9:30 AM Happy May!
Yesterady was good. Minchan came by the office to talk for almost a half hour. I'm stunned by his patience with English, and considering that he has so little vocabulary he can communicate a wide variety of complicated ideas. We talked about how he couldn't sleep before midterms, but now that they were over, he was tired but didn't feel like sleeping.
He told me that he wants to color his hair, because if you have a flashy hairstyle, people think you're interesting and are more likely to pay attention to what you say. He says he wants to run his own business in the future, because he doesn't like being at the financial mercy of others--if he controls the money, he can be generous and not dependent on somebody else.
Minchan also said that money makes you friends, and I tried to communicate that real friends would stay with you in whatever case. He agreed this was technically true, though money sure helps to cement short-term friends. He's really stressed in his life right now, and I'm praying for him.
Yesterday, I went back to the special needs room to play piano with Dohyun, though because of his cerebral palsy, I had to move his fingers to every key. He said my hands were "too pretty" and later at lunch he thanked me for playing piano with him. Dohyun's my kid now, too, and I'm trying to do a little internet research on cerebral palsy to see what he can actually do and how I can work with him. He says he envies Joonsung's ability to play piano.
This morning, my lunch co-ordinator said that I'm prettier today than usual. It appears that I upped the ante on myself by wearing this silver hairbow. Ka-chow.
------------------------------
1:30 PM: First 2 classes went well. I just played them movies, but things went well. Lunch was nice--sat with H-Sol Teacher and chatted about our weekend plans.
After lunch, I went walking with KBR and YSR, and it was nice. Jeongmin tagged along, trying to remain touching at all times. If he could have gotten away with holding my arm like KBR was doing, he would have. When we got back, I let him sit and talk because that's what he wanted.Yesterday, I let Minchan talk forever, so I thought there wasn't any need to rush Jeongmin.
But eventually Afro-Jiwoong and Baby-Keunho and Cat-Jaewon wandered in, wanting Question Time, followed by Lunchtime Games. So they asked me questions, then we went upstairs. I think Jiwoong stole 2 more Reeses than I said he could have. He can't do it again, but I'm not mad. He's my kid.
Had to pull a kid out of a glass cabinet where Sangho and Fox-Jinsu had put him, but I knew it wasn't serious bullying because I had already seen Sangho crawling into the same cabinet. It's really our own fault for having a giant open wood-backed glass cabinet on the fourth floor. It's just begging some student to put another student inside of it.
Got a text from TE-Teacher, who is away on medical rest, and it was a Bible verse in English. Matthew 6:34 -34 "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
That was incredibly helpful. I had let myself start worrying needlessly over things that mattered not all, but that really cheered me. How could she have known I needed it?
-------------------------------------
9 PM: Day finished well. Last classes did fine with their movie, and in the final 3rd-grade class, Minsu at last got to play Monopoly like he wanted. He's been asking for in-class Monopoly for 2 months.
Also, in the final 3rd-grade class HH was stressed because someone had stolen his school shoes. He was in class in sock feet, and stewing in a combination of frustration and embarrassment because it had happened two days in a row--somebody's pranking him by taking his shoes.
So I gave him mine. I intentionally bought school flip-flops that matched the boys' style of shoes instead of buying "grown woman" school slippers. It was a conscious choice because 1. KBR wears the kid-style of flops as well, and 2. I felt that some day it could come in handy to have the same shoes as them.
Today was that day. My flip-flops were in a pretty shade of lavender, but plenty of the boys have purple flip-flops, too, so it doesn't stand out. HH tried to return my shoes at the end of class, but I told him to keep them. It's more important for a student to have shoes than a teacher. Plus, I knew I just had afterschool left, then I could put on my outside shoes and leave.
In afterschool, my babies noticed my shoe-free state and had a small skirmish over who could give me their shoes first. Changho won, as he so often does, and I wore his shoes for the whole class period. Seungsu said that Changho had small feet, but I said his feet were perfect.
Then I had to buoy the egos of the boys in the back, because Dongjoon got a new haircut and was feeling sensitive about it. He asked if I didn't think it looked strange? I said no, it didn't. He said he didn't like the new cut much and I said it didn't matter, because he had such a good face anyway. Then Hyunseo asked what I thought of Jinhyuk's face and I said he had a good face too, and so did Hyunseo--did all the handsome boys hang out together, I asked? Is that how they became friends? They loved that question.
