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Monday, March 31, 2014

4-1-14 Sad Hyunho, BY Goes Epic, and Joonsung Visits

10:50 AM: It's April Fools and none of the kids have done any fooling yet. Score.

Also, I say "score!" so much when celebrating something, I had to teach it to my 1st-graders yesterday. I explained that "score!" was like when you make a basketball shot or a soccer goal. It's a little moment of victory. So one class of 1st-graders excitedly exclaimed "SCORE!" every time they made some small accomplishment.

1st-graders be darling, yo. Yesterday, I went to visit their wing and got mobbed by dozens of tiny cutie-pies, all wanting high fives and recognition. SG2's homeroom kids are ecstatic that she and I are friends, thus maximizing the possibility that I will come by for a visit.

Today, I went to the 1st-grade wing again because SG2's uncle had passed away over the weekend and I wanted to leave a note at her desk saying that I'd be praying for her and her family, which I've already been doing. She said they were quite close, so it's a difficult time. I left the note, then one of the C-level boys asked me to visit his class, so I went over to meet the little'uns.

Seongmin from my afterschool produced a bingo sheet he had done yesterday and told me he wanted to redeem it for candy. Changho from afterschool chatted happily and SuperTall-Dongmin from across the hall kept shouting that I was beautiful. Some child small enough to fit in a backpack blew me a kiss, and I repeated the gesture. It was lovely.

SuperTall Dongmin (who is my height if not taller) is a kid I only know because we walk to and from home along the same path. He made a habit of yelling compliments to me, so I learned his name. Yesterday, we were walking home and fell in step together, and he quietly asked my name, in complete contrast to his previous loud and proud personality. I'm quite fond of him.

Yesterday, I didn't write much because I was busy putting together stuff for my 2nd round of 2nd-grade classes. I spent three hours putting together a new BINGO game and slide show for the kids...only to forget to download it from my home computer to my USB.

Menboong. (Korean slang for "mental breakdown," more like mental overload, too much to process)

All that effort, all that tiredness and I forgot to bring it. But my only 2nd-class of the day is already over (meaning teaching the same class for the 2nd time), so I'm actually prepared for the rest. This morning with SG2, I improvised an activity for learning "That makes me sad". I gave every kid a piece of paper and a pack of crayon sticks to draw a sentence: "_______. That makes me sad."

3 boys drew killer pictures of our school, complete with proper dimensions and accurate portrayals of the local flora. I made marks on their papers to tell them to come get candy later.

I had a right good time with Dongha and Kyeongwon. Dongha wants to go to America someday and he told me today that he knows a kid who studied in Boston. He was really proud to transmit this info to me. And Kyeongwon wanted to know the words for "electricity" and, get this--"power outage". Because that was the subject of his drawing--power outages make him sad. Dude! That's creative.

I also really love how the boys ask me in Korean to translate Korean words into English. And often, I can do it. I asked them the Korean word for "storm" but they said "taepoong" (태풍), which translates to typhoon or monsoon, a rather specific kind of storm.

And my Hyunho said that the thing that made him sad was being short. Goodness. This morning, I noticed that Hyunho didn't have his glasses on. I told him he looked different, and he immediately asked, "Handsomer?" I told him he looked older, more mature, though I should have just said handsomer because it was true and maybe he needed to hear it.

Because when Hyunho drew a picture of his "sad" topic, he drew himself and his brother, with a line across the middle of the picture, starting above his head and at his brother's shoulder-level. And I realized just how very small Hyunho is and how yesterday, I had to keep stopping Glasses-Minsu and Kyeongwon from hitting him pretty hard while he played cards. In an all-male environment, it can't be easy to be physically small. Maybe that's why he seemed so hard and guarded at the start of the semester, in contrast to his sunny nature last year

Lately, Hyunho's been smiling more, acting confident and having fun, but today was a reminder for me to build him up. To tell him that he's handsome and smart, because he can't hear it enough.


So. BY.'Bout all that...

I heard from KBR that BY told his homeroom teacher that his father was very upset about BY having to attend afterschool and that his father had complained to the education board about it.

The homeroom teacher was referred to an online forum run by the Board of Education, where someone claiming to be BY's father had written a lengthy message about the unfairness of mandatory afterschool.

Now, online comments are handled a bit differently in Korea. In America, I feel like the comments section of any website is usually considered uninformative/silly/obscene etc, and is generally not taken seriously. In Korea, online comments are taken seriously and even important official institutions may change their approach to something in response to online comments. (I think it's because of Korea's rich protest-culture...up until the late 80's, the South was a rigid dictatorship not a democracy, so people got in the habit of protesting things and those protests eventually saw results).

Anyhoodle, the Office of Education sent out a memo to every teacher in our school, saying that kids should not be forced to attend the supposedly optional afterschool classes. The Vice Principal got quite upset at BY's homeroom teacher, and there was much confusion and consternation that a disgruntled parent went around the school and went straight to the top, getting everybody in trouble with one comment when the problem could be solved more directly.

Except BY's dad did not write the comment that launched a thousand ships.

BY did. To get out of a spare 45-minute class, this boy went online while posing as his father, incited action from the local government, angered his vice-principal,confused all the staff at our school, and got his homeroom teacher into enough hot water to boil a lobster.

I can't even.

When KBR told me, I couldn't stop laughing, though. It was too funny. Part of the problem is, BY's got the highest IQ score of the 300 kids in his grade. And he makes a point of studying human psychology so he can tell people what they want to hear while still getting whatever he wants. I'd told KBR I'd had big talks with him about not being manipulative. Perhaps we need to talk yet again. I certainly need to pray for this little genius to go easy on his homeroom teacher, a good woman who does not deserve the blamestorm that has landed on her.

That kid. Oy.
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7 PM: Last classes went fine. Tuesday afternoons are a marathon, with two 2nd-grades back to back, followed by afterschool. But the kids were fine. 2-11 is the hardest class period, because they have three classes jammed into the same room and the low-level noise never changes.

But every child said their piece and everybody played bingo and like 7 of them won candy, so a reasonable amount of happiness was obtained by everyone. The "troublemakers" did wonderfully. Jaehyun spends most of the class in the back, drawing detailed tattoos on his arms with sharpie. Today, it was lizard scales in a half-sleeve from wrist to elbow. And may have made him look like a gangster, but it was pretty cool and stylin' and I told him so.

Then 2-7, 2-8 rolled along okay too, and thus NG-Teacher and I had a good day in our back to back 2nd-grades. My little Heekyu was cute and thoughtful, and Yunho played with my hair and everybody said English words. I even started the class with a fun video so they had something enjoyable at the start.

Afterschool was difficult to manage, but good because they are all my boys. The afterschool troublemakers won't hardly do their work, but I did call them all up to have conversation with me. Today, the boys all read their stories to me and I praised them and made a fuss over them. Jinhyuk is one of the trouble-dudes, but he keeps "fainting" in class so I'll come over and worry about him and he's the one who stared at me during "Frozen," so I know he just needs extra care.

This morning, I said "Good morning, Jinhyuk!" on the walk to school and he turned around and repeated it to his friends--Sem knows my name. She said hello to me. He and I had a nice conversation and he seemed happy that I asked about his life, so I think that even when the lil' trouble-dudes don't do their work, I can still have conversation with them and have it make an impact.

And! Eunseong is in afterschool! After asking enough teachers, it was made possible for my guy to switch afterschools and join us. I am so glad to have him in there, truly.

And I have some talented artists and writers. I feel like I'm not just nudging along language-phrase-learning anymore, but encouraging clever thoughts and beautiful ideas. The boys all want and need so much attention and I try to give what I can.

The only April-Fools I got all day long was Leader-Jaehoon's continual roll of "Teacher, Eunseong hates you. ....April Fool's Day!" "Teacher, I don't like English. April Fool's Day!" He was so confident in his jokes, it was beyond delightful.

And my friend O-Teacher is back at school! She was going to go to grad school, but now she's back with us, and I'm so happy. Eee, it's so good to have my buddy back. Now I can visit the special needs' room more often.

Speaking of the special needs students, Joonsung came again this morning to sit in my chair and watch Teletubbies. I was just kinda hanging around with no seat, standing next to him and reading poetry. JY-Teacher saw me standing and a student sitting and began to say, "yah..." but I went over to her and explained that my little guy was autistic. It's okay for him to commandeer my chair because he needs it.

And right before afterschool, Joonsung came back! It's the first time he's visited me twice in one day. But by then I was quite tired and my feet hurt and I did not want to stand, nope I didn't. So I hoped he would just watch Teletubbies and listen to my headphones while standing, allowing me to sit.

But no. When he couldn't get me to stand, he just sat on me. Joonsung sat in my lap for five minutes during cleaning time and though he was pretty heavy, it was still really sweet because it reminded me of my baby brother. The other teachers recognized who he was, so they didn't think it was unusual, though I doubt he sits on anybody else.

Also, Minchan came by to talk with me. He told me that when he was in 1st grade he was A-level, then last year in 2nd-grade he was B, and now in his final year he has dropped to C-level. Oh, my poor boy. But he's doing great in his attempts to chat with me, and I told him his language was good. Minchan wanted my phone number, so I gave it to him. Prince Woobin asked for it two weeks ago also, so there's a small contingent of really nice kids who could send me a Kakao message when they want to.

It was a good day. I got my bangs trimmed, got clothes-shopping done, and got home to relax and study. Huzzah!
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Sunday, March 30, 2014

3-31-14 Seonwoo's Birthday, Bingo, and My Favorite Things

10 AM: First class went well. I had spent several hours preparing a big Bingo game for them and it went pretty well. I put a lot of time into getting their lesson ready, and the Lord blessed. My guys did well.

Soonhyuk continues to be the star of 2-1, 2-2. He's quite articulate with his pronunciation and he knows I love him to death. Sometimes we'll just grin at each other in class, knowing that we're both good. Beomjoon's a handful, but he can do his speaking just fine, too.

C-Jeongmin came by to give me gum and he saw me packaging up a little present for Seonwoo. On Friday, Seonwoo told me it was his birthday, so I was determined to have a present ready for him today. I picked a bag of multi-fruit-flavored Tootsie Rolls and I started writing out a card for him. C-Jeongmin and Seokyoon wanted to know who I was preparing it for. Neither of them is acquainted with him, but I told them he was my afterschool boy last year.

So strange to think that Seonwoo was once completely non-reactive. I knew he was smart, but he didn't want to talk to me or even want to receive compliments. I thought, okay, this kid just doesn't want to have anything to do with the foreign teacher. We've come a long way, to us joking every day and me giving him food on the regular. I can always count on Seonwoo to brighten my mood with his inside jokes.


