I didn't have a co-teacher, but you don't hardly need one for this stuff. It's just games. Changyo kept score for me, and I rewarded him with extra chocolate, since it's not the world's funnest job and he was missing out on the energy of being in the crowd. Chansu always goes bonkers over answering questions, and Hojin physically cannot keep himself from blurting out answers when it's other teams' turn. It's pretty cute.
Cardsharp-Minsu is always too cool to participate at first, but he did eventually answer a few questions and when Duyeol protested that Minsu shouldn't get chocolate because he wasn't really a fully participating member of team 2, Minsu replied very seriously in Korean that he himself had been the one to correctly answer "Skype," so Duyeol better shut his face. This was in Korean, but that was the general tenor of the conversation.
Minsu's super cool friend Do-Il started participating, too, he just couldn't think of answers as quickly as Hojin, Duyeol, and Jaeseok, all of whom are knowledgeable and loud. I kept encouraging Do-Il by making eye contact and asking the questions to him specifically, and he started smiling at me before long.
Met a new kid, Yellowjacket Minsung, in this class. I've recognized Minsung by sight for forever, but recently he's been trying to get closer, to be someone who answers questions and makes eye contact and approaches me for chocolate.
At the end, we played 10 minutes of Cat Mario and I watched in glee as Jungbok, Chansu, Changyo, Joonwoo, Hojin, Duyeol, Danhee, and Sanghyeop took turns and lost and lost and lost. The game is designed to make you lose, but that's the fun of outwitting it. They kept "quitting" dramatically, only to march back up and get in line for another turn.
The A-boys came in at the end and Jiwoong, Byeongjo, Jeongwook and others crowded in to tell me what they wanted for Christmas and thus get candy. Mostly, they want computers and cheesecake. Cheesecake. Youngmin snuck in and elbowed the B-class boys out of the way so he could play Cat Mario and show off his hard-won knowledge of the game from yesterday.
And on the walk to school, Kyeonghyun from Monday 3rd-grade gave me this Monopoly piece we had lost:
In this Monopoly game, we collect tiles representing brands, and some tiles are more expensive than others. After 20 games played with various teenagers, I was pretty pleased that we hadn't lost pieces yet. I never expected this game to last forever. So yesterday when the "Transformers" franchise piece was gone for the lunchtime game, I just accepted the loss and used a substitute.
Kyeonghyun found it. He found it and carried it with him all day, keeping it in his pocket until he could give it to me. I was so surprised when a voice said, "Leigh Teacher," and Kyeonghyun produced this tiny little playing piece! It was so touching that he saved it and made a point of getting it back to me.
I went back upstairs to deliver A-class Minwoo his "encouragement note" from exam time, since the note I meant for him actually went to B-class Minwoo. Yesterday, A-class Minwoo told me, "Teacher, lying!" because I told him I had a note for him but he never got it, so today I sat out to right the wrong.
I went into Sam-ban (class 3) and Byeongyoonie told me that Minwoo wasn't there. I found him in the hall, and by this time Minwoo seemed like he could care less about the note, but I still wanted to give it to him. Maybe he was distracted by the exciting thing happening in the hall: Sungjoon from Il-ban (class 1) and Hello-Sister Kid (so called because he greets me by saying "Hello, Sister!", which the other kids think is just weird...I think his real name is Yeongjae) were unrolling a spool of dental floss, and it stretched from class 1 to class 4. I was marveling over it, just like the boys were. It does not take much to entertain us. Flossssss! Fascinating.
As I was watching the floss-stretching thing, I looked up to find Junho three inches away from my face. Junho knows exactly what personal boundaries are. If he didn't, he wouldn't have nearly so much fun stepping over them. He was on one side of the floss thread and I was on the other, and he decided we needed to have A Significant Moment. I yelped a little and backed away, which made him happy.
By this time, Wooseok had found me, and he was wanting chocolate. The bell began to ring and I told Wooseok it was classtime, but he insisted on following me downstairs. When I tried to push him back in the direction of Sam-ban, he kept walking forward and my shoes ending up sliding, so he was pushing me down the hall for a few steps, like ice skating. The absurdity got me laughing.
At that point I figured that Wooseok is already such a wild student, his being 1 minute late for class isn't going to matter, so we went downstairs together and got the chocolate.
Smart Hyunmyeong from the Demon Class told me it was his birthday today and I didn't know whether to believe him, but he kept insisting it was true, so I looked up instructions for how to fold and cut a paper star, and I made him a birthday card just now.
It Looks Thusly. Note the Hello Kitty Sticker.
I took it upstairs to deliver it to him, and Junho tried to find him for me, but Hyunmyeong was already changing for PE class. Maybe I can catch him during the next break. Junho also stood behind Co-Teacher while she was trying to talk to me about an English test, and kept interrupting to tell her I was his girlfriend. The adults can have Serious Conversations all they want, but certain facts must first be established.