Jaehoon and Daehyun, two of my super-good boys, played cards with Jiyoon and Jihoon, two of my trouble-boys so that was one less thing for me to worry about in class. It's like having free babysitting. Nobody's gonna escape out a window or permanently disable somebody with a broom if they're with Jaehoon. My boy's a good influence at all times.
Question Time was great today. Sanghyun had some great questions, Yoonsung did well, Taehyun had to say his in Korean but I translated for him--it's just been a good day all around for English and Korean. A-Yoonseok was shocked in his class when I kept answering his Korean questions about the movie. I'd hear him ponder something, then answer it and watch the shocked look on his face when he realized I knew what he meant.
BY is delightful as always. Had a big talk with him today. Also talked with SG2 for a full half hour in class--she's just wonderful, too. She said she's glad I'm renewing my contract and hanging around for longer. So am I. :-)
--------------------
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
4-30-14 Furthery Midtermy
9 AM: It was so surreal this morning, walking to school with the 2nd-graders. Because they were all in plainclothes instead of uniforms, due to their field trip today. They look 100% different in regular outfits, like cool little dudes ready to take on the world not school inmates, ready to sit in one place all day. And I was getting more greetings than usual from them--they're all in a happy mood. I hope they have a lovely time today.
Yesterday, I heard something wonderful. KBR told me that she had to get the Vice Principal to sign my renewal contract and that he had to write comments on it. She said he wrote so many serious compliments, basically a glowing review. She said she also thought I deserved a raise. That really blessed my heart--it buoys me up so much to hear that the VP would say such kind things.
Felt someone tap my shoulder as I was walking down the hall today, and it was Seongwonnie. I don't see him nearly as much lately, though he used to be my little much-protected baby. He has grown, so he's not as beaten-upon as he used to be. And he and Inha and Yeongchang are busy raising the little rabbits outside, so there's that to keep him occupied.
I went into the special needs room with him and the only other person in there was Dohyun, who has cerebral palsy. He was sitting at a table by himself looking lonely, so I sat with him while Seongwon played the piano for me.
Dohyun let me write on his worksheet, where I taught him words like "bird" and "gloves" to match the pictures on his paper. He spoke to me all in Korean, and I could understand most of it. He keeps repeating that he's Korean and I'm American, because I said that to him when we first met and he wants to show me that he remembers what I said.
As I was writing, we bent his head until his nose was touching my hand. Then he said my hand smelled like makeup/perfume (there's a dual word for it). He told me that he has an English lesson on Saturdays and that he knows the English word for "head" and for "hand". I taught him the word for "finger". He told me I was beautiful. Then he told me his class number and I asked if he knew Hyungkeun and Seungsu, two of my afterschool boys who are in that room. My friend O-Teacher came in and was thrilled that Dohyun had been trying to communicate so much.
I've still been running every day. The last four days, I've just gone out and jogged the entire river-path down and back, which is usually over 50 minutes. Yes, I can't go very fast, but I can run for almost a solid hour with no stops. I'm just in awe of what God's allowed me to do. I had no idea I could achieve anything like it.
------------------------------
10 AM Just called my mother to make sure she was okay--because of the tornadoes.
How did I know about the tornadoes at home? Because Minjoon told me.
I don't follow news, local, national, or international, so I only know big events when they trickle onto social media or when someone informs me. So when Minjoon bounded into my office and very seriously informed me that there had been a tornado in Alabama and that he had seen it on the internet news--I was shocked and worried. I remember the 2011 tornadoes very well. Everyone does.
But I called my mommy and she and the kids and Grandma are fine. That set me at ease. There's still a storm watch going on, but the bad bits are over I believe.
Never would have thought I'd be finding out news about home from one of my boys.
---------------------
Yesterday, I heard something wonderful. KBR told me that she had to get the Vice Principal to sign my renewal contract and that he had to write comments on it. She said he wrote so many serious compliments, basically a glowing review. She said she also thought I deserved a raise. That really blessed my heart--it buoys me up so much to hear that the VP would say such kind things.
Felt someone tap my shoulder as I was walking down the hall today, and it was Seongwonnie. I don't see him nearly as much lately, though he used to be my little much-protected baby. He has grown, so he's not as beaten-upon as he used to be. And he and Inha and Yeongchang are busy raising the little rabbits outside, so there's that to keep him occupied.
I went into the special needs room with him and the only other person in there was Dohyun, who has cerebral palsy. He was sitting at a table by himself looking lonely, so I sat with him while Seongwon played the piano for me.