Yesterday, I went to lunch with KBR and we had such a good time, we talked for two and a half hours. We talked about our faith and about trusting in God. We counseled each other about tough students and gossiped about cute school stuff, such as BY pulling a prank that involved the Office of Education for our entire city. More on that later because it is epic.

KBR also encouraged me by saying that she'd heard kids in the hall talking happily among themselves in Korean, saying "That teacher knows me! She knows my name!" She said it really matters to them. She also said that when the students came to her to find out who their native teacher would be for 3rd grade, the ones who got assigned to me were dancing and celebrating, so it sure does make me feel appreciated.
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11:45 AM: I got the candy to my Seonwoo! He was very happy to get his present and he and others followed me to the office to talk.

He and Minjoon came into the office to chat. They flipped through my book of English poetry and exclaimed over how impossible the words were. Then they started teasing Seunghoon (who is not a big kid) about his weight, then explaining the fat jokes to me in English. I told them to stop being mean, but the jokes were actually pretty witty. I have such a such weakness for cleverness, I really do. I always have to remind myself to follow the moral imperative of the situation, to do the right thing rather than just enjoying the smartness.

Seonwoo also asked, "Teacher, what are we doing in class?" He wants to play games. I hadn't been playing games with the 3rd-graders partly because I thought they were all grown up and done with them, but Seonwoo says otherwise.

I actually think I'm just going to use the "Advice" bingo in 3rd grade because they're learning the same type of thing, and the 2nd graders are LOOOOVING the bingo activity. My last class with NG-Teacher was lovely. I worked out some of the kinks of the game after playing it with SG2 in class this morning. And NG-Teacher was really good at explaining the rules to the kids.

A whole pack of them came downstairs for candy, and I gained a new favorite--Seungyeop is fun and ready to joke and chat a bit.
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7 PM: Day went well. in 3rd-grade class, Seonwoo initiated so much conversation. He asked if I knew a certain Korean guy in town who speaks English well and knows B-Teacher--I said I didn't. I also suggested that maybe he could study in America some day and he said that he wasn't good enough at English. Then when Seonwoo had to write a dialogue with his friend about a "problem" and "advice," he wrote about "do you think I should keep studying English?"

I feel like he really is on the verge of learning a lot more, and he's saying so much to me, I think it's been helpful for his language ability that he has someone he might actually want to ask questions of.

And a couple the kids that come and chat/get candy from me are getting bold enough to talk to B-Teacher, too! Hyunho shocked the life out of me this morning by greeting me, then stepping his tiny little body around my chair to go talk to B-Teacher! He said in clear English, "Hello, B-Teacher. How are you today? Yes, I'm fine, too." O_O Whoa. That is a lot of English and bravery from a B-level 2nd-grader. But Hyunho actually told me that he came within a few point-fractions of being A-ban. I believe him. Hyunho's always been sharp.

Lunchtime Games were good. I was trying to be more appreciative of Jeongmin, since I know I've been pulling away from him lately. I'm so happy to see him overcoming his social problems and mixing freely and happily with the other boys, so I know he doesn't technically need me like he once did, which is good for his growth as a person. I made sure to praise him and thank him a lot.

Also, Kyeongwon seems to want more interaction. During the games, he hung around and asked me in Korean how to say things in English. Duck-Subin is brave and happy during the games. Seongho uses all the English he has to joke with me.

1st-grade class was great. I taught them to sing "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. It was hilariously wonderful. New guys in that class are : Juha and Beomseok.

Afterschool was okay. It was hard to herd the kids together for our activity, but we survived. I got some video too--Jaehoon helped me take it. I'm trying to get Eunseong into the class too, now that I have room. I talked to JY, SG2, Eunseong and Eunseong's homeroom teacher, just to let them know that there are spots open, and I'd like to have him if he'd like to come.

I walked home with Dongjoon, a 3rd-grader with virtually no English, who wanted to ask me in detail about why I'm not married, when will I get married, who do I want to marry, etc. For Dongjoon, it is very important that I be established in life. Yeongjoon, one of my A-levels, caught up with us just in time to translate some and to calm Dongjoon down when he assumed I wasn't going to visit my parents for several years. Dongjoon has a lot of moral outrage over not visiting parents, it seems. I told him not to worry.

Also, Hyungmin talked to me in Korean for his entire English class, and I understood him.
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Saturday, March 29, 2014

3-29-14 First Saturday Class, Nutella, and Paparazzi

5:30 PM Well, the first Saturday class was a success!

The time I put into preparation last night definitely paid off. I had a culture lesson about Valentines' day, with a Powerpoint (taken from another teacher and modified with my own words and pictures), a video clip of a cutely romantic cartoon called "Paperman," a scrambled-vocab words worksheet, a report-writing and speaking activity, cookies to give the kids at the end, and UNO cards to play with people during the break.

I was prepared. And it soooo paid off.

Well, the 2nd-graders, who I taught first, were really kind of a dead crowd. All quiet, all timid, all hesitant to move or breathe. They finally warmed up to me, mainly after I helped with their word scrambles and played UNO with 5 of the shyest girls, but it was still a very subdued class. I felt like we learned a bit about culture and got some good speaking in, though.

Jeongmin helped me spread Nutella on plain cookies at the end, and we added colorful sprinkles and gave everybody one. But it was like they didn't even want cookies. I've never seen such a non-reaction to snacks before. They had to be encouraged to come and get one. So the first class was academically successful, but not really fun.

The next class, with 1st-graders, was another matter altogether. Fun beyond measure.

No sooner did I step out of the classroom of 2nd graders than from way-far down the hall I heard, "Teacherrrr!" and I made out the shadowy forms of Eunseong and Hyunseo sprinting my way. They dove nearly headlong to give me high-fives and that was when I knew our class would be lovely.

I went into class and the little girls immediately began murmuring happily. They exclaimed over my face and hair, which let me tell you, was flattering in the extreme. Because these little angels were cute and snuggly and fluffy with their tiny hair bows and their big brown eyes...1st-grade girls are like porcelain dolls. The way they felt about me was the same way I felt about them.

They kids also became mini-paparazzi agents and took photos of me all through class. At first it was just the boys, but then the girls whipped out their phones and started taking pictures, too. "Teacher, pose! Pose!" This. This has not happened before. But the babies decided that inaugural Saturday class must be documented, and so it was.

My boys Eunseong and Hyunseo sat in the front row, along with Sangbin, a clever boy from another middle school. Sangbin has an amazing dry sense of humor and he kept cracking me up with his comments. When i mentioned giving the interviewees Reeses back in December, Sangbin said, "Yes, but I didn't eat mine. I just put it in the fridge." I laughed and told him he should have eaten it. Then he said he'd gotten dozens of them for Halloween and had gotten sick of them, which was even funnier.

As for my own boys, their levels of love have entered new categories. The teacher before me had done fancy nametags with the kids, where they got really artsy with it. And there were also categories on the name tags for their favorite things. I was listed as a favorite thing on all three nametags. The girls' interests were K-pop, kittens, and books; Hyunseo's nametag read, "Interests: Table tennis, Leigh-Teacher". And thus, I have become a hobby.

Eunseong kept writing "Eunseong Loves Leigh" on his desk in pencil, then erasing it, then writing it again. I once thought that only girls obesessively doodled their crush's name in notebooks, but that is entirely inaccurate.

The girls had tons of questions about me and I had to go around to the whole room to show them each my eyes, because there was great debate over whether my eyes were gray or green. And the debate still rages, because opinion was divided.

And! One of the girls, Chaeson, has an oppa in my classes! Her brother is a 3rd-grade A-level student and I know him, so this beautiful little girl was incredibly gratified that I remembered her older brother. And most of the girls go to my friend Amanda's school, so when I confirmed that we were friends, they went nuts. I want to get to know the girls better, but the boys were demanding most of my attention, as they do. Hyunseo decided to reach for my hand as often as possible while I was talking, so at different points I just let him hold it while I explained the powerpoint to the class.

Then when I made a comment to Eunseong about wishing he was in afterschool with me and Hyunseo and Jaehoon, Eunseong dropped this surprising bit of news:

Eunseong: I couldn't be in afterschool because I lost rock-paper-scissors.
Me: What?
Eunseong: We did rock-paper-scissors to see who got into your class.
Me: *still confused* I thought your parents picked which afterschool they wanted you to be in.
Eunseong: No, we picked. But too many students wanted to come, so we did rock-paper-scissors. *points to other 2 boys* They won. I lost.

Erm. That's pretty blamfrazzling. I'm certain-positive that last year the kids were just railroaded into afterschool by their parents (judging by just how hardcore apathetic most of them were), but this year, they must have some freewill about the whole thing. And because afterschool didn't start until the 3rd week, the boys had time to see me in the halls and in regular class and decide that extra time with me was worthwhile.

It also makes me see my afterschool boys in a whole new light. They all want to be there. There was an actual competition for it. When I perceived my troublemakers wanting attention/friendship, I was deeply surprised because I assumed they were being fussy because they wished to be elsewhere, but now I understand that a connection was what they were hoping for all along. It reinforces my intention to make afterschool a great place for them.

While in 2nd-grade, the kids had to be nudged and asked to come get a single cookie, the 1st-graders flooded to my table and got about 5 each. I spread Nutella on cookie after cookie after cookie and one of the girls added colored sprinkles while another girl passed them out. The girls were such cute little tyrants, too, telling the boys to stop hogging the cookies and stop hogging Teacher's attention. The boys just danced around, happy to be annoying the girls.

In the end, they all got lots and lots of tastiness and they went home smiling. It was a perfect day with the kids and I look forward to seeing all the little ladies again.

Here are pictures of my with the girls from work, on Friday when 4 of us were wearing jean-shirts and had to take a photo.

Cute Pose, Left to Right:  JY, SG1, YSR, and Myself. 
With B-Teacher Photobombing in the Background.

Fun Pose, B-Teacher Still in the Back,
But No Longer Photobombing.


And here's the Paperman video that I played for the Valentines lesson today.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

3-28-14 Words With BH, Little Jeongmook, and Saturday Kids

11:00 AM: Today was good. Morning 2nd-graders with H-Sol Teacher were sleepy and just fine. Next week, I really will make an effort to inject some interest into these deadly-dull topics. H-Sol and I talked about her parents' meeting yesterday. She was at school until 10 PM, as were most of the other teachers, talking with parents about all their various concerns.

