8:30 AM: HahahaaHA. I either need to get to school later or earlier because I rolled in at 8:26, when all the late boys were getting punished in front of the school. The Vice Principal said I only ever need to be here by 8:40 because first period classes start at 8:55, but the students have to be here at about 8:15, so when I arrive at a time that is technically early for me, it's late for the students. Therefore, the kids see me strolling in while they get punished, which is so weird.
But the funny part is that when I came indoors, Shotputter Jinseong and a few others came through the backdoor after getting their punishment. Jinseong saw me and said, "Late!" like he did back in December when I was late to his class because I didn't know how to walk in the snow. It was so funny, I laughed and said:
Me: No, not late! It's different.
Jinseong: Same.
Me: *points to him* 학생. (student) *points to self* 선생님 (teacher) 달라! (different!)
Jinseong: No. SAME.
Me: No, 완전 달라. (totally different). *laughing*
I patted his back as we went up the stairs and we laughed some more. I asked what class he's in and it's Sam-ban, class 3. I never guessed back in summer that I'd one day have joking banter with this boy who seemed so intimidating at first.
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11 AM:
FIRST CLASS WAS AMAZING.
No lie, it was fun and splendid and superb. I didn't know, but 3-7, 3-8, and 3-9 are in this little side building behind the main school. This is why I haven't seen Yeongjoon or Yoonsung very much--their homerooms aren't on my floor. I think last year that building was just for art classes or something, but now it's just for-reals homerooms in it.
So I walked over with KBR-Teacher because it was her homeroom class. The kids don't divide into their levels until next week, so I knew I'd be headed for her homeroom, A-B-C and all. And I knew that KBR-Teacher didn't like her new kids as well as her old kids, and that her old kids could be downright hellions at times, so I was prepared for crazy shenanigans.
I was a bundle of nerves all week, wondering when and where I'd have to teach. Last night, I stayed awake for hours thinking through how I'd handle my first day back in the swing of things. But today, I decided to trust God. I sang to myself and smiled and kept my energy up, keeping the attitude that I was going to go see kids I really liked.
When I walked over to the building in back, the boys started greeting me right away. Yeongjoon wondered hopefully if I was going to Chil-Ban (7), where he was. Dongjoon asked, "Where are you from??!!!?" By which he meant "Where are you going?" and he was very disappointed when I said I was headed for Pal-Ban (8).
KBR-Teacher wanted the first 10 minutes to take care of class business, so she gave the kids instructions while I stood at the front of the class and looked at the 30 kids there. There was my much-beloved Byunghyun, C-class Jongmin, Jolly Sanghyeop, Dongheum, Deokjae, Date-Danhee, Athletic-Woonki and a couple of others I knew by sight. These were my kids. We were going to be okay.
After lots of mishaps with try to get into the Smartboard (oy, this new technology is a pain right now, but it's going to be fabulouuuus when I figure it all out), we got things going. I started with a Scavenger Hunt. The boys had to find: 1. Pencil 2. Pencil Case 3. Eraser 4. Black Shoe 5. Something Green. I divided them into three teams and they all scrambled to find the stuff.
Two teams found their items right away. Next we did human bingo which was hard to explain at first, but then went too quickly. But I loved it because Woonki was participating and Woonki never participates in nothin'. Oh, we had a good time.
Then we did the "Bananas" game where each kid answers questions with only the word "bananas" as a reply. If they laugh, they lose points, if they answer four questions without laughing or saying something other than "bananas" they get points. It was pretty hilarious. Dongheum couldn't keep from laughing, but Danhee volunteered by saying, "me, Teacher! Pokerface," and proceeded to show us an unbreakable poker face while the rest of the room was cracking up.
Oh. *happy sigh* They were great. One more to go!
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2 PM: Three hours later and All The Things have happened, all of them good.
I went off to teach 2-6 (Yuk-Ban) and their English teacher is a new lady, HSol-Teacher. She was very kind and calm and let me do my game thing. The games were not quite as interesting because they had to last longer this time around, but we did okay. Their energy was lower than the 3rd-graders, but I still got a lot of them smiling. In that class were Hyungro, Changyeon, Hyunseok, and Woohyuk who I knew from being first-graders last year.
Sweet Changyeon seemed so tired today, though. Last semester, Changyeon was A-level and I got to know him because he hung out with Hyungro, my Saturday boy. He used to protect me from the other kids--I never forgot that. Since Changyeon was taller than me, he'd stretch out his arms and form a human barrier between me and the oppressively large numbers of kids wanting candy.
Then it was lunchtime! I got to sit across from one of the new English teachers, NG Teacher, a nice guy who's at his first teaching job. Gosh, that's got to be stressful. We both complimented B-Teacher (who wasn't there) and talked about how calm and cool he is, while we stress and worry over little things. My goal is to be more chill like B-Teacher, in the future.
While walking out of lunch, I passed the 1st-graders, who still giggle and chatter and flutter like a flock of enthusiastic geese. Yesterday, I had blown a kiss in their general direction as I passed the lunchline (I get to be more of a diva with each passing day...) and today one of the little ones blew a kiss my way first, so I returned the gesture. And with that, I think it's become an official thing. Like some kind of complicated handshake between my and the first-graders. Are we going to do this every day?
Jeongminnie met me in the hall and insisted that even though he hadn't had lunch yet, he wanted to play board games with me instead. I told him we could only play until 1:00, then I was sending him off for food whether he wanted to go or not. We played Forbidden Desert, an insanely complex game, and we learned more about it.
I told Jeongmin that he was very special. I also said that he doesn't have to worry that I'll stop liking him because I always think he's important. That ought to tide him over for a while? I figure that was a pretty solid reassurance.
