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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