3rd-grade was good. BH said he liked my outfit--jean shirt over jeans. He said all that blue made me look cold and he did a dramatic shiver for effect. BY relocated to the front to sit by BH, so I had my two geniuses right there, chatting up a storm.

But for the first time, I heard kids making fun of BY. He laughed at it and it seemed mostly good-natured, but I had to stop them at some point because I knew KBR said the boys resented BY's abilities and his constant need to show off. And honestly, he does have a very imitatable voice with lots of quirks. Yeongjoon is intelligent and witty, so he turned his talents toward mocking BY's voice. I consoled BY by saying that the boys mimicked my voice, too.

BH made me laugh several times. When I did a cutesy little overly-bright, "Let's try it!" to start speaking practice, he immediately made a vomiting sound. Every time I do something cute, he shudders and protests he hates it, but that's just a front. BH secretly loves aegyo. We all do.

Face-Yoonjae and Yeongjoon especially did good jobs, but it's finally sinking in for me just how little English some of the top-level boys have. I couldn't quite evaluate them last year, but when BY has to translate "What did you do yesterday?" for an A-level student, we've got problems. The same thing happened in other classes--HH and Geon were translating for their respective classes, basic questions like "How do you feel today?"

It's startling. But at least I know where they're working from. The saddest thing from 3rd-grade class today was when Jiheum genuinely couldn't think of anything nice in his life. I finally locked on to his enjoyment of computer games, and he wrote about that. Sujin was sitting all alone when he could easily have moved into an available chair by another kid. I sat by him and told him I was worried about him. He told me he simply preferred being solo during class.

KBR told me that BH's mom wants him to go to a special high school that focuses on English. KBR asked me how BH's speaking is, and I told her that there are occasionally words he doesn't understand, but his abilities are among the highest in the school, and his pronunciation is perfect.
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1:40 PM It's all been good so far. My 2nd class of 2nd-graders was good. The sound on the computer was broken, so the kids couldn't hear the dialogues, but eh. We tried. And I had more fun with the class because even though what I was teaching was not fun, the kids themselves are fun.

So many of them tried to laugh and joke with me. It was great. Seongho, Yehoon, and Daehwan in the front were just my little dudes and they joked with me so much. And Gyutae in the back loves me to distraction--he never stops telling me that I'm beautiful. And the middle of the room has Laryngitis Seonghoon and Tall-Minshik. These kids are loveable, and I felt love for them. Somehow, I'll fix the lesson so they can understand better.

I also noticed NG-Teacher being the best ever with the kids. Goodness. They love him to death, and if he let them, they would snuggle him like they do the Technology Teacher. It was really encouraging to see them being so happy in his presence and him teasing them back and smacking them on the head when they got sassy, etc. At first I didn't know if he liked them, but now I know. Even if the kids don't comprehend the lesson, they've got two teachers who really think they're special.

After lunch, Jeongmin and Hyunho caught up with me to walk around the soccer field with me. It was fun, walking and talking with them. Hyunho pointed out his hyung Inho on the field. When we passed the basketball players, Byeonghyun threw the ball at me when I wasn't looking. It just hit my leg, though. I picked it up and threw it back, hitting Byeonghyun in the chest a little too hard. I was just intending to pass it back, but it would up being too forceful. I want to catch up with him later and make sure he knows it was accidental.

Upstairs in the artroom, the 2ng-graders played Monopoly and Duck-Subin was the banker in the beginning. In class, Subin has seemed downright afraid of me, unwilling to say a single word, but now he's arguing with me in Korean over why he should get to be banker. You go, little dude. You bargain with me for what you want. I'm just glad to see you asserting yourself in any way.

I did ask Subin why he was wearing a winter coat in 70-degree weather. He had no answer, though. Wonbin is very excited for Lunchtime Games on Monday. When Myeongcheon wants Monopoly cash he asks for it by saying "show me the money!" which is a tagline from a Korean rap-competition show.

Twins Eungyo and Eunjae spent half the lunch game in asking me to see again and again and again. Jeongmin showed me a paper that says he's going to speak at the assembly for Saturday Class today. I'll be staying at school 'til 5 to listen to the commencement speeches and to maybe meet the parents.

C-Jeongmin came by to give me gum and to ask who I was texting on Kakao. I showed him pictures of my American teacher-friends and let him read some of our messages. He loved that.
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4 PM: Holy cuteness, Batman. The last class of 1st-graders of the day, which had been in the past my only group of really hard 1st-graders, were splendid.

I mean splendid. William-Jiyoon was gone, which made things a little quieter, but still overall things are great because I got close with all my rabble rousers. And! And! Because some of the wild ones are the very kids I made buddies with yesterday in my afterschool! I had never noticed Jinhyuk or Dongjoon in my classes before, but now I know that I do in fact teach my afterschool boys during the week.

Everyone was still really energetic and I had to calm them down several times, but we did okay. And I have a new little sweetheart--Jeongmook looks exactly like a baby version of Wooseok, and he annoyed the fire out of me last week, but he was just trying to get noticed. Today, Jeongmook called me over to help me with his crossword and tried to keep me by his side for the whole class.

Jeongmook also contrived to hold my hand for longer than any kid has yet managed to do. I would stand up to listen to the other kids do speaking practice, and Jeongmook would just hold my hand with both of his, turning it over and inspecting it, playing with my bracelet, etc. Jeongmook also cautioned me I shouldn't cross my legs because it isn't ladylike. Is that a thing in Korea? Maybe in the wrong kind of skirt it is, but jeans are another matter.

And I found out that Jeongmook, Jongmin, and Jinyhuk were all taught in elementary school by my friend Michael! So awesome to know they were Michael's kids before they were mine. It's a sweet kind of continuity. He put effort into their education, and I'm doing the same.

Jeongmook was not the only hand-holdy kid in the crowd. I was high-fiving them all as they went out the door but my favorites managed to hang on. Jinhyuk and Dongjoon, the two students from afterschool, both held on for several seconds, and I barely managed to dislodge Jeongmook at all.

When school was over, I saw him outside as I was walking around the building. We talked for a while about weekend plans, then he took my hand and turned himself around until he had wrapped my arm around him. To clarify, I did not officially meet this kid until one hour previous, and he was already maneuvering for hugs. That's a record.

Saw Bossy-Dongseok leaving school. He told me he has dropped to C-ban, too. I told him I miss him.

About to be time for the Saturday class commencement!
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7 PM: Ohmygoshness!

I walked into the gym for the Saturday class commencement and as I was standing around, talking to B-Teacher, I was swarmed by three little 1st-grade cutiepies: Leader-Jaehoon, CoolGuy Hyunseo, and Helper-Eunseong. Ahhh!

They high-fived me and danced around excitedly, telling me that they were going to be in class with me. Here I was thinking the only kids I'd know in the program were Jeongmin and Hyungro, but lo and behold! Three of my little guys are in there. Not only that, but I must have interviewed them all in December because I interviewed the elementary kids. Now I'm trying to picture them all in that little interview chair--I can see them 3 months ago, if I try.

On the day of the interviews, I gave every child a Reeses' cup, so that came back to me in a good way. I started off on the right foot with these kids. They are so jazzed to be my kids. I love their joy.

Got to prepare lessons for tomorrow, now. Off I go!
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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

3-27-14 Science Teacher Friend, Afterschool Bonding, and C-Jeongmin

9 AM: No classes until later, and Thursdays are my favorite because all day there's just 1st and 3rd grades, so it's all cutie-pies and cool kids.

But I think it's a good thing that I'm playing Lunchtime Games with the 2nd-graders...I get a feeling that I'll find my stride with them too, that I'll have a fun adjective to assign to them also. The 2nd-graders are awesome outside of class and that's got to bleed over into class itself.

Dongjin is still refusing candy. Boy got his feelings hurt and he's not being assuaged any time soon.

Got rice cakes from the 2nd-grade teachers this morning. Gave one to Yeongchang, who said he was hungry.

C-Jeongmin came to give me candy and to tell me he saw me walking yesterday. He called out but I didn't hear him because I had one earbud in, he said quite disappointedly.

I spent the last hour putting together a "heroes and villains" worksheet for afterschool. I used my dictionary and google to add Korean definitions to all the key vocabulary, so the young ones don't get lost. We're watching Frozen today, and I want to start a little discussion about good guys and bad guys. C-Jeongmin saw the worksheet and sang "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" to me.

A-Yoonseok teased me this morning, and on other mornings, about not wearing a necktie to school. When I wear a white-collared shirt, it semi-resembles the boys' uniforms and they get penalized for leaving behind their ties, so A-Yoonseok likes to joke about my being lax in regard to the dress code.

This morning, a bunch of my favorites all filed into the office to have a conference with the science teacher. It was BH, HH, Jihyuk, Daehoon, and BY. BH was closest to me and I asked him what the meeting was about. He said there's a science competition coming up. I asked if he liked science and he said "maybe". I told him that maybe he didn't like science, but I bet he was good at it. That made him happy.

The science teacher is the older man who I thought was so scary when I first got to the new office. But I summoned up my courage and I went to introduce myself to him, and after that we became friends. Two days ago, he took me to the science room for chocolate and real-actual coffee and we talked in English and Korean for an hour. Who knew that the good coffee is all stashed behind the the science lab beakers?

Science Teacher is very kind and smart, and he's reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" in Korean. He has three daughters just younger than me, and he thinks teaching high school (his former job) is easier than middle. We've been doing some language practice, lately. I told him in Korean that the students he met with today were my favorites and that they were all good at English. He asked me to correct his English text message to a friend. It's a pretty good exchange, all things considered.
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1:40 PM  1st-graders were darling. We had a funny moment when Cool-Guy Hyunseo's best friend Anime-Doyeong was just staring at me and I looked down at him to say, "뭘 봐?" (mwol bwa) or "what are you lookin' at?" It's a defensive sort of phrase, just like in English, but I said it to be funny and the boys laughed so hard, they couldn't collect themselves. Hyunseo said, "Teacher, say that, I feel...thrill. It's thrill!" Sem speaking in slang is the funnest thing ever.

For 3rd grade, they had real trouble writing and talking about their favorite memories, so for Minhwe's, we wrote together that his favorite memory was meeting Leigh-Teacher and becoming her friend because she gives him candy every day. And it's true--Minhwe shows up at my desk and says, "here for daily candy!" In class, Gyuchan also stood next to me and began to measure our heights. He was beyond happy when he discovered that he was taller. I said, "But I'm stronger!" and S-Teacher said she highly doubted that.