Dohyun let me write on his worksheet, where I taught him words like "bird" and "gloves" to match the pictures on his paper. He spoke to me all in Korean, and I could understand most of it. He keeps repeating that he's Korean and I'm American, because I said that to him when we first met and he wants to show me that he remembers what I said.
As I was writing, we bent his head until his nose was touching my hand. Then he said my hand smelled like makeup/perfume (there's a dual word for it). He told me that he has an English lesson on Saturdays and that he knows the English word for "head" and for "hand". I taught him the word for "finger". He told me I was beautiful. Then he told me his class number and I asked if he knew Hyungkeun and Seungsu, two of my afterschool boys who are in that room. My friend O-Teacher came in and was thrilled that Dohyun had been trying to communicate so much.
I've still been running every day. The last four days, I've just gone out and jogged the entire river-path down and back, which is usually over 50 minutes. Yes, I can't go very fast, but I can run for almost a solid hour with no stops. I'm just in awe of what God's allowed me to do. I had no idea I could achieve anything like it.
------------------------------
10 AM Just called my mother to make sure she was okay--because of the tornadoes.
How did I know about the tornadoes at home? Because Minjoon told me.
I don't follow news, local, national, or international, so I only know big events when they trickle onto social media or when someone informs me. So when Minjoon bounded into my office and very seriously informed me that there had been a tornado in Alabama and that he had seen it on the internet news--I was shocked and worried. I remember the 2011 tornadoes very well. Everyone does.
But I called my mommy and she and the kids and Grandma are fine. That set me at ease. There's still a storm watch going on, but the bad bits are over I believe.
Never would have thought I'd be finding out news about home from one of my boys.
---------------------
Monday, April 28, 2014
4-29-14 Midtermy Wermy
11:50 AM Going well on midterms day. I'm on the wrong computer for lesson-planning, but I've gotten to do a lot of language study and that's right good.
My Question-Time boys have been improving my vocabulary. Twin-Seungho asked how much I weighed, and I didn't know the word he was saying. It's 몸무게 (mo-moo-gae), and I laughed and told them it wasn't a good question to ask a lady. Minjoon asked how big my house was in America and what kind of animals lived in my home country. Minjoonie is smart. It kills be that he dropped to B-ban this year, because he's got a sweet heart and a good brain for learning.
Shorter-Giseok has no English, but Minjoon walked him through the question-asking procedure. Then Blackhair-Seonghyun from my last year's afterschool and from last year's lunchtime games came in and made one of his questions 'do you want to build a snowman?' I laughed like it was the first time I heard that joke, then he went around the office telling the other teachers how witty he'd been. It was darling.
Afterschool Changho and Coffee-Seonwoo (a 1st-grader, not my 3rd-grader Clever Seonwoo) met me in the hallway to tell me about their tests and how things are going. I gave them chocolate, then scooted them along their way. I think we have no more tests after lunchtime.
-------------------------------
My Question-Time boys have been improving my vocabulary. Twin-Seungho asked how much I weighed, and I didn't know the word he was saying. It's 몸무게 (mo-moo-gae), and I laughed and told them it wasn't a good question to ask a lady. Minjoon asked how big my house was in America and what kind of animals lived in my home country. Minjoonie is smart. It kills be that he dropped to B-ban this year, because he's got a sweet heart and a good brain for learning.
Shorter-Giseok has no English, but Minjoon walked him through the question-asking procedure. Then Blackhair-Seonghyun from my last year's afterschool and from last year's lunchtime games came in and made one of his questions 'do you want to build a snowman?' I laughed like it was the first time I heard that joke, then he went around the office telling the other teachers how witty he'd been. It was darling.
Afterschool Changho and Coffee-Seonwoo (a 1st-grader, not my 3rd-grader Clever Seonwoo) met me in the hallway to tell me about their tests and how things are going. I gave them chocolate, then scooted them along their way. I think we have no more tests after lunchtime.
-------------------------------
Sunday, April 27, 2014
4-28-14 Rainy Day, Grandma Pants, and Jeongmin Doesn't Transfer
2 PM: School was good today.
It's rainy and cool, so I love the atmosphere and mood, but I'm not loving what the rain does to my hair. I've had the best conversations about weather today, both with the other teachers and with the kids. People can really wax poetic about their relative feelings toward rainy days.
YS-Teacher doesn't like rainy days because they give a depressing feeling. Mr. B doesn't like them because the kids can't play outside, therefore they stay in and make noise and violence.
