11 AM: First classes were okay.
Gave a spelling test to the 1st-graders and discovered that that the kid I'd been calling Sungmin for 3 months is actually named Sejoon. Baby lied outright about his name and nobody corrected me. Oy. So I started calling him "gojitmaljaengi," which means liar, and he found this to be hilarious. One of the jjangs, Sangho, had the best English of anybody, much to my shock.
But while I was administering Won's test, I saw the worst case of student-disciplining I've witnessed so far. I was sitting in the hallway at a desk, interviewing Won for the speaking test, when one of the sweet little female teachers of the 1st-graders came out into the hall, screaming at Puppy-Jinho, who I teach on Tuesdays.
I have no idea was he did, but he was getting cursed at pretty severely and she was hitting him as hard as she could with the stick that all teachers carry. He was wearing a giant puffy coat, but lots of blows were landing on his legs and he was crying. It just went on and on...kids from another classroom opened the windows to see what was going down. I really hope he did something horrible to deserve that. Isn't it awful to be hoping that Jinho hurt another student or stole money from teachers or something equally severe? But that's the only way that what I saw makes sense.
When the tests were over, Proposal-Heejoon came out into the hall to tell me he loves me and he also loves chocolate. I had assumed that Heejoon was an A-class 1st-grader by his willingness to speak English to me, but he's in C-ban. When I asked him my name, he didn't know it, opting to call me "PrettyTeacher".
2-3, 2-4 B was dull as tombs. But I did get in good speaking time with Sanghwa and Joonyoung, though Sanghwa finally did move seats to get away from me. The pressure was just too great! And I did get some good moments with B-Class Minwoo and Joonsang, who love me and I them. They said, 'If we not...play..game, we........very sad." It was emotional blackmail of sorts.
Tall-Sweet-Junho (who is not Need-You-Junho), B-Class-Byeongyoon and Little Jongseung did well on their worksheet and when I wrote "good job" on it, Junho protested, "Not good. I want "great!"" I marked through the first word and wrote "great" instead.
Had some good interactions with Good-Speller Taejoong, a boy who seems to adore me now that I embarrassed him over something inappropriate he wrote on the blackboard two weeks ago. Teasing equals love for this one. Afro-Woojae did an awesome job with his worksheet, Jiseung was charming, and I wish we'd had more to do in class.
Sunny Wooseok came into class at the end, and at both the end and beginning of class, Inha and Yeongchang came in to tell me that they were B-class and wanted to stay with me (it's not true--they're A and C-class, respectively).
Yeongchang has also gotten immensely jealous over the fact that I hug my female friend, O-Teacher. He was protesting that it was improper, but O-Teacher and I explained that it's an American greeting and I gave him a quick hug, which was more like a collision of two giant puffy coats because we're bundled up for winter, even in the special needs room. That pacified him enough that he was done with fussing and was back to following me everywhere, like a puppy. But a really massive puppy that gets in your way and is stronger than you and has a thick winter coat. Like, I don't know, a malamute or something.
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2 PM: Well. Lots of good things happened, but it was exorbitantly tiring for moments.
2-9, 2-10 A was going well until Joker-Yoonseong decided to eat some of the pieces of Apples to Apples paper, and to throw the rest on the ground. Seriously. And he wouldn't pick them up. JY-Teacher kept Yoonseong and 5 other boys for eight minutes after class was over, lecturing them about their disrespectful behavior.
The main force of her argument, from what I could understand, was that I had worked hard to make things for them. That I had a difficult time because I was living in a new place, but I always tried hard to prepare things for them. Her words were so sweet, I got a little misty. It also made me feel kind of fragile to be defended like that--I must not be doing too well if I need my big-sister figure to take care of me like that. She made them apologize to me, too.
But at lunch, JY-Teacher told me, "Don't worry. You must understand that the students are just like that. It's not you. In my classes, too, they don't listen to me and they're always doing things I don't want them to do. I end most classes with yelling at them. And remember that many students love you. They want to learn English with you and because of you." I assured her that I was going to be okay and that I wouldn't give up. I thanked her for her kind words.