For Lunchtime Games, we had the usual bunch and I had the usual amount of pulling kids off other kids when they got too hardcore in their punching. Woojeong, a beautiful little kid who can get quite rude at times, was the center of the game and wanted to make himself the dealer every time. Kibeom didn't want to play, but he did want to explain the game to every kid who came through.

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10 PM: Rest of the day was good. My second round of 1st-graders was grand, with Dongwoo, Eunseong, and Dongbin being the new names I learned. Wonhye and Hyungeun from afterscool were in there.

Outside the class, Mr. B told me the boys had been fighting, which I interpreted to mean that they were in a violent mood and I should be prepared for angry students, but then he said, "They've been fighting over who gets to sit in the front row and be close to you." Okaaay, then. By then, I was really curious to see who was in the front row, because these are the 1st-grade alpha males who have beaten down their competition.

Class was lovely and the babies were just peachy. Next I had 3rd-graders, and that went fine. They all got in their speaking practice and Suho, a kid I've overlooked, did perfectly. You go, Suhho. And Yeongmook, a kid who's virtually unnoticeable, told me after class that he wants to live in America, so I suggested that he and I talk more in the future. He really seems to want to talk a little with me each week--I will make time to interact with him.

And we had a big technological meltdown because HH was messing with my classroom computer and turned it off, then didn't know what precisely he'd done to make it turn off. While I'm talking to other students, he makes a habit of tapping the smartboard computer lectern I'm using, and doing things like raising and lowering the screen. But while I was on the other side of the room, he graduated to flipping switches and the computer and projector both turned off, leading to me and SG2 taking five minutes to figure out how to get everything in order again.

It was pretty funny because we didn't actually need the projector at this point--we were working off worksheets. But HH was both horrified and delighted that he'd messed up so drastically. he was having so much fun, being an unintentional troublemaker.

Gimin had a horrible headache. He was a member of last year's Demon Class, but I have some affection for him and I only made him speak to me for 30 seconds at the end of class--I let him put down his head and not do his worksheet because his pain was visible to me.

C-Yoonseok got horribly beaten as punishment for something. It was with a wooden stick and C-Yoonseok was a mess afterwards, crying and crying. He had to be led out of the office by the hand, his friend escorting him out while Yoonseok hid his face. It was horrible.

Yet, the kids don't get punished like this for nothing. For being sassy, late, using phones in class, etc, they have to squats or pushups. Serious-er things earn them a swat on the butt with a stick, like Haneul got the other day. But this was an all-new level. And the 50-something male teacher who gave the punishment looked heartbroken afterward. He talked things through with Yoonseok and he made it clear that he was not at all gratified and having to hurt him. I can't imagine what the boy must have done.

Afterschhool was the bomb! We watched more Frozen and we got some great mini-discussions going about what makes heroes special and ow Anna saving her sister Elsa's life makes her a hero, even though she doesn't have magical powers.

And I made a difference by going to sit with my troublemakers. I was sitting on a desk behind Leader-Jaehoon and CoolGuy Hyunseo and the other good boys who I already like. The song "Let It Go" came on and the boys asked me to sing with it--to really sing it, loudly. I did so, and I noticed one of my troublemakers on the other side of the room, staring at me.

I looked back later and he was still turned sideways in his chair, watching me sing and not even hiding the fact that he was doing so. Then it hit me--this kid who has only annoyed me before wants to be a favorite. I'm sitting across the room with kids I care about, while he is left out because I didn't click with him right away.

Well, I'd had enough of watching a student stare hopelessly, so I relocated to Troublemaker Central to help them with their worksheets. Staring boy is Jinhyuk, and his compatriots are Lens-Jihoon and Backpack-Dongjoon. I stayed wit them for the rest of the movie, chatting about characters, then graduating to playing the English-Korean work game with them.

My crazy boys melted into puddles of sweetness when we were playing word games. It was perfect. They're my boys now--we bonded. From here on, I can't un-know them.

Byeongyun surprised me in the office while I was using the copy machine. He walked past me and sighed, "Your hair. I envy you it." I asked why, not knowing how on earth that could make sense. He said, "Because it's colorful." Maybe he's tired of black hair and wishing he could color his own, though it's pretty much forbidden. Danhee was actually playing with my hair in the lunch line and got out the full English sentence, "I love your hair!"

I finally got chocolate to Dongjin. He and I are back to normal--he's accepting stuff again, after our weird thing yesterday.

Gave Seonwoo my canned rice-punch drink. He and Yeongchang get half my food, I swear.

C-Jeongmin gave me yet another sucker and came by my desk a third time to give me a cheese cracker. While we were walking down the stairs, he saw two boys hugging the technology teacher, a young and super-sweet guy who's in my office. The other boys were cuddling their teacher (who has a gentle personality and is very cute, partly due to being about 5'4 inches tall) and saying, "Sem, sem, sem, sem, sem...." to him, so C-Jeongmin leaned in to snuggle against my arm and repeat, "Sem, sem, sem, sem..." The technology teacher saw it and laughed.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, C-Jeongmin asked if I worked in a big school or a little school when I was in the states. I said a small one. I feel like C-Jeongmin has a mental case file for me and he's adding more information, day by day.

Twin-Eungyo made me sing "Let It Go" for his twin Eunjae wile we walked home. I was glad to oblige, then Jinbong and Dongjoon heard it and asked me to do it again.

On the way home, there was a huge pile-up of bicycles from kids stopping to check out an accident. One boy got hit by a taxi. I saw him--he was just clipped. No blood, no obviously breaks, no tears, but he was clutching his leg. I used Korean to find out what was going on from Governor-Yunho, then I pulled Yunho away from the road because his bike was too close to oncoming traffic. He asked if I was worried that he'd get in an accident too, and I told him to be careful and said in Korean that he was an "important student". He smiled and moved his bike to a safer place. He knows.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

3-26-14 Jinsu in the Game, Learning to be Grateful, and Shingihaeyo

11:00 AM: Morning was good.

Just inside the school gates, I got ambushed by BY, who grabbed my shoulders and nearly knocked me down. He was so proud of himself, gloating about how this was the first time he'd surprised me outside of school. He now thinks he can catch me anywhere.

We had a great conversation about the school election and how he had considered running, but didn't want the responsibilities of ruling. I told him that he cold just wield power behind the scenes instead of having an official position, and that seemed to be an idea he liked.

In the first two classes, I had 2nd-graders with NG-Teacher, then with H-Sol Teacher. With NG-Teacher, the sound didn't work on the computer, so we had to do our writing-speaking activity for 40 minutes, which was too long, but we got through. It felt fine to me--the boys practiced speaking, and I'm becoming better friends with them. NG-Teacher also seems to have fun with the kids; the clearly love him and he jokes with them a lot.

With H-Sol, she and I talked about Korea and which places I should visit on my upcoming short break in May. She lives in Daejeon, which is a much cooler city than the one we work in, and I said I'd been there for a few shopping trips. H-Sol also doesn't have to stay at work until 9 PM, so I think that SG2-Teacher might just have more responsibilities than most of the other teachers. Anyhoo, I like H-Sol and I enjoy talking with her. I've just got to make time to ask her a question every class period, so we can grow our friendship.

After my second class was over, a little flock of them followed me to my office for candy. I was only giving candy to 6 of them who had done really well on their worksheets. Then Mingi wanted to come with, so I told him he'd get candy, too.

Seonghoon is one of Mingi's BFFs, but even being besties didn't stop Seonghoon from saying Mingi shouldn't get candy because he's not in our class. I put an arm around Mingi and said in Korean that he was "a student I like," and the whole crew just accepted it. I did turn away my A-ban favorites Changyeon and Hyungro though, because they were crowding the office and were going to get kicked out if I didn't send them out first. I told them to come back later.

Leader-Jaehoon skipped by me in the hall to confirm that we're doing food in afterschool today. Yeppers! We're doing trail mix. Dry ingredients + adolescent boys = win. Sticky ingredients are less guaranteed to be a success.
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2:45 PM  Completely wiped out and eating candy from Minchan. Thank the Lord I have 2 hours before afterschool, because Wednesdays feel like a marathon. This is the definition of a non-optimal daily schedule.

1st-grade babies before lunch were beautiful. My afterschool boys Leader-Jaehoon, Cheolho, Seongmin, Kyeongho, and Daehyun are in there, so I know quite a few little guys. Then there's BFF-Minjin, who is besties with Leader-Jaehoon, and Hyunmin, who calls me Amanda-Seyfried-Teacher, and Giseok who nearly fainted when I came near his desk, such is the strength of his affection.

We did some games on the board and had a good time with speaking practice and finding stuff in our crossword puzzles. During the "7 Things" game, we did "name seven things that Leigh-Teacher likes" and after naming kimchi and the song Let It Go, Jaehoon said "students!" which just warmed my heart. Little fellow knows he's loved.

The Lunchtime games were minus Jeongmin because he was in some kind of conference with his teacher. So I went to Sa-ban with Hyo and he, Hyunho and I started a game with Wonbin, a kid who had been dreadful trouble a couple of days ago when I had to confiscate a half-broom from him, which he'd been using to dole out blunt force trauma to someone else. But Wonbin's basically a tubby darling, violence aside. He just slid right into the card game, knowing he'd be fine. He's part of the group.

We were soon joined by Seongho, Gyuseong, Hyunwoo, and Subin, a strange little duckling who wears a full thermal winter coat with the hood up in 65 degree weather. I think he's protecting himself from notice.

And Rude-Jinsu from the day before definitely wanted to be let into the fold. I saw him looking grouchy over to one side, then I asked him if he wanted to take my place in the card game. I ushered him into my seat and gave him my hand of cards, then showed him how to play. He was quite happy, and it just goes to show that you can't take every grumpy kid at face value.

Had to stop Kyeongwon from spanking some other kid. Seriously. No sooner do I defend one boy from verbal or physical abuse of some kind, than they turn around and do something reprimandable their own selves. I had to give a whole speech on why we don't spank our friends. Teaching students how to be human beings is a weird exercise.

2-11 was nuts because it's a 3-class combination. Even with a microphone, the kids cannot hear because the room is so large and so packed with kids, sound refuses to carry. They weren't badly behaved, just chattery, and when you have 30 chatterers who have to have instructions explained individually...eh, it's difficult.

I did finally get mad at one kid who just would not stand up and say his part. I told him afterward that I wasn't really angry, but he didn't have enough English to care what I was saying. I'll try to make it up to him last week.

In this class is my adorable Heekyu and his friend Jiwon, both of whom I love. In the back, we've got Little-Minseok and Chanhee, and in the front by yo weH've got Joonseo, who wanted me to write his name down because I'd made him sad by not remembering it. In the middle, there's Smart-Myeongbae, Afro-Jiwoong, and Tan-Minhee. And also Prince Woobin, a perennial favorite of mine who always asks sweetly for help on his worksheet.

