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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