My two 2nd-grade classes went okay. It was a little dull in class, but my new strategy for speaking practice worked pretty well. They boys were way more interested in practicing when they knew they'd have to try to mentally fill in the blanks on a projection with words missing. And the shuriken paper-star-making went decently. There was the usual mix of disinterested kids who didn't want to make one, but most of them were following the instructional video and really trying.
And with a minimum of throwing the stars at each other! Of course, they are meant to be thrown and I knew they'd do some of it, but I was pleased that they mostly waited until class was over. I had a lot of fun with the guys--they made me laugh a lot, and I got good work out of Woohyuk and Gunwoo, who usually sleep.
-----------------------------
9:30 PM Whole day was good. My 3rd-grade class didn't meet so the kids could study for their exam, but my 1st-grade did. Unfortunately, something went weird with the video player, so the boys watched "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" with zero sound, Korean subtitles and me translating in English. Which sounds like a logistical nightmare, but which was actually pretty grand.
Between me and the kids, we kept up a pretty interesting dialogue about the characters, their motivations, their relationships, and what the boys predicted would happen next. It was really, really enjoyable and the boys all wanted their "free hug" at the end of class. My Monday 1st-graders have gotten spoiled for hugs because now they expect them every time, but I'm so happy about it because they're all so precious.
I wore loose pants today, sort of a palazzo-pajama-genie style that's pretty popular in America. I bought them at H&M, a European store in Seoul, so it's a "foreign" brand, but the reactions I got to it were hilarious. Apparently, this style of pants is strictly for grandmothers in Korea.
I never expected such boring black pants to be a subject of conversation, but KBR asked where I got them, my lunch co-ordinator started a minute-long commentary on them, and our principal pointed them out and asked the lunch co-ordinator to ask where I'd gotten them. All in a spirit of goodwill--everyone seemed surprised/amused by my fashion choice.
The kids were also either delighted (1st-graders) or prepared to tease me mercilessly about them (3rd-graders). Youngmin had a million miles of witty pants-commentary to offer. A good time was had by all. And I'm never wearing those pants again.
Yoonjae told me today that he was sad because his homeroom teacher promised him something, then broke the promise. I didn't know what it was about, but Yoonjae just wanted to talk about his problems.
BY doesn't want to go to high school. He wants to self-study, then enter college. I wish he could--it might do him a world of good to get some self-direction in his studies instead of being lumped into a herd.
Jeongmin told me something interesting after lunch. I had given him the good news today--that I'd signed a contract for another year. I told him I'd be here until he was a 3rd-grader. He said this was excellent because it meant that he and I would exit the school at roughly the same time
The interesting bit was, he told me that he had been worried that I'd leave this year, and if I had done so, he would have probably transferred to a different (much better) middle school a mile away from here. I asked what his parents thought about him transferring, and he said they supported it if he wanted to leave. I told him not to stay if he wanted to go to a better place--that he should transfer out in any case, if it meant a better opportunity for him.
He said no, he wants to stay. Because even though the students here are trouble (his words), the teachers are all great and there are always opportunities to talk to the teachers. I do hope that the issue is more complex and he's not staying at a less-than-ideal place just because of me. But in any case, I'm glad to have my boy around for another year.
Saw Byeonghyun while I was standing on the front porch. He joked that my pants were "so attractive," then was forced to acknowledge the fact we were being hollered at by a few dozen 1st-graders who were watching us from a high window. They were shouting "I love you" and throwing heart signs with their hands, ending in a sort of group-wide swoon when I waved back. "I guess they really like you," Byeonghyun commented. It's always funny when the big guys, who are 10 shades of cool, observe the 1st-grade babies being squishy little lumps of feelings and enthusiasm.
Lunchtime Games were good today, though 13 of them wanted to play a card game designed for 9. Afro-Jiwoong continues to be grand. Subin continues to be a cute little duck, bent on infuriating the other kids. Hyunho was only medium-angry at other kids, and all of us were glad to be together.
Question Time is getting good. Minjoon wondered if I'd ever eaten snails, thanks to our dalpaengi conversations from last week. Twin-Seungho wondered about my favorite poem, so I googled it and read "Fire and Ice" to an audience of six 3rd-graders. I've been putting the boys' trail mix in little Easter-themed cups my mom sent. They love it.
---------------------------------------
It's rainy and cool, so I love the atmosphere and mood, but I'm not loving what the rain does to my hair. I've had the best conversations about weather today, both with the other teachers and with the kids. People can really wax poetic about their relative feelings toward rainy days.