Class was not precisely frustrating because I didn't truly expect to get anything done, but it was a little surreal to be not-really directing that 5-ring circus. Also, I counted my classes...I have 6 with NG-Teacher every week. I have never had that many with a co-teacher before. Last semester, the most I had with anybody was 5 with Main Co and 5 with KBR, but KBR taught A-level which was easy and Main Co had 1st-grade with me, which was quieter.

I've got 10 classes a week with the exact same kids. Guhhh. Blub blub. *drowns in self-pity* We've actually been okay this week, though! It's hard but we get it done. I've stopped dreading 2nd grade classes, but I don't look forward to them, not yet.

And NG-Teacher and I talked about the class while it was happening, so that part was okay too, but I can't help but feel it could be real easy to get sick of each other when we have this many tough classes every week until always. The other co's have a maximum of 3 classes with me. I would love to have some more KBR in my life, truthfully.

Dongjin came by to ask for candy, but his homeroom teacher, M-Young told me not to give him any. I followed her advice, playing along with the joke that he didn't deserve it. Junho claimed to deserve candy on the basis of my being his girl, but that argument didn't hold up. Haneul said that he would go to class, but if only he could just maybe please have candy first? They all got shooed out by M-Young, but they were laughing.

Hyunmyeong embarrassed me in the hallway by yelling "Beautiful!" and throwing me a heart sign over his head. When they latch onto something that annoys me, they don't fail to keep it going.

Byeongjo stopped me in the hallway to tell me that he his "pure" and Kyeongbae is not. I don't know if he means pure-of-heart or that he just has superior hygiene.

And haaaa, Haneul crept back to the office and crouched down to ask for candy in a whisper, so M-Young teacher wouldn't catch him. Tricky but smart, that one is.
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9 PM: Well, it’s been brought to my attention (by my mom) that I’m complaining. Yeah. I am.

I’m complaining too much about work, and it’s not so much a problem of complaining in my writing as it is the complainy-ness in my heart. In my heart, it’s so much worse.

I resent the 2nd-grade kids for being hard to teach. I resent whoever made the schedule for setting me up with the same kids twice in a week. I don’t wanna do it, don’t wanna do it.

And though I’m getting along with NG, I resent him, too. It’s hard for me to forget that he made me cry when I was sick. He didn’t mean to, but still, he did. Then again, my Daddy has made me cry on many occasions, which doesn't stop the wonderfulness of my dad. I’m simply not used to men making me unhappy—I’m used to them being super-nice and not giving me any difficulties.

I resent the fact that it was NG who had to tell me what I was doing wrong in class. My flaws are not to be discussed, ever. When I was a kid, I used to point out my own mistakes before anybody else had a chance to. I tell you what’s wrong with me; you do not tell me what’s wrong with me.

But the truth is, class is only going smoothly now because I took NG’s advice. He saw me drowning and tossed me a lifeline. I need to stop hating the fact that I had to be helped. I should be grateful to God for sending me a way out.

Underlying everything, I suppose I haven’t been grateful enough to God. I want everything—an exciting country, and adoring, clever students who make me look good. My 2nd-grade boys don’t make me look good. They make me look 300% incompetent, but they’re my kids. They love me. I love them. The ones I don’t love, I will seek out until I know them.

So my heart (as Yeats would say, the foul rag and bone shop of the heart) is full of unthankfulness and stinting impulses. I need to overflow with thankfulness to my savior, who gives me a chance to see these great kids and to be a part of their lives.

----

And on to the rest of what happened in the day.

That weird episode with M-Young Teacher telling me not to give Dongjin candy went terribly, terribly wrong. He came back to me later with M-Young Teacher in tow, and he got her to tell me in Korean that he was a good person and that he deserved candy. So I tried to give him candy, but then he would not receive it. He had gotten his pride hurt so bad by her saying he didn’t deserve candy and by me backing up her decision, that he shut down and wouldn’t even take the prize he had fought for.

Lesson: don’t deny kids little nice things that could improve their day, even when their homeroom teachers intervene.

But good things happened, too. I made trail mix for my afterschool boys and they were so happy with it. I had bought giant vats of choco-puff cereal, sweet puff corn, peanuts, dried cranberries and soft oats and I poured bits of each into the chocolate tin I had from Jeongmin and shook them up. I had prepared a powerpoint on trail mix and I made a worksheet for them. I gave them all trail mix in a baggie and if they did their worksheet describing the taste, appearance, and ingredients of the mix, plus their favorite ingredient and what they would add to the mix if they made their own. I got some good answers, and everybody got a second helping of the mix until I had no ingredients left.

William-Jiyoon is gone all week for swim meets; he’s really good at swimming he told me, and apparently it’s true. 

Yechan told me, "You have blue eyes and blonde hair. You are 신기해요." (shingihaeyo) Neither he nor any of the other boys could translate this word into English, but I knew it was nice because he said it sweetly. I looked it up and the internet says, "It basically means fascinating/captivating in generally a positive sense. You can say "신기하다" when you watch or observe something with high interest or amazement." Very sweet indeed.

I learned the names of my troublemaker boys and I think one of them gave me things to eat that he’d dropped on the floor but whatever—I was more preoccupied with connecting with Glasses-Jihoon, the kid who was trying to climb out the window and who had to give me his phone battery. Yesterday, I told him he had amazing eyes, and it turned out that he was wearing lenses.

Yes, one of my 13-year-old boys was wearing cosmetic lenses, to make his eyes looks bigger and prettier. It does work—the lenses give an anime character effect, creating massive eyes. But even though I was complimenting something that wasn’t real, Glasses-Jihoon seemed to feel closer to me regardless.

I know most of the afterschool boys now, and it feels like one big family. They were all crowding in happily and Gyeongho helped me more than anyone. I’m glad he could find a place where he was happy and helpful, considering that he was crying last week over William-Jiyoon breaking his ruler.

And! Leader Jaehoon and I go to the same church! When we discovered this, we jumped up and down and did an epic high-five. Jaehoon is my sidekick and my pal. He’s the best of the best. If I could keep this kid with me all day at school, I would. I don't have time to write half the stuff Jaehoon says to me. 

On the walk home, Jeongmin walked with me. He was in the office for some kind of meeting about the English program. Only he and Hyungro from our school made it, it seems. Yejae and Jaewon didn’t even try out. Jeongmin walked along with me and we ran across Seonwoo, who teased me and about food, and Byeongjo, who tried to feed me the ramen he was eating.

While I was joking with Byeongjo, HH came up and took up position on my right while Jeongmin stayed on my left. So we walked to the bus stop like that, chatting with two of my favorites. HH wanted to know how my day was and I whined about the 2nd-graders, about how they used to be so cute but then they went ballistic this year. HH pointed out, "He's a 2nd-grader," gesturing to Jeongmin. I said Jeongmin was different. He's a good guy and he's not crazy like some of the others.

We joked some more, and it was just the best thing to see both of the boys looking so happy when Jeongmin's been stressed lately. I think tomorrow the parents visit the school and Jeongmin says he's not worried because he knows his grades are great and his folks will be proud. 

Baby Hyo just texted me pictures of the buildings he saw on his Singapore vacation. I gave him my number for emergency bullying situations, but I think it's pretty special that he wants to share his vacation with me. Sometimes they just need to share something they're happy about.

In addition! Today, Minchan came to the office to give me grape candy after I'd given him peanut butter candy. Then he made a second trip to the office to talk to me about my life. I was never so shocked.

Minchan: Teacher, where are you from? From England?
Me: No, I'm from America. Miguk-saram.
Minchan: Why leave America? Why here teach?
Me: Oh. because...dareun nara...different countries are exciting.
Minchan: Your home not exciting?
Me: It's...pyeonhae. It's comfortable. I like America, but Korea is exciting.
Minchan: Ah. *big smile* *waves bye*

It's amazing to me that his boy with his seemingly eternal glower should be smiling so much and so often and should want to ask me about my life and my reasons for coming to this country. How...how 신기해요. Amazing.

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Monday, March 24, 2014

3-25-14 Junho and Ramen, Kyeongwon, and 1st-Grade Teacher Crushes

10:50 AM: Yesterday, I was so tired after school, then exercise, then helping a friend learn Korean, I went right to sleep at 9 PM without giving my last post a title. But life is good. I was glad for the exercise and for the chance to explain the Korean alphabet to someone less experienced. For that one hour, I was someone's Korean tutor!

First class was boring as heck, but the kids got their speaking practice in and I was with SG, so all was well. Also, for class 2-3, 2-4 I think I know the names of every single child. That is not something I've ever accomplished before.

For the next class of 3rd-graders we did well. Everybody wrote and spoke about their favorite memory, and I even got Cardsharp Minsu to write and speak! He was not writing, and then when I tried to get him going on the prompt he didn't want to. Last semester, I would have gotten 9 kinds of irritated at him, but this time I recognized that Minsu is only just now an A-ban student. His English comprehension is not on part with the other boys.

So I sat with him and walked him through the prompt, step by step, then laughed at his wit when he insisted on saying his favorite memory was being born. Minsu got his work done and did his speaking just fine later. Score! He's in a good mood and he's learning and we're getting along a zillion times better than last year.

Seohyung won the election and is now school president! You go Seohyung. So proud of you. I high-fived him in class today.

This morning, Joonsung came into the office to sit in my chair, watch videos on my computer, plug my earbuds into his ears and look at himself in the mirror. Yeongchang said he was weird, but I told Yeongchang in Korean that Joonsung is just different.

I tried to talk to Joonsung, but spent most of the time talking with Yeongchang instead. Yeongchang is looking for reasons to hang out with me lately. He can't quite find the justification, so he just hangs around and I try to give him things to talk with me about.

We had a funny moment when B-Teacher, the other American came into the office. He greeted Yeongchang and Yeongchang all but dove behind me, using me as a human shield between him and the prospect of talking with big, strong B-Teacher. Considering that Yeongchang is shorter than me but is probably sturdy enough to carry me over a mountain, I found this very funny.

In the hall, Mr. B. dragged Junho over to me and asked if I thought he was handsome. This was obviously part of some bigger joke, so I played along and said yes he was. Maybe Junho had been saying he's my favorite again and Mr. B was making him prove it.

