says she's afraid he does this at home as well; sits down, and simply exists, without doing anything stimulating.

Also, O-Teacher tells me that while Chanyeong and Joonsung's parents have had them tested and know their placement on the autism spectrum, Jaehyung and Byeongsu's parents do not know (or perhaps merely do not acknowledge) that their sons have learning disabilities. From what I'm told, their parents know that they're in special classes, but they think it's more like C-level class than like classes for children whose minds simply do not operate like everyone else's do. How can the boys get personalized therapy and educational aid if they aren't tested to see where the gaps are? Anyhoo. Not my business.

Going to meet KBR-Teacher tonight for language study! She'll work on English fluency and I'll work on the most basic of basic Korean sentences. I can't wait.
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