He told me he wasn't eating with the other 2nd-graders because he used to hate the way the 2nd-graders would cut in front of the 1st-graders, making them wait longer to eat. Now that he's a 2nd-grader he doesn't want to eat before the little kids because he knows how lousy it feels. Personally, I think he also just doesn't want to hang with the other 2nd-graders.
No sooner had I gone downstairs, sending Jeongmin off to lunch, when Hyo came up the stairs and smiled: "Monopoly?" Daww. My kid is so cute. So we swapped out board games and trotted right back up the stairs. I could use more board games, now, actually. Got to order some.
Friend-Woohyuk from Yuk-Ban, which I had just taught, came by. Woohyuk was a good sport in class and tried hard with all the games. While me and Hyo played, he hopped in and out of the room, chasing other kids then coming back for conversation.
I was soooo proud of Woohyuk. He's A-ban, but still not conversational in English, but nevertheless he wanted to have a conversation with me. He chose his words carefully, murmuring and stumbling over some of them until he got his point across. He sounded exactly like me in Korean. I am Woohyuk, only maybe with a wider vocabulary. We talked about his hagwon (which he goes to from 6 to 10 PM, yikes!) and his favorite TV shows. This kid has so much patience when it comes to talking. He got flustered but never worried--when he'd make a mistake, he'd keep going.
I gave Hyo my phone number and told him to call me if he ever had problems. I don't know if he ever will, but I like knowing that he could if he needed to. Jeongmin had mentioned that Hyo cried all the time last year, because of bullying and because school life in general was just so difficult. I hope he'll have more good things in store this year. Before he left, he made plans for Monopoly on Monday.
Junho's still doing his thing. He grabbed my hand while I was talking to the new female English teachers, and later he came over to kneel by my desk and stare at me. I stared back and smiled, "뭘 봐?" (mwol bwa?) or "what are you looking at?" It's a semi-rude question, but not at all close to cursing, and I said it in a sweet way, so I knew it would be funny. It worked--he nearly fell over, laughing.
Saw Clever Seonwoo in the lunchline. I asked him and Byeongjo how they felt about being 3rd-graders; they say they don't like it because it's stressful. I said, "But you're the kings of the school!" Byeongjo said, "Teachers are kings of the school, I think."
In the special needs room, Seongwon actually jumped on my back, so I was holding him piggyback for a few seconds. Why does he think he can do these things? Because I clearly don't mind, that's why. Still, carrying students is kind of weird, even if the student happens to be Seongwonnie, so I'll just keep him contained to highfives and sidehugs.
There is another new kid in the special needs room! He wouldn't tell me his name, but Yeongchang asked for me--it's Sungjae, like Love-You-Sungjae from last semester. Oh, that brings back memories. I can totally wax nostalgic about last August. The recent past seems so far! New-Sungjae seems to like me, but he's too excited to talk to me in Korean--he wanders off, jumping away to another corner of the room.
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3:40 PM: I had a conversation with Chanyoung! A conversation!
He came by the office to stare at the place where my Coke bottle was yesterday.
Chanyoung: 콜라? (Cola?)
Me: It's gone. 다 마셨어. (Drank it all.)
Chanyoung: 콜라... (Cola...)
Me: 콜라 좋아? (You like Cola?)
Chanyoung: 네. (Yes.)
Me: 월요일, 콜라... 지긍은, 집에 가? (On Monday, cola...right now, are you going home?)
Chanyoung: *shakes head* 신애. 조치원 역. (Shinae. Train station.)
Me: 무슨 말인지 몰라. 신애? (I don't understand what you're saying. Shinae?)
Chanyoung: 네. 화장품 가게 가요. (Yes. Going to the makeup store.)
Me: *gives him a KitKat bar* 선물. (Present)
Chanyoung: 만히 주세요! (Give me a lot, please!)
Me: 아니. 한개만. 잘 가, 찬영아. (Nope. Only one!)
So I conclude that his mom is dragging him along to a makeup shop somewhere. I also conclude that I'm going to buy him a coke on Monday.
I saved my banana from lunch, knowing one of the kids would want it. I offered it to Jeongmin, who usually wants first dibs on my food, but he didn't want it. Grumpy Jaehee saw it when school was ending and I gave it to him. I told JY-Teacher that even though Jaehee was always moody, I liked him. She said his face always looked so dour because he couldn't understand me. That's quite possible.
Jaehee came back by the office and JY-Teacher told him in Korean that I thought he was grumpy! He said to me in English, "I not! Not bad student! I am good person, teacher!" I said, "I didn't say you were bad. I like you. 좋아하는 학생 (student who I like)." He seemed satisfied and left smiling. That child.
Also, JY-Teacher told me that Jaehee made it into the A-ban! Last year, he was B-ban, but he has now moved up! Dude, so cool! I didn't know if kids ever moved up the power ladder like that. I guess all that mad study can pay off--you can work yourself into a more advantageous position, but you only have the opportunity to do it once a year. Scorekeeper Yoonseok today proudly told me that he made A-ban and a congratulated him in Korean and English. I couldn't be happier for him.
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6 PM: Saw Daesung! He was playing soccer all by himself when I got out of school! I tried to talk to him, but he would only just barely answer my questions. I asked if he was hungry and if I could buy him food and he said no. Then when I walked off toward home, he followed a minute later but kept his headphones in, looking stern and refusing to make eye contact. We walked the entire way home like that, Daesung with earphones in, staying three paces behind me or three paces in front, acting like I wasn't there. Ah, just when I think I've got the kids all figured out, they do things like this.
Also, KBR-Teacher told me her homeroom kids were thrilled with the activities we did. She said they kept coming up to her and saying how the games were great and made English fun. KBR-Teacher looked so joyful when she told me, which made me even happier. Yay for happy kids and happy teachers!
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