Then several things happened at once. 1. Mr. B asked me if Junho's friend so-and-so was also handsome and I said the kid  was cute. 2. BY came up and asked why I was evaluating the relative attractiveness of students. 3. Jaehyung came up and leaned his head on my shoulder. I tried my best to explain to BY that I was acting under Mr. B's direction only, but then BY wanted my real opinion on whether Junho or his friend was handsomer. I told him I had no answer.

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1:30 PM: Before lunch, I was having ramen in place of breakfast and Junho walked in to tell me, in Korean, that one day we'd eat ramen together. He made it sound like a special event, though I don't think "couples' ramen" is even a thing. Junho: Romanticizing the Mundane Since 2013. I was really happy that he was using Korean with me, since it was listening practice for me. He uses just says the same 4 phrases in English, but now he's branching out.

Computer Jeongmin came by with candy for me. We chatted quite a bit, mostly with Geon as an interpreter. C-Jeongmin was talking about seeing me twice yesterday, in school and on the walk home, and he said he'd seen another foreigner in Seoul on the weekend. Of course, Seoul is full of foreigners so he was bound to see one.

Leader-Jaehoon came by to ask me if I knew who won the student election. I said Seohyung and the little guy went crazy with happiness.

For the Lunchtime Games, Hyo joined the UNO crew because I'd invited him. We all had fun, though I had to break up a few small fights. Kyeongwon thumped Hyo on the head pretty hard and I began to get onto him.

Then the kids teased Kyeongwon about having no mother, and I thought back to earlier today when I taught his class and the kids were saying in English that Kyeongwon doesn't have a Mom. I put my hands on his shoulders and announced to the other kids that I was Kyeongwon's mom. That embarrassed him, but he also thought it was funny. Now, I seem to recall similar teasing last year and I genuinely worry that his mother might have passed away and it's being used as a source of humor among the kids.

One rude kid, Jinsu, kept shouting in the room even though he wasn't playing the game, and he finally told me in Korean not to sing anymore when I'd been singing to myself while playing. Well, that was super-inappropriate for him to say, but I determined that he just needed some attention. This was the kid who (through Jaeseok) teased me about dating Jeongmin, and he yelled and kicked up a fuss over everything today, so I decided to formally introduce myself. We exchanged names and shook hands, and I think that was part of Jinsu's goal all along.

Two more classes of 2nd-graders, then afterschool. For a girl who mostly sleeps and lesson plans in her off time, I am one sleepy bunny.
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6 PM: Tired as a dishcloth, yo.

But! But! As tiring as the the last two classes were, they were good. The boys got through their writing exercises. I helped a few of them learn more things, and communication between me and NG-Teacher was good. He'd stand at the computer and write definitions for the kids while I walked around and helped individuals. He'd interrupt me to ask for word definitions and I'd interrupt him--it was great.

We got to talk a little about languages, too, like how in both Korean and French there's a word for, "bored and feeling like you simply cannot muster up enough desire to do anything" but in English you have to use two sentences to describe the feeling. Not boredom, not laziness, but something slightly different.

I got some new names, too: Smart Myeongbae in the middle of 2-11, big-eyed Jiwon, friend of Heekyu, in 2-7, 2-8, and Taehoon, friend of Hyunshik. Taehoon was in A-ban last year, so that's why I didn't know him. And I would have remembered him because this kid reeeally likes me. There are cartoon hearts shooting from his eyes.

Indeed, it has been the day for random declarations of teacher-love because my afterschool boys were breaking out in riots over who likes me. Leader-Jaehoon said  Cool-Hyunseo loved me, which caused a few punches to be thrown. I joked and said, "It's not possible!" Hyunseo quickly clarified, "It is possible. Not real, but is possible." He's capable of loving me, he simply chooses not to, apparently.

The was in the back of the room. In the front we had Tiny-Seungsu accusing Hyungeun and Changho, but Hyungeun and Changho weren't even denying it. When I put a smiley-face on Changho's writing portfolio, Hyungeun crept up secretly and asked me to add a smiley to his. Then he whispered, "Heart. Sem draw a heart." So Hyungeun got a smiley and a heart, then Changho had a come-apart and sprinted up to request a heart, too.

Outside, when we were walking home, Sanghwa and Redhair-Joonyoung caught up with me to tell him their friend said I was sexy. The friend in question looked mortified, like he'd been most abominably betrayed. I told the boys I wasn't sexy, I was "cute". If we can stick to those kind of terms, we'll be alright.

C-Jeongmin came by to talk more and to give me chocolate. I'm glad that he come by so often, even if it's hard for him to think of things to say. He's still C-ban, so not very linguistically advanced, but he has a good heart.

Byeongjo and I caused a stir outside the school gates when he stopped his bike to play me a song on his phone. The other kids behind us couldn't understand why he'd pause to play me a song, but we're buddies like that.

In class, Heekyu kept calling me for help on his paper. I explained to him the difference between "sleepy boy" and "sleeping boy" because he's always sleepy. I told him that I was worried about him, that it worries me to see him always so tired. Heekyu melted into a happy puddle and told me thank you for being worried about him.

On the walk home from school, Seongwon and Inha caught up with me to ask me to buy them food. At that same moment, I ran into two American guy teachers who are new to the area, so I had to balance talking in English to the men and talking in Korean to the boys, but it all worked out fine and I got Inha and Seongwon their dinner. Food for all. The end.
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Sunday, March 23, 2014

3-24-14 Friends With TE-Teacher, Hyunho's Happy, Hyunmyeong's Funny


10:15 AM: First class went well. It was just an "in my opinion" writing activity, but I was determined to get the 2nd grade boys just a wee bit more practice on "in my opinion," because they still don't quite have it.

I was with SG2 and she's delightful. We chatted about our weekends and commiserated over the boys going nuts and stealing each other's stuff in class. I met new kids Youngjin and Jeongyo and hung out with Cutie-Beomjoon, BestFriend-Mingyu, Soonhyuk, Daejeong and others.

Yongmoon has never really wanted to work on his stuff before, but he was a darling little charmer when I talked to him today because we had played UNO together on Friday, and now we're on close terms. After class, SG2 and I walked toward the 1st-grade wing surrounded by a cloud of her tiny homeroom students who were oohing and ahhing over our apparent friendship. I called two of them cute, and they immediately bragged about it to their friends. "I'm cute! Teacher, I am CUTE you said?!!??"

In the first grade wing, I confirmed with S-Teacher that we're still in chapter 1 for the little kids, and I got chocolate from one of the new guy teachers. I feel like I've gotten a fair amount of small teacher-to-teacher presents lately--this morning, I showed TE-Teacher that I was still wearing the bracelet she gave me. I need to visit her more often, since she's stuck in the 1st-floor office away from all her friends, me included.

Also, I think today is student elections for school president? Seohyung vs. Joonwoo, I believe? Let's see how that one goes.
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11:45 AM: Just got passed by Haneul, who had gotten paddled for something. He was clutching his backside and groaning dramatically, but when he passed my desk he completely stopped wincing, adopted a normal face expression and dropped his voice an octave to say, "Hello."

It is a certain kind of talent to be able to flirt immediately after corporal punishment, and it reminds me of Danhee last year, asking me out while riding piggyback on Seongsu's back. The incongruity between their words and their circumstances does not register at all, or if it registers it does not matter one whit.

2nd class was pretty good. Me and NG-Teacher had pretty good communication, and even if the kids were bored, they all said "in my opinion" at least once. I can work with that. NG-Teacher kept the kids entertained by googling words for them so they could fill out their worksheets, and while he did that I helped the individuals with their stuff.

Helping individuals is really my favorite thing. The whole class goes off track a bit when I do that, but I'm connecting with the babies personally and letting them speak. Dongha wants to go to America someday because of "civil rights" he says...he must mean something else, but I applaud him for his vocabulary. Kibeom is vibrant but can hardly speak a lick and has to rely on Dongha and Sangpil for help.

Me and NG-Teacher had a discussion about Ethics class in Korean, how the kids have a class that's not really Ethics per se, but it's a lot like social studies mixed with courtesy, about how to treat others. Intriguing. I'm not surprised that Korea, with its emphasis on group stuff and respect for elders should have such a subject. Anyhoo, I feel like NG-Teacher and I are talking like SG2 and I do, like friends which is so unfathomably great. I would not have thought it possible two weeks ago.

Donghyuk came by the office to tell me he was tired because of something my dictionary translated as "national assembly sports meeting". Erm. I think he's just tired from PE, not from a national assembly. You have one job, dictionary! Do it properly!

Giseok, a tall kid who was in the office because of misbehavior every single day of the first week of school, is now one of the kids I greet by name. He seems happy about that.

And not only are teachers getting new tablets--all the students are, too! Or at least all the 3rd-graders are; it's not clear to me whether it extends to all grades. These tablets will all be broke/stole/inappropriately re-purposed within a week, says logic, and yet we have them.
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2:45 PM: Lunch was good. I sat with TE-Teacher and she and I both got some language practice in, talking about our weekends in two languages. In the hallway when we ladies were walking to lunch, I saw TE-Teacher coming and I waited for her and took her arm, like we all often do together. She had looked exhausted, but after I greeted her she seemed happier.

After lunch, KBR and I walked around the soccer field arm-in-arm, which was also wonderful. Her school life this year has been harder, she says, and mine kind of has also. But we pray for each other.

Next, as I was walking into school after parting ways with KBR, Hyunho and Jeongmin both came and got me. There was much tugging and nudging me toward the school doors so they could get the UNO game going.

I don't mind Hyunho being touchy-feely because he's still tiny, but I try to keep Jeongmin from doing too much of the hand-holding type of stuff because he's already way too into his white knight role. He really doesn't need to shepherd his princess everywhere, so I have to shrug off his arm without hurting his feelings. He's still a child, so he has to be discouraged very gently.

Not that subtle discouragement makes much of a difference, so far. He still wanted to pick out which chocolates I was going to eat and in what order, and he wanted me to bring them to the UNO game so I could eat them while he was around. The biggest happiness for me is seeing him interact joyfully with other kids at the Lunchtime Games. He's having the time of his life and I'm not the focus--I'm just making the fun times with his buddies possible.

Hyunho taught me what he thought was a more natural way to say "I'm not very good at Korean". I had been saying a popular phrase, "I can do Korean a little bit," but Hyunho suggested I try the equivalent of, "Korean I don't know well".

I also told Hyunho I was glad to see him smile. I told him in a mix of English and Korean that he hadn't really been smiling lately, but today he looked happy. Hyunho got really tickled over my assessment of his emotions and as a result, he smiled even more. Little Yongmoon had a great time at the games and a new kid, Woojeong, joined in. Twin Eungyo kept doing his usual thing of touching me then diving behind a chair so I couldn't see him. It was funny.