YS-Teacher doesn't like rainy days because they give a depressing feeling. Mr. B doesn't like them because the kids can't play outside, therefore they stay in and make noise and violence.
My two 2nd-grade classes went okay. It was a little dull in class, but my new strategy for speaking practice worked pretty well. They boys were way more interested in practicing when they knew they'd have to try to mentally fill in the blanks on a projection with words missing. And the shuriken paper-star-making went decently. There was the usual mix of disinterested kids who didn't want to make one, but most of them were following the instructional video and really trying.
And with a minimum of throwing the stars at each other! Of course, they are meant to be thrown and I knew they'd do some of it, but I was pleased that they mostly waited until class was over. I had a lot of fun with the guys--they made me laugh a lot, and I got good work out of Woohyuk and Gunwoo, who usually sleep.
-----------------------------
9:30 PM Whole day was good. My 3rd-grade class didn't meet so the kids could study for their exam, but my 1st-grade did. Unfortunately, something went weird with the video player, so the boys watched "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" with zero sound, Korean subtitles and me translating in English. Which sounds like a logistical nightmare, but which was actually pretty grand.
Between me and the kids, we kept up a pretty interesting dialogue about the characters, their motivations, their relationships, and what the boys predicted would happen next. It was really, really enjoyable and the boys all wanted their "free hug" at the end of class. My Monday 1st-graders have gotten spoiled for hugs because now they expect them every time, but I'm so happy about it because they're all so precious.
I wore loose pants today, sort of a palazzo-pajama-genie style that's pretty popular in America. I bought them at H&M, a European store in Seoul, so it's a "foreign" brand, but the reactions I got to it were hilarious. Apparently, this style of pants is strictly for grandmothers in Korea.
I never expected such boring black pants to be a subject of conversation, but KBR asked where I got them, my lunch co-ordinator started a minute-long commentary on them, and our principal pointed them out and asked the lunch co-ordinator to ask where I'd gotten them. All in a spirit of goodwill--everyone seemed surprised/amused by my fashion choice.
The kids were also either delighted (1st-graders) or prepared to tease me mercilessly about them (3rd-graders). Youngmin had a million miles of witty pants-commentary to offer. A good time was had by all. And I'm never wearing those pants again.
Yoonjae told me today that he was sad because his homeroom teacher promised him something, then broke the promise. I didn't know what it was about, but Yoonjae just wanted to talk about his problems.
BY doesn't want to go to high school. He wants to self-study, then enter college. I wish he could--it might do him a world of good to get some self-direction in his studies instead of being lumped into a herd.
Jeongmin told me something interesting after lunch. I had given him the good news today--that I'd signed a contract for another year. I told him I'd be here until he was a 3rd-grader. He said this was excellent because it meant that he and I would exit the school at roughly the same time
The interesting bit was, he told me that he had been worried that I'd leave this year, and if I had done so, he would have probably transferred to a different (much better) middle school a mile away from here. I asked what his parents thought about him transferring, and he said they supported it if he wanted to leave. I told him not to stay if he wanted to go to a better place--that he should transfer out in any case, if it meant a better opportunity for him.
He said no, he wants to stay. Because even though the students here are trouble (his words), the teachers are all great and there are always opportunities to talk to the teachers. I do hope that the issue is more complex and he's not staying at a less-than-ideal place just because of me. But in any case, I'm glad to have my boy around for another year.
Saw Byeonghyun while I was standing on the front porch. He joked that my pants were "so attractive," then was forced to acknowledge the fact we were being hollered at by a few dozen 1st-graders who were watching us from a high window. They were shouting "I love you" and throwing heart signs with their hands, ending in a sort of group-wide swoon when I waved back. "I guess they really like you," Byeonghyun commented. It's always funny when the big guys, who are 10 shades of cool, observe the 1st-grade babies being squishy little lumps of feelings and enthusiasm.
Lunchtime Games were good today, though 13 of them wanted to play a card game designed for 9. Afro-Jiwoong continues to be grand. Subin continues to be a cute little duck, bent on infuriating the other kids. Hyunho was only medium-angry at other kids, and all of us were glad to be together.
Question Time is getting good. Minjoon wondered if I'd ever eaten snails, thanks to our dalpaengi conversations from last week. Twin-Seungho wondered about my favorite poem, so I googled it and read "Fire and Ice" to an audience of six 3rd-graders. I've been putting the boys' trail mix in little Easter-themed cups my mom sent. They love it.
---------------------