11 AM: I'm exhaustifried, but happy.
2-1, 2-2 B was quite good. We didn't even play Apples to Apples--just did our worksheet and got chocolate for it, but all went well. They were wonderfully well-behaved and I got to interact with about 15 of them, so it was wonderful.
Minseop was darling and respectful, as per usual. Yonghan gave me a piece of his own chocolate cookie-crisps, which was extra sweet because Yonghan's been kind of a bossy, grabby kid in the past, demanding candy instead of asking. Today, he held out his hand and shyly offered to share his crisps, and I begin to think that Yonghan's just a Gifts person. Small objects matter so much to him, he gets overly demanding. I'm glad I took a little time to remember Yonghan's name and to give him chocolate in the hallway, because it seems to have softened his heart.
Worked with Comics-Joon on his paper, a boy so dubbed because he's never done any work in a single class I've taught him. He reads manhwa and doesn't look up. That's fine because I have other kids to work with, but today I decided to be brave and try working with him. It went fine! He's not a rough delinquent! Though why that should bother me even if it was true, I don't know, because some of my favorite students are rough delinquents.
Had fun with Twin-Seungho and Cutie-Hyunki, because Seungho has next to no English and Hyunki has, for all purposes, no English at all, so I had to use boocoodles of Korean. My language skills are getting honed to a fine point thanks to teaching B-level and playing games with C. Seungho cracked me up by saying "If I were you, I'd give up" to the "I forgot to do my homework, what should I do?" question. He seemed deeply gratified that he made me laugh.
And Hyunmook's in this class, but I get him confused with Taejoong from 2-3, 2-4 B, and I don't know how to keep them straight. Yoontae was darling. Seungho filmed me helping another kid, then ran the phone clip through a visual filter that made our heads look like aliens. Pretty hilarious.
For 1-9, 1-10 B I did a speaking test. Governor Yunho's still calling me Juliet. Baby-Deukhee and Teddybear-Deokryeong and Hair-Yooseok and Tan Sanggyu and Laryngitis Seonghoon and 8-Bit-Glasses Seonghyun were all great. AND I discovered that one of my new afterschool boys, Hyunseok, is in this class. I've been teaching him for 3 months, but when he got to afterschool I couldn't tell if I taught him before or if I'd merely seen him in the halls a lot. He's funny and has the best English in his class.
In the special needs room, it's Jaehyung's birthday! Yayyyy! He must be a really young 2nd-grader because he's only just now turning international-age 14 (Korean 15). We're having a birthday party at lunch time, and Jaehyung told me he expects a "saengil seonmul" from me--a birthday present. Fortunately, I think I have some little things tucked away in my desk for just such an occasion.
Gave Giant Shion chocolate in the hallway. Technically, I think I have him for 3-4, 3-4 B but he's only come to class two times in the past several months, so. But Shion is such a beautiful kid, so sweet and respectful. He always bows when he sees me, and he lights up like a sunbeam. Chocolate is the least I can give to someone so kind--I always feel better after seeing Shion.
Yeongchang is now expecting greeting-hugs as his rightful due. So long as winter lasts, that sounds fine by me. Does Yeongchang get hugged much at home? I feel like he can't go 30 seconds with pushing or hugging the other boys, and can scarcely go longer without nudging my arm or bumping into me. He's just a Touch person, like HH likes Words and Yonghan likes Gifts and Mimic Jaehwan's got have Quality Time. Everybody needs something to make them feel cared for.
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1:45 PM Well, I got Jaehyung's present to him (a tube of blue bubbles with a lid shaped like a star), but I missed the cake they had in the special needs room because I was playing cards with the 3rd-graders and Wooseok. I kept meaning to disperse everybody so I could go to the party across the hall, but I felt like my 3rd-graders needed me.
Today it was just Jinhwan and Jaehwan who came to get me, but when we got to the conference room we were soon joined by Model-Seokho. I was so excited! I've been hoping for the longest time that I'd get to spend time with Seokho, and I finally did. He played about 3 games of spoon-cards with us, then left and was replaced by another C-class 3rd-grader named Geonhee,
And for the whole time, Sunny-Wooseok was with us. This morning, Wooseok peeked through the office doors while I was running the copy machine, then just kept opening and closing the door a few inches so he could smile at me. I stepped closer and gave him a high five, then he trotted off. Wooseok really is a beautiful child. He's not physically little and doesn't have one of those high voices, but you can picture exactly what he looked like as a baby because he still has bright eyes and cute baby cheeks.
Wooseok made it a point to speak with me as much as possible during the card games, but all in Korean because he's C-ban. He was trying to figure out where I lived, and I told him some locations that I was near. He must live close because he knew where everything was. He also asked if I lived alone, and when I said yes, he asked if it wasn't scary living by myself. I told him that it honestly wasn't.
Keep in mind that the whole conversation from start to finish is happening in Korean...
Wooseok: ":Do you have any Korean friends?"
Me: "Yes, a few."
Wooseok: "Do you have foreigner-frends?"
Me: Yes, lots of them."
Wooseok: "How many people?"
Me: "20."
I asked Wooseok if he had any foreign friends and he said no, looking like it was a funny question because of course he doesn't get the chance to meet middle-schoolers from other countries. I indicated myself, then said, "There is one American friend". He looked confused for a second and we got caught up in the card game. I thought "Oh that was the wrong thing to say, because the word "friend" implies that you're the same age."
But when the next round of cards was finished, Wooseok was grinning from ear to ear. "Korea, America," he said. ".....friend?" I nodded yes, that he and I could be friends. When the game was over, I told him to follow me to the office if he wanted chocolate, and he came along. Wooseok's very special.
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