One kid in the classroom kept threatening/stabbing another with a blunt half-broom thing, and I got up during a card game to go stop them. I stood up and held my hand out: "야! 내 놔." (yah! Nae nwa.) or "Hey! Give me that." It worked like a charm. The threatening boy handed over the broom-piece, my guys were impressed by my Korean, and when I sat down, Hyunho grinned from ear to ear and said "Good work, Teacher! You did a good job." Dawww.

In my 3rd-grade class, the boys did a decent job with their "my favorite memory" worksheet, and I sure had fun with them. I got to talk about church with Byeongjo and Seonghyun, who say they have no religion. I talked about sci-fi books with Euigi and playground games with Seonwoo. And Hyunmyeong made me laugh/cringe when I called on him to say his favorite memory and he said with perfect faux-sincerity: "My favorite memory is today, here with you."

Dead. Dying. I couldn't stop laughing. The other boys were simultaneously impressed by his creativity and freaked out by the cheesiness. I said, "Thank you. Now I want to die," which made them all convulse with laughter again and Hyungmin said in Korean, "You made Sem want to die with your weird words." It was a very special moment in our day. Who knew Hyunmyeong was so clever?

And I finally got to talk a lot with Diamond-Seonghyun, whose favorite memory was a trip to Jeju Island when he was younger. Seonghyun and I were overdue for friendship and we've finally got it. I also got to talk with Soccer-Minwoo, who at long last has favorite status. It was only a matter of getting to talk more. Soccer-Minwoo says he doesn't have many good memories because his father is very busy, so they can't go on vacations much. New kid Cheongyu was nice, too.

In 3rd-grade class, the boys also had a chance to encourage me in my singleness, unironically. Seonghyun wrote that he wanted to go back to Jeju Island one day with his girlfriend and I asked if he had a girlfriend now. He clarified that no he doesn't--he just knows where he'll take a girlfriend in the future. I told him to be happy, and Byeongjo said, "For you too, teacher." Then Byeongjo, Wonwoo, Euigi and Seonghyun all said "himneyo," or "be strong/take courage!" It was another really funny moment because they meant it.

Minhwe came by for his daily candy, reminding me that it's a standing appointment. "Every day, teacher. Every day."

Wooseok came by and kicked up a fuss when another kid got more candy than him. I gave over a few more skittles to Wooseok, then while I was seeing him out the door of the office, Mr. Park stopped to say, "He is a very naughty guy." I patted Wooseok's head and said that I knew. I know he's a hooligan and it makes not one ounce of difference.
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Thursday, March 20, 2014

3-21-14 Jaehoon Knows BH, Lunchtime Games, and New Tablet

11 AM: Early classes were good. Survived a 2nd-grade class with H-Sol Teacher, who was very kind and supportive. We got through alright. :-)

Then I had 3rd-grade, with BH and BY and crew. It was lovely. They were cute as pie and we got through our speaking exercises okay. BH and I had the best conversation--he wanted to know what I wanted to be when I was younger. I said an actress, then he asked my favorite childhood movie. Mine was Beauty and the Beast, his was Jurassic Park.

We talked about the scary bits in Jurassic Park, and how in that movie corrupt adults die but the pure-in-heart children survived. Of course, BY wanted in on the conversation, so I chatted with him for a bit, too. In this class, BH's again in the in-front-of-the-lectern seat, where he used to be last year and where HH sits in his class; it's the position taken up by people who want to turn English class into conversation practice, it seems.

BH does not want me calling BY "sweetheart," either. He says it gives him goosebumps. Before, he never seemed to mind me calling him or Seongmo that, so I don't know if it's an issue with the sugary-sweetness of the word or an issue with the perceived exclusivity of the word.

In other BH news, this morning he sang "see you again" to me when he came by the office...don't know which song it was from, but something. And then! Then! Leader-Jaehoon from my afterschool came into the office to look for someone. And Jaehoon called BH "hyung"(big brother) and BH put his arm around the little guy! I about had a mental meltdown at the sweetness.

Just yesterday I was comparing Jaehoon to BH, thinking that his sweetness, intelligence, high English and high level of classroom support make him very similar to my old favorite. And today they were hanging out in the office, showing that they're already friends! I actually told them outright, "Jaehoon, you are like BH. You remind me of him." Eee, best moment ever.

At the end of 3rd-grade class, Yeongjoon wanted to sing "Let It Go," so I let him, but he chickened out after just one verse. It's hard to belt one out in front of your peers.

I'm wearing a bracelet given to me by TE-Teacher, a souvenir she got from Bali. It's so pretty and some students huddled around, watching the gift-giving like it was a big event. And in my heart, I think it was. It's so nice to have kind friends, to be connecting.

C-class Yoonseok gave me fruit gum today. Last semester, he kept trying to make my acquaintance but I kept distrusting him because he lied about his name once. For whatever reason, he gave me incorrect information on a day when I could not take one more falsehood from any boy at the school. So based on a tiny incident, I chalked up C-Yoonseok as someone I didn't like. But now we talk a bit every day. We exchange candy and complain about how tired we are. It's nice.

Computer Jongmin also came by to silently give me a caramel. I gave him molasses candy back. He's the best.

Wooseok came by to get candy and to touch every single item on my desk. I had to keep telling him to put things down, but having Wooseok in, about, and underfoot is still a good thing.
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1:40 PM Final class of 2nd-graders with New Guy Teacher was exhausting, but went well. We're communicating better about how we get things done, and the kids are getting enough speaking practice that they will stand a fighting chance at the speaking test. Which is my only real goal for them--minimal misery and passing grades on the speaking test I'll give them later this semester.

Last semester, I gave the 1st and 2nd graders speaking tests based on what I thought they ought to know from the book. I wasn't really teaching from the book, just loosely covering the correct topics and phrases, so I couldn't be sure what phrases they had the strongest foundations in. Now, I will know because I will have taught every bit of it. Whee!

After that class, Walk-to-School Mingi came in and said in English, "Teacher! Your...eyes...blue." I said yes, then Mingi pointed to New Guy Teacher: "Your eyes...black!" NG-Teacher corrected him with "brown," then Mingi said something obviously sassy to follow up, probably some insult to the color brown, despite that being the color of his own eyes and hair.


Governor Yunho is now calling me Elsa instead of Juliet, following in the footsteps of his underclassmen. Yunho pounces on good ideas when he sees them.

At lunch, I sat inbetween SG2-Teacher and NG-Teacher and got to chat with them. I told NG that I liked what he was doing with his afterschool--I saw a paper that a kid had from his class and it looked interesting so I said so. We discussed our families; he has one older sister, and he thought my parents were amazing people for adopting 3 out of 5 of their kids. I said I agreed. I asked SG2 about her hobbies. She said that lately she's been so tired from work, it hasn't left a lot of free time. I told her I sympathized.

The Lunchtime Games ballooned into almost-too-many kids. UNO is most comfortably played with no more than 8 people, but we ended up with 10 players even after I dropped out to let Geonhong play. Kyeongwon wanted in too, even though he didn't understand the rules, saying, "Leigh-Sem. You teach me." Daww.

The kids were using English all over the place. Gyuseong, who is C-ban, said "Next game, I will join!" which is a full and complete sentence, totally un-looked-for. Jjang-Jaeseok said, "I want to play," and the list goes on. Good job, kidlets. Good job.

I'm also pretty certain that Jjang-Jaeseok is the kid who was bothering Jeongmin last week. Jeongmin never sends me messages via phone, but during the last week he sent a panicked text message telling me that some other kid might tell me that Jeongmin said something bad. Poor baby was clearly intensely stressed out over this possibility. I told him not to worry because I hear kids cursing all day--nothing would make me angry at Jeongmin.

But today, Jjang-Jaeseok said something in Korean to Jeongmin, something that clearly troubled him. Jeongmin was distinctly unhappy but Jaeseok was gleeful, so I had to tell the big guy to back off. Jaeseok likes me but he can't talk to me, so it makes sense that he'd be the guy to give Jeongmin a hard time. Jaeseok also said that his friend thought Jeongmin and I were a couple, to which I laughed, but I made a mental note that Jaeseok doesn't like Jeongmin, so if my little guy is getting flack from somebody, it's probably Jaeseok.

Twin-Eungyo's brother Twin-Eunjae followed me downstairs to ask for candy. It was really sweet because I've never really talked to Eunjae before.

And! Computer Jongmin isn't a Jongmin, he's a Jeongmin. *dies from the difficulties* Make this another volume in the comic books about my life: "Leigh-Sem and Too Many Jeongmins" (sequel to "Leigh-Sem Wishes You Would Wash Your Hands" and "Leigh-Sem Yells But She Isn't Angry")
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8:30 PM  Whew, teacher dinners went long!

Last class of the day was 1st-graders, but the rowdiest bunch of them all and I had to handle them myself because Mr. B had a meeting with the principal. I had to really lay down the law with about four of them, William-Jiyoon included (however, William-Jiyoon is not the loudest or rowdiest kid in this class if that tells you anything).

We did okay after a while and they loved the game at the end, so there was that. These babies also think that my eyes are colored lenses--took a bit of explaining to get them to comprehend that some Americans have genuinely green or blue eyes. They don't hardly want to mind what I say, but they want to assure me at every turn that I'm pretty.

The 3rd-graders are so comfortable with me, they never do the "Ah, beautiful!" nonsense anymore, except for Junho. I teased him today by asking in Korean who he was, saying I'd forgotten him. When he got his candy I said, "For Junho," and he said, "for love!"

Gyutae, one of my favorite 2nd-graders, does the beautiful-talk a lot still, partly because I just learned his name this week and he's still riding the high of being a kid I recognize and joke with. He's really impressed with my Korean and tries to get me to say new things, just so he can ooh and aah over the expressions.

The 1st-grade babies were pleased with my Korean, too. As I was setting up my materials today, they kept saying "Seonsaengnim" and "Sem" to see if I'd turn my head, and they did a tiny little flip-out every time I lifted my head, because they were so happy that I associated myself with the Korean word for teacher.


I had a teacher dinner with people who are going to be helping with the English Saturday program and it was great. We had good conversation and a good dinner. Also, one of the teachers was from the boys' high school next door to my school, which means he teaches some of my former boys.

I actually didn't even have to tell him that he had some of my old students, because this teacher brought the fact up first. He introduced himself and said that he was glad to finally meet me because he's heard so much about me from my kids and that they really loved me. I was pretty blind-sided by this fact--I had no idea my kids would mention me to their new English teachers, because why would they?