At lunch, 3rd-Grade-Jimin said hi to me in the lunchline. He said it was nice to see me. I said it was good to see him again, too. He said, "This is our sixth meeting." JY-Teacher overheard that and said, "He's counting each time you meet? That's weird." I said I thought it was cute and she replied, "It's like being a stalker." Heh. Plenty of the kids have stalky tendencies, but Jimin's not one of them.
Saw Byeonghyun briefly in the office when he came by for some other business. I smiled and said, "I miss you! Even though it's only been one day, I miss you." I was being funny, but I did mean it. He said, "I missed you, too."
Also, when I walked into 2-9, 2-10 A, Seonwoo started singing "Joah" to me. He and the entire two front rows alternated between chorusing "guys!" in a Southern accent and singing bits of the song as I set up my computer. Seonwoo was having a grand old time with this new thing he's found to tease me about. Seonwoo loves to laugh, and looks for excuses to joke--I'm just pleased that he's choosing to interact with me.
When class was over, Seonwoo got a piece of chocolate from me, then came back begging for another one, please, please, please? Child thinks I have a soft spot for him and that he can get nigh-on-to-unlimited candy just by being polite and precious. He's not wrong.
After lunch, I played spoon-cards with Byeongsu, Myeongchun, and Daesung and I was tired and ended the game when Myeongchunnie had to go to lunch. I was walking down the hall to go back to the office when Talkative-Jinseo spotted the card deck and spoons in my hand and asked what they were for. He said he wanted to play, so we marched right back to the conference room and played.
With Jinseo was C-Class Seonghyun, not to be confused with A-Class Diamond-Seonghyun of 2-7, 2-8 A or 8-Bit-Glasses-Seonghyun on 1-9, 1-10 B. This Seonghyun was in my afterschool class but only came 4 times out of 40 class periods. Not kidding. But when he came, I fed him. I was thrilled that spoon-cards gave me the chance to interact with C-Class-Seonghyun.
Sunny-Wooseok joined us too, and before long Dokyung, Byeongkeun, Jinhwan and Jaehwan filed into the conference room, looking betrayed once more to find me already playing with 2nd-graders. I managed to integrate the two age groups, so 3rd-grade Jaehwan, Jinhwan, and Daesung played nicely with 2nd-grade Jinseo, Seonghyun, and Wooseok and me. We had a grand time.
Wooseok is facinated by my foreignness, in a darling, inoffensive sort of way. He halted one card game so he could get a better look at my eyes, murmuring "eye color..." in Korean. I said, "chorok-sek"(green), he said no, they were "paran-sek"(blue), but insisted on green and Jinseo settled the matter--my eyes are green. Their eyes are "kkal-sek"(brown) and my hair, Jinseo says, is "geum-sek"(gold/blonde).
Wooseok has also been amazed at my nose for quite awhile--when I turned in profile to him, I look back to find him tapping a forefinger against the bridge of his own nose, like he's comparing them. I've never given any thought to noses, either my own or anyone else's,but the boys have determined that I've got a good nose.
Wooseok started saying something to Jinseo in Korean about how he guessed that foreign people often had unusual eye colors, but he's got a really ghetto vocabulary and he used a swear word for "foreign people". He immediately corrected himself when he realized what he'd said in front of me, and I told him I forgave him. He truly didn't mean harm, and I like the idea of being one of the people who makes Wooseok realize that foreigners are people. Just like him, but with weird eye-colors.
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4 PM: Ah, Jimin isn't Jimin, he's Juseong. My bad. Jimin and Juseong are in the very same class and they look remarkably similar, but it's Juseong that keeps track of our meetings, which are now up to 7 since I had his class today.
For 3-1, 3-2 B, I was supposed to have a movie but Yoonseoppie couldn't get the tv cable to work, so we had nothing. I offered to play spoon-cards with three of them, and soon it was spoon-cards with eight of them because 3-1, 3-2 B knows how to participate! And their jjang is fond of me, which helps with partcipation.
