10 AM: Great early class with 2-7, 2-8 B, mainly because B-Teacher had already given them their speaking test yesterday, so all I had left to do was play them a movie.
They had seen it before, but not all of it, so we skipped halfway through and they were pretty well enjoying it. I sat down with Date-Danhee, Jolly-Sanghyeop, OMG-Joonwoo, and Sweetvoice-Chansu to play UNO. We had the best of times. There was much laughter, and they used a lot of English, too. Danhee asked Chansu the word for "weekend" in English (it's "jumal" in Korean), and then told me that he'd seen me on the weekend, walking with a friend. Since my hair is visible from 3 kilometers away on a foggy day, this was no surprise.
I'm getting to really love Danhee. He's such a vibrant little person. I asked all the boys at the table how they were doing and got responses like "good" and "very good" and "okay" but Danhee said, "I'm happy," and he really does seem happy.
We got into a discussion about Sports Day which is tomorrow, and I asked if we played against another school, but they said no, just within the school because it's only college sports teams that play against each other. They loved the sound of inter-school sports, though; their eyes lit up at the thought of competing against another group of kids. I did hear that some students from the girls' middle school will be coming to our school on Thursday, Danhee's girlfriend among them. I wonder if I'll get to see Jeongin and Dabin and my other Saturday girls, too? That would be delightful--girl company is pretty special.
After 2-7, 2-8 B was over, the 2-7 A kids swarmed the classroom, with Jiwoong and Taehoonie at the forefront of kids beseeching a chocolate reward. I made a big production out of telling Jiwoong that I was hurt because he didn't get me anything for Pepero Day, therefore he shouldn't get chocolate now. If it's possible, I think he blushed before recovering that "I...it doesn't matter!" I finally let Jiwoong and Taehoon get their chocolate, after teasing them a bit.
Baby-Minho stood on a desk to get my attention (he's a 2nd-grader, but small enough to pass for elementary school), Tall-Jeongwoo (who's name I can never remember) made sure he didn't go unnoticed, and Boisterous-Jinbong boomed out, "Oh, how beautiful you are! Beautifullll!" until I basically fed him to get him quiet. Fun-Hyunmyeong got a very interesting asymmetrical haircut recently. I think it was on purpose, but it's hard to tell. Anyway, he has the personality to pull it off.
Saw Redhair-Joonyoung on my way to school. I was talking on the phone with my mom, then I heard "Heyyy girl..." from behind me. I though it was Dongseok again, but the number of students who could potentially be addressing me as "hey girl" is growing, sadly. But I like Joonyoung and I like how he always makes a point of talking to me. I told him to have a nice day, and he had to ask Afterschool-Jeongmin what I meant, them seemed satisfied with the translation. It's lovely when the students build on each other's knowledge of English to figure out new phrases.
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11 AM: May have my school computer fixed, now. LJY-Teacher, friend of BR-Teacher, helped me get a new battery.
Other things I recalled: Yesterday, when I gave my B-class 1st-graders a speaking test, I asked "What do you think of school uniforms?" which was a grammar form they had learned many times. I was thrilled to get answers like "I like school uniforms" or "I don't agree with school uniforms," but more often than not I'd get one-word negative answers like "don't" and "not".
When I asked Saturday-Jeongmin about his own speaking test yesterday, he replied: "Oh, yes, B-Teacher asked us "What do you think of school uniforms?" and I said, "I don't like school uniforms because it kills our creativity."" WOW.
.....This is not to imply that the B-class kids aren't wonderful, because they are. I know how hard it is to learn a 2nd language, and I'm linguistically struggling just as much as they are, if not more. I just want to highlight how stunning Saturday-Jeongmin is, not just his language ability but the way his mind works.
In my last class, once I called all my card-players by name in turn--Sanghyeop, Danhee, Joonwoo, and Chansu--they all oohhed and ahhed and Danhee said "Very smart!" I told them I wasn't that smart, but it just goes to show how much they're struck by being remembered.
Saw Giant-Shion in the hall. As he ran past, he sang, "Hello Leeeeeigh........Teacherrrrr." I sang back, "Thank youuuu," basically in gratitude that he eventually added the "teacher" part. 3rd-graders and their willful ignorance of formalities, oy. But you gotta love Shion; he's clearly a precious sort of boy.
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2:40 PM: 2-5, 2-6 A's speaking test went well. As always, I loved talking with them one-on-one, but wished we had more time. These are some of my favorite 2nd-graders, so I really like hearing what they're good at and what they want to be when they grow up.
Saturday-Jeongmin, Yehoon and Woohyuk came by to play the forest game again. Jeongmin linked his arm in mine in the hallway, further cementing how buddy-buddy we are. He's been watching Youtube videos related to the game, so we got to discuss pop culture and other people's opinions of the game. I got another choice of Jellybellys from his stash, and he warned me to avoid the cinnamon ones, because they're nasty.
Was up in the 1st-grade wing and heard "sem, sem, semsemsemsem..." Turned around and Dongseok was waving adorably.