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2:40 PM Other classes were good. Little Hyunho wasn't in 1-5, 1-6 B, but the kids were all great. Had the worst time with Smart-Jaehyung after class (who is not my buddy, special-needs Jaehyung with whom I play piano). Smart-Jaehyung has always been shreiky and fussy and I've had to fight not to resent him, because he'll participate but he'll also throw a howling fit when he's not being called on enough.
Jaehyung helped me keep score for a while, then he quit and said the game should end because his team was so clearly losing. Well, normally the scores are super close, but this time one group of kids gained 20 points on the others, so Jaehyung was actually right. We clicked through the rest of the slides anyway, just for the fun of answering them all, but the game was over.
But that was only the first huffy thing he did. I gave Jaehyung his chocolate for helping, but he insisted on more and while I was leaving class he shouted, "You are bad!" because I wouldn't give him more. I stepped back inside and gave him a severe talking-to for speaking to a teacher like that. I rarely get up on my high horse, but this was not some student who merely made a mistake in his speech--he was trying to be disrespectful.
I feel so very done with Jaehyung right now. Kids like Wooseok can be a little (or a lot) bratty or entitled, and I scarcely mind because we have a relationship. You don't drop your brothers because they're being snotty--you deal with their behavior, then set things right. But for whatever reason I've never felt connected to Jaehyung, though I do make a point of calling on him often and he always gets candy when he asks for it. I just don't know why this one is so ornery.
2-5, 2-6 A was good. Jinseo wanted to know why his team had so few people in it, and I patted his head and said it was because he was so smart. He accepted the praise as no less than his rightful due.
Was greeted sweetly by Taehoonie in the hall. Love that kid. Gave chocolate to Model-Seokho. Got mildly thwacked on the leg by B-class Minwoo, who was carrying some kind of tiny stick, but I wasn't upset because it didn't hurt, he was clearly trying to make a cute prank out of it, and B-class Minwoo is my kid.
3rd-graders at lunch are now freely using the English phrases, "Do you wanna buy?" and "I wanna buy" to refer to Monopoly purchases because that is how I phrase the transactions. They don't say it with an accent, either. This is the slow path to English fluency--competitive board games.
Looks like I'm having to teach a double-afterschool today to make up for my 2 missed days. Not looking forward to that, but I'm hoping I can use movies and games and snacks to make it not awful for the boys. None of us wants to stay, but we have to do it for the sake of the records.
Several boys in 2-5, 2-6 A were joking about me and singing my song "Joah," and I threatened them all with dismemberment. They were very joyful about this. We like each other; therefore we tease.
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7:30 PM Got my first real insult from a random 1st-grader today, as I was looking for my afterschool kids to tell them that we did in fact have a surprise afterschool. A kid asked if I had a lighter and I said no I didn't, but B-Teacher had one. Then he asked if I smoked and I said no. I asked why he wanted to know, then he said, "Because your face is old!" Okay, kid. You don't hear me insulting your bowlcut, do you? But I didn't bother correcting him because he wasn't my kid--I've never taught this one.
Afterschool was great. Only five kids showed up; Munju, Seonghyun, Chaeho, Yoodam, and Prince Woobin. It was enough to make class count for the records, and we spent the whole time playing Monopoly and it was grand. Their little personalities really shone, and some changed a bit. Chaeho gets very shouty and happy over games, Yoodam is normally mischievous but gets contemplative during play, and Woobin who is normally very thoughtful and serious gets quite sassy when he's winning.
Oh, the sheer joy of just hanging out with my boys and not feeling like their jailer. When they left, they called after me "See you tomorrow!" I forgot that I have Chaeho, Seonghyun and Woobin tomorrow. And they're looking forward to it--isn't that grand?
At the end of our meeting, Inha and Seongwonnie popped into the room. Inha looked really down. He's so loud and energetic and borderline bully-ish, it's worrisome to see him looking so small and hurt. Not sure what's up with him. Seongwon was happy, though, and leaned in for a side-hug while I was playing.
While I was walking upstairs to let my 1st-graders know about afterschool, Junho stuck his hand in my coat pocket and walked up the stairs with me. When I tried to pull his hand out of my pocket, he locked fingers with me--Junho turns all his stumbling blocks into stepping stones-- and it took me five steps to get my fingers free. Later, on my way back down the same stairs, he did not precisely try to kiss me, but he did lean in very close and making a kissing sound. Oy.
Went into town to a stationary store, where me and my female friends bought the place out. I've got lots of cute stickers and stationary for sending the kids birthday notes when the time comes.
As he was leaving school, Hyunmyeong turned to me and said, "Teacher, thank you for your card." Awww. He liked his birthday note.
Today, I nearly bought earmuffs shaped like panda bears. I have an earmuff collection now, and sometimes I change earmuffs within the same day, just so I can wear them all. It's getting a bit concerning.