I started playing with Wooyoung, Cheolmin, and Juseong, and Juseong was floored when I called him "Jimin". He looked like I'd cut out his heart with a rusty spoon. But further discussion revealed that he didn't know my name and that both he and the class jjang decided that "Juliet" was closest to correct. The jjang is Sungyeong, and I don't really know for sure if he runs the show, but he's the loudest and most boisterous and the other kids follow his lead in most everything. So.
Sungyeong couldn't bear for fun to be happening without him, so he quickly came snooping around the card game when it was clear that we were enjoying ourselves. I had to beg him to play, but that's what he wanted--to have his presence so desired that he was forced to submit to the will of the adoring masses. He learned the game fast and soon he was running the game. I still decided who shuffled and who dealt in what direction, but for most intents and purposes, it was Sungyeong's game.
Mr. B had to tell my crowd of boys to be quiet three times because every time Sungyeong would win, he and his three best friends would stand up and cheer. Gosh, but they're loud. Donghyun and Joohyun and Yeonghwan also joined, and five other kids watched the proceedings excitedly. Everyone gathered around for chocolate afterward, saying please properly.
In the hallway, Strong-Donghwi found me, as did Playground-Youngjin and America-Hyunkyeong, so there was a big free-for-all of fifteen 3rd-graders crowding around trying to out-polite each other in their requests for chocolate and their correct remembrance of my name. I gave extra to Donghyun and Sungyeoung, because "play cards together," as they said, which entitles them to a bigger share. Secret-Daeho was mortified to have to say "may I please" because he thinks he's above formal requests, but he wants chocolate bad enough to humble himself.
Later, I stepped outdoors to enjoy a moment of sunshine on the porch and Camera-Mingyu asked "what are you doing?" Hyunkyeong followed up with, "Prettygirl, pretty pretty girl!" I said I just wanted to be outside. Hyunkyeong mimicked my voice and I good-naturedly called him "babo," expecting him to continue walking off to play soccer. He doubled back to make sure I knew what I had said to him. "Babo...stupid. Yes?"
I smiled and poked his jacket sleeve. "Yes, stupid!" I was joking and he pretended to pout over it, but I also knew that I'd better verbally backpedal quickly because although the "stupid" doesn't carry the same insult-weight in Korean as in does in English, my Hyunkyeong is C-ban, and he's naturally sensitive about it. I said, "No, you're very smart. Dokdokhan haksaeng." He gestured toward his face and asked hopefully, "Handsome?" -"Yes, you're handsome, too. Jalsaengitda." So long as I was complimenting him, he figured he might as well get the full array of praise. So I'm never calling any of the kids babo again, on the off chance that it might hit home with some of them.
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7:30 PM Afterschool went okay. They did a different worksheet from yesterday, then we tried to watch a movie but I'd picked the wrong file, so we just hung out for the last 15 minutes and played spoon-cards. I fed them chocopies like I did with my old kids, and I'm gradually getting some names.
Joohyuk is funny--he said, "Who are you? I want B-Teacher..." It was very sweet. Jungwoon is smart and cute, Jinsu is thin and is constantly teasing the other students, and everyone accuses Hyungsoo of liking me. Yoodam outright said "I like you" and threw me heart sign with his hands.
Again, I hope to find something interesting for them to do, something they'll like. Maybe I'll bring the spare art supplies for them tomorrow. They're my new kids and I want to do good things for them.
Saw Junho and his crew downtown when I was heading out to eat dinner.
Junho: "It's my girl!" *high fives me*
Me: "Junho, hi!"
Seongsu: *points to Junho* "Teacher, he smoking!"
Me: *ruffles Seongsu's hair* "Yes, that's bad. He shouldn't."
Dongjin: "Hello, my wife!"
Me: "Hi, sweetheart."
On the walk home, BY was disappointed because I saw him before he could surprise/scare me. He's thrilled with the fact that now, minus crutches, he can sneak up on people. HH met me at the bus stop to give me a high five with both hands, which is apparently our thing, now. Saw Saturday-Jeongmin briefly in the hall--his hands were covered in colors, so he must have come straight from art class.
I had to remember to thank the Lord for my boys today. I try to bless them, but they are a blessing to me.
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