11:00 AM Wow, in just two class periods All The Things have happened, and they were good things.
For 1-1, 1-2 B, we had fun and the four names I learned last week really paid off because I got to acknowledge every kid by name. Got four new names, too--Chaeho, who is smart and has a freckle by his eye, Squarebuzz-Daehwan who has a very geometric haircut, Penguin-Jaeyeong who is really fun, who the other kids say looks like a penguin, and who is a pathological liar, and Hwangheok, a sturdy kid who sits in the front row.
At the beginning of class, Proposal-Heejoon kept trying to come inside with his smooth, "Whassup-baby-hey-man-teacher" lines, insisting the he was A-ban and should be in my class. I kept gently pushing him out of the room and confirming that this was B-ban. I had a good time working with the kids on their way-too-easy worksheet, which they had a nice laugh over.
At the end we had five minutes left for the forest game, and they were rapt. I even stayed 2 minutes after class was over, to let Bowlcut-Soonhyuk play a little more and to let the kids in my class have a chance to explain the game to the other kids who flooded our room.
For a few minutes, I observed 30 fascinated 1st-graders oohing and ahhing over the slow mystery of the game that unfolded on the projector. Then I thought I heard a distant "I love you!" and I looked up to see a quiet kid in the doorway, separated from me by a lectern, a dozen students, and ten yards of space. He looked neglected, but he shot me a "heart sign" with his hands and I sent one back to him, which made him break into a grin.
2-3, 2-4 B was good. They mostly slept, but I enjoyed the kids who stayed awake. And I seem to have won a small corner of Sanghwa's heart.
I walked into class to find a student I don't know writing something pretty racy on the chalkboard in English. It wasn't about me, so I wasn't offended--I just waltzed past him on my way to the lectern and said, "Wow! Your spelling is really good," with a big smile. The boy blushed 14 shades of red, erased the board, and went to sit down in deep embarrassment.
But Sanghwa was laughing so hard, tears were forming. He repeated my statement, "Your spelling is really good!" like it was the funniest thing ever. I think he appreciated my humor, and it was just a huge moment for us, because I like people who think my jokes are funny.
AND when class was close to finished, I asked who wanted to play the forest game, and Sanghwa volunteered! Volunteered. I know, I'm shocked, too. I just realized that Sanghwa's class never got play the forest game because they were on a field trip last week on the day I was supposed to teach them. But they've heard about the game from everybody and their cousin, and Sanghwa's watched Jinseop play it in afterschool.
I got to hang around the computer with Sanghwa, Scorekeeper-Yoonseok, and Redhair-Joonyoung as they debated the game rules. It was just heavenly, standing by my boy and offering him game advice while he asked questions in both languages.
Had to give B-Class-Minwoo and Birthmark-Joonsang a very calm set-down about English obscenities. They were wanting to show me some cool expressions they had learned, and I'm about 5 miles past remotely caring if people curse around me, but as a native speaker and as a woman who is trying to teach the boys how to interact with women in the future, I wanted them to cool it.
I think they understood--there are harsh words that seem interesting, but we do not use them around girls. It is not nice. It is not good. You must not say them. And they're honestly darling boys, just mischievous. They also asked me the English word for "steal" because Joonsang had stolen Minwoo's pencil case and he wanted the proper vocabulary to tell me about it.
New boys in class: Smart-Jiseung (loves my limited Korean and compliments me on it), Yongmin (nickname: Dragon, because "yong:" is Chinese for dragon), and Afro-Woojae (the child has an afro, there's no two ways about it).
Also, during class, Sanghwa came running up to me with a "Sem! Joonyoung loves you!" and he handed me a piece of paper with a heart drawn on it, with the words "I love you" and Joonyoung's signature on it. I said, "Oh Sanghwa, I think you wrote this." Because when one kid says another kid loves me, it's usually a forgery by the kid who is passing along the message. But...I looked over and Joonyoung was hiding behind someone else's desk, shyly finger-waving at me. Huh. Maybe he really did write the letter.
At the beginning of class, Joonyoung asked me for a chocopie and I told him I didn't have any. Sanghwa said, "Sweetheart?" hopefully when I started talking to the two of them, but I'm not sure why. Obviously, he's also noticed that I call my favorites "sweetheart," but I also call them that when I'm handing out food, so maybe he associates the word with mealtimes, now.
So goooood classes. One more before lunch!
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2 PM: Back home already because I had no more classes to teach and my Vice Principal said I could go home. Going to rest and work on test questions, since I have tomorrow off too, and it's a perfect chance to get work done.
I taught 2-9, 2-10 A and....well, you can't win 'em all. JY-Teacher was helping me and she had to leave early. I told her we'd be okay, but we weren't. they ran wild and we 15 minutes of me explaining why watching the cartoon with the graphically dismembered bunny rabbits was a bad idea. Then I caved and told them they could watch a couple minutes of it, only to be saved by a slow computer that wouldn't load it.
Ugh. I hate it when I'm wishy-washy. In the USA, I felt like I was so unflinching and set in my ways, I could be unbearable. Here, I have to work hard to not slide toward whatever the kids want to do. That was a fail on my part. Gotta do better.
But, but, but I did spend quality time with some of the boys. Joker-Yoonseong seemed super-gratified that I was finally acknowledging his awesomeness and spending time. He kept doing little annoying things to make sure I was paying attention, and I wasn't upset--this is us getting to appreciate each other.
And I finally officially met Yoonseong's friend Joonseok, who is quite intelligent and looks like Changyo, only even more adorable. Also met Sits-by-Seonwoo-Minjoon and Green-Jacket-Gyumin. I enjoyed talking to those guys.
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5 PM Just recalled two more cute incidents from the day.
I was walking down the 1st-floor hallway with my hands in my coat pockets to keep out the cold, when Spritely-Yeongchang looped his arm in mine and escorted me down the hallway. Like Baby Korean Mr. Darcy or something. Two of the male teachers walked past us, about to break into laughter, and one of them questioned Yeongchang about it, to which Yeongchang replied something nonchalant that I didn't understand--"Just taking care of Sem" or "Yes, we do this all the time," or something of that nature.
Then outside as I was leaving school, I waved at Braces-Donghyuk and said bye to him by name. He and his small friend-group followed me down the soccer field a few paces and I heard the words "nae ireum" ("my name") being said by Donghyuk and he reassured the kids with calming hand gestures. Then he looked toward me and asked, "My name?"
I said "Donghyuk," a little louder, so his friends could hear it. They reacted with delight, and I said, "Yeah, I know him." Donghyuk is a nice kid who sometimes looks pained and sometimes sleeps in class, and I never would have pegged him as a kid who cared whether I knew his name. I was glad to be able to do anything to make him happy.
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