In the hall today, every time I've passed Need-You-Junho, he says "It's my girl!"or "my girrrl..." This is new. And I now realize it has been a steady verbal progression: 2 months of "I love you, I need you!" a week or two of "You my girlfriend, understand?" and now things are official. Junho is satisfied with the development of our courtship. Like the five stages of grief, I started out with Denial: "No, I'm not," then passed into the Bargaining phase: "Not unless you give me some pepero, I'm not," and Junho has determined that I've now reached Acceptance.
On a sadder note, just after lunch, I saw Baby-Hyo crying in the hall in front of the nurse's office. My friend O-Teacher was talking to him. When she left, I sat by him and put my arm around him for comfort. He didn't push me away, but he didn't lean closer, either. I knew someone had hurt him. He had a taller friend with him and the friend walked him down the hall to Mr. B's office.
That got me even more worried--Mr. B is the guy you report school violence to. Not just a punch in the gut or a kick in the shin; those happen to everybody all the time. Destruction of property, stolen money, and real, serious hurt and damage are what he deals with. I waited nearby, watching for Hyo to come out.
Then when I went by Mr. B's office again, Hyo was filling out a report, a formal piece of paper stating what had happened, but I couldn't read it. I gave Hyo a pack of Oreos, because it was all I could do. Later, I wrote a note to take to Hyo, offering to help (in English, unfortunately), but he was already in class when I visited the 1st-grade wing. I'm praying for him, because I'm so worried about that baby. Hyo's in the same class as Saturday-Jeongmin...maybe I can ask my Jeongmin to tell me how he's doing and if he needs anything.
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5:20 PM Bwahahaa, no afterschool today! They let us out early, and I walked home in a bigger than usual crowd of young'uns.
My last class was just showing a movie to the 3rd-graders. The only one who wanted to play UNO with me was Jaebom, who is a bit of a genius. When I put in the movie, he was the only boy who looked bored to tears and he literally leaped up when I asked if he wanted to play UNO.
For the life of me, I can't figure out why Jaebom is B-class, because he has a clever brain, and his English is better than almost any B-class I've met. We discussed Sports Day and why it's not wonderful because his class only gets to play two games, and how he prefers soccer to basketball, but not because he enjoys soccer but because basketball is just that much worse.
We talked about family, how he has one older brother, and about movies, how I had already seen Thor at the Megabox and liked it, and how he still wanted to see it because Marvel is cool. He's ready to go to high school but hasn't picked one yet because high school doesn't start until February. We laughed a lot over sudden turns in the UNO game and he tried his best to get other kids to join, but nobody wanted to try. I begin to think Jaebom's one of the coolest 3rd-graders we've got.
And great news! Hyo is fine. I finally got to go to his class to deliver the letter, which the other kids promptly stole, chanting "Love letter, love letter, what say?" Saturday Jeongmin was there to translate, though. When I walked into their class, he said, "Oh, hello Teacher. What letter is it?" I later realized that when I've gone to 1-8 class with a letter before, it's been for him, so he might have felt let down.
But Jeongmin walked to the bus stop with me today, so he was well provided with teacher-time. He was out of breath from running to catch up with me, but he told me that Hyo was fine and that the issue "was already solved". Apparently, it was something involving property, not involving physical harm, and their homeroom teacher already took care of it.
As I walked with Jeongmin, I heard someone loudly clearing their throat behind us. It was Secret-Daeho, who walked past us, continuing to clear his throat and not responding when I greeted him, as if to say "Why are you walking with that 1st-grader when you could be experiencing my 3rd-grade awesomeness? Never mind, I didn't care anyways."
Jeongmin was more than pleased to hear that one of the other teachers has to attend a wedding, so I'm filling in on this Saturday. "Oh good! This means I get to be in your class!" Gyah, at the cute. The relentless cute.
When Jeongminnie and I parted ways, I crossed the street and looked across the road to see...Jaehyung and Byeongsu! I've never seen them on the walk home before because they get out of school quicker than I do, but they had already seen me and were hiding behind a signpost to surprise me.
I motioned them over, and they crossed the street. I had no idea where they lived, but I told them they could walk with me. We walked together and talked as much as we could, because they have 20 words in English apiece. Somewhere along the way, B-Class Minwoo joined us and I told the boys that if they were hungry, I'd buy them gimbap at the convenience store. This was finally communicated through extensive gesturing, and the four of us entered the GS-25 to buy gimbap and juice boxes.
My usual check-out lady happily talked to the boys, seeming thrilled that they were here with their teacher. I walked the boys down to another convenience store where they had plastic chairs outside. Minwoo had to ride onward, but I sat down with Jaehyung and Byeongsu and ate. It wasn't too cold, not yet, and it was fun getting to eat together. They either live in the _____ apartments or across the bridge, because they kept walking past the Paris Baguette when I turned back to go to my apartment. I felt extra-blessed somehow, getting to walk home with my boys and also getting to buy them food and sit with them. It was a lovely day.
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