But then this teacher made a sort of quick hand gesture that suggested that the boys had been appreciating/recalling something other than my face. Oy. Seriously, guys? You could talk about the fact that I always played Monopoly, UNO, and chess with you. Or how I worked and worked to remember your names and treat you like individuals. Or how you always got high-fives when you needed them, or compliments on your insane experimental hairstyles.

But maybe I misunderstood. Maybe this teacher was trying to indicate my super-long hair or something--that's a much more favorable impression, and that's what I choose to believe. At any rate, the kids still talk about me in glowing terms, even if I don't know exactly what they're saying.


And all us teachers got new tablets, today. Our city issued a computer tablet to every last teacher in our middle school, with the intention that we should somehow use them in class. None of the teachers seem inclined to use them though. Deokryong came by the office and helped me get mine set up, and he helped me get the internet and microsoft word going.

My darling Deokrong was nowhere to be seen in my classes this week so I asked him if he'd moved up to A-level? "No, Teacher. I am C." My poor boy. That just...that just gets me. Bad enough that Mingi dropped a level, I don't want to see it happen to Deokryong too. But at least he has the luxury of possessing better English than most of the B-ban kids.

Saw Face-Yoonjae making a rude gesture in the hallway and he tracked me down later to apologize for letting me see it. What a gentleman. I mean that without sarcasm--when the boys manage to give a care about what I see or hear, it's truly special.

C-Yoonseok hung out with me some more and I gave him some pineapple from the fruit cup I was eating. Later, he came by again and I asked in Korean why he was still at school and if he wasn't going home. He said in Korean that it was because he was bored. Eee, that's not great. To have so little to do that you'd hang around school on a Friday late-afternoon for no reason.

Today, Seonwoo came running to me in the office to get me to explain the word "sewing" to him because he'd seen it on a test paper. I mimed the action and he understood it. Score! A student asked me for English help! And I delivered said help! Who is a teacher who knows things? I are.

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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

3-20-14 Minchan Speaks Out, 2nd-Grade UNO, and SG2

8:30 AM:  Will living wonders never cease? This morning I was walking down the hall and I heard "Teacher, Teacher!" I turned around and it was Minchan calling me!

Minchan is a big kid, a 3rd-grader who I taught in B-ban last year. He never smiled and he usually slept in class. I made a point of learning his name and calling him by it. I noticed that he's always hanging out downstairs by himself, just outside the bogonshil--the nurse's office. Either he gets sick or hurt all the time, or that's just his hangout place. Maybe he doesn't have buddies.

Anywhoville, in December, Minchan burst out with a lot of English at once, asking me for candy I had promised him. And looking back over my posts, there a two other occasions when Minchan was unexpectedly sweet for such a taciturn person. This week, I smiled really big and greeted him a few times, and was rewarded with giant smiles.

When I turned around today, he caught up with me and asked, "Teacher...what is your name?" I told him what it was and spelled my name in the air in hangul. He said thank you and we parted ways. It was the sweetest thing. That quiet hermit Minchan, after all this time, should decide that he needed to get to know me.

On the walk to school today, I was on the phone with my mom when I heard a little bicycle bell behind me. I turned around and there was Cheolho, one of my new afterschool boys, ringing his bell to get my attention and say hi. Goshhh, precious. And the kids were really going out of their way to greet me on the walk this morning. Gyuseong (2nd grade, lunchtime games) said hi, a small flock of 1st-graders said "Hello, Amanda Seyfried Teacher!" (referring to yet another actress they think I resemble).
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2 PM:  Cuteness with Minchan continued. I got back to my office after one class to find Minchan waiting inside. I thought he was waiting for another teacher, but he was there for me! He said, "Teacher, I...uh, 뭐지...(mwoji=what is it)...yesterday...you give candy. Today, I..." And he handed me a lollipop. *heart melt* I completely forgot about giving him candy yesterday, but he remembered it and decided to make his way to the office and give me something back. How thoughtful.

1st-grade class went great. They do their listen-and-speak exercises very well and they had fun with the game. The 3rd-grade class was good, but the boys were quite shocked/rattled that we weren't doing a game and that I was actually having them practice speaking in front of everyone. They didn't come to the front, but they did stand up in their seats. A good time was had by all.

After lunch, Jeongminnie came to get me and to tell me exactly which chocolates to eat next, and in which order I should try them. I told him he was bossy, which is true. We were going up the stairs when Seonwoo, Joonseok and and Minjoon, just waiting to ambush and ask for chocolate. I actually really like the way the candy thing is working out these days--I never take it to class, so it's not a reward. But the kids who want something can hop over to the 2nd-floor office and ask me in person. It's extra speaking practice for them and extra facetime for me, interacting with them, so everyone's happy-ish.

After dispensing candy to the big boys, I went upstairs to play UNO with the medium-sized boys. The 2nd-graders have grown to expect me in Sa-ban (class 4), now. We had 5-7 people playing several rounds of UNO and I learned a few new names. Seongho, a boy I've taught before but whose name totally eluded me, played with us and begged for us to do the games again tomorrow. Little Yongmoon wanted it, too, as did Gyuseong, so it looks like we've got a standing UNO appointment.

And! Wooseok came by the office! He did his best attempt at looking angelic and asked for candy. I gave him one. He asked for more and I kept turning him down, but he began to reach for another when I was distracted by some other kid. We did a bit of back-and-forth before I let him have two, ultimately. There was never a question of whether he was getting two, just a matter of how long it took. I'm so glad he decided to come back around. I miss you, you little tumbleweed of craziness.

I'm wearing a pink jacket today and I had a big mostly-Korean conversation with one of the older ladies about it. She says pink is my color, and I was so tickled by her comment, I must have blushed bright red after that. Compliments from grown ladies are the best, because they usually know what they're talking about.

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6PM: Writing from home while eating a sucker from Computer Jongmin. Earlier today, he came into the office and I asked how he was doing. He said, "Not well." Later he came back and when I asked the same question, he had Cardharp Minsu translate for him, "Mental breakdown. Teacher, he have mental break." I gave Jongmin a piece of peanut butter candy.

When I ran into Jongmin on the staircase as school was ending, he slipped a sucker into my hand instantly, so I can only assume that he was walking around with candy at the ready, just waiting for the moment when we crossed paths. It's really cute. I feel like I have a standard candy-exchange set up with Jongmin.

Minhwe, a kid in my A-level 3rd-grade class has also decided that he is going to come to me for candy every day. When I told him he could only get one piece of candy per day, he announced "I will be back tomorrow." He and I are joking a lot more, recently, and I'm glad he's becoming my kid.

In other candy-related bits, I had a hilarious run-in with Byeongjo and Twin-Seungho when I turned them away for candy because I was really only going to give one to Minjae. Byeongjo and Seungho left the room, closed the door, then came back in with Byeongjo piggybacking the much smaller Seongho. Byeongjo said, "I'm the mommy. Candy, please?" I laughed so hard at their ingenuity at getting sympathy, and I coughed up the candy.

My final 3rd-grade class of the day went well. I knew from last week (when we played board games after I lost my voice) that the boys in the back of the room were going to go crazy. These are the former Demon-Class young'uns and as soon as role was taken, I got them to move up to seats closer to the front of the room.

It worked like a charm. The crazy wrestling and rolly-chair-rolling was non-existent. We had to do some dull work with the book and the CD, but I made it better by joking about things. I'd point out how artificially the speakers were talking, so the boys got huge laughs out of that, knowing that I was fully aware how silly the text was.

And yet we learned it all. We listened, we chose the right answer, we spoke and responded. Boo-yah. I had to be careful to make sure that the whole class didn't become one long dialogue between me and HH because he's my only perfectly fluent student in there and he wants to be acknowledged.

Last year, HH sat in the back (BH was the front-sitter in that class), but now he has parked himself in front of my lectern, three feet away, where maximum conversation is possible. I'm used to being completely not-understood by kids in class, but with HH it's almost the opposite problem--beyond understanding everything I say, he wants to know what I'm thinking. "You just sighed. Why did you sigh?" Because Gimin is hitting Seunghwan instead of practicing his dialogue, that's why. But I can't say that.

Jiwoong is in this class, and while I feel like his English ability has not gone up from last year and has possibly even taken a nosedive, but he did his part in class and I was so glad to see him. I made a point of saying goodbye to him when he left school.

In afterschool, we just watched a movie, a file of Frozen I had. The kids were pretty good except for Little Glasses, who snuck out of class to make a phone call, who wouldn't leave his phone alone and who tried to climb out the first-floor window. Finally, I had to bring both him and his accomplice William-Jiyoon to sit by me while I played UNO with Jaehoon, Yoseop, Taehyun, Kyeongho, and Yechan.

I even had to take Little Glasses' phone battery. Because this year I'm at least going to try to see if we can run a phone-free class. We're going to have fun, but you can at least be present and invested in the fun.

When class was over, Leader-Jaehoon was again so overcome with emotion, he couldn't find any English words to say how happy he was and settled for "Sonsaengnm, sugohashyeossoyo!" or "Teacher, you did really great work!" in very, very formal language. This baby is soooo thrilled to be part of the inner circle and to be with a teacher who likes him and who is trying to make class a good place.

Ha! I forgot that Byeongjo nearly scared me to death. When I gave him and Seungho their peanut-butter candies he asked what kind they were, popped his candy in his mouth, then said "Peanut allergy". My eyes bugged out of my head, then I said "Spit it out!" I held out my hand as if I expected him to spit it there, then he told me he was only joking.

He said he had seen a cartoon where someone with an allergy had eaten peanuts, then swelled up like a balloon. I smacked his arm--not too hard--and told him that he'd really made me worry. That's the truth; he terrified me for just a second. Don't joke about your health, sweetheart! Nooo!

On the walk home, one particularly brave 1st-grader patted my arm, then ran along. 3rd-grade Byeongji and Jonghoon rang their bicycle bells to let me know they were coming up behind, then they checked my memory to see if I remembered them.

Had the best co-teaching ever with SG2-Teacher. She's special-special-special and so nice. I really feel like we connect on a friends level, and we share so many of the same opinions and struggles. She's a 1st-grade homeroom teacher and thinks the little ones are angels, like I do. Eee, I hope I get to hang with SG2 more in the future. Having another girl around is awesome.

Saw Byeonghyun in the office. I told him I missed him. I see him frequently and I'll see him in class tomorrow, but it's hard not to just miss Byeonghyun in general. I feel like I'm even pre-missing him for the future, when he graduates! Though in many ways, my afterschool boy Jaehoon feels like a new Byeonghyun, some folks just don't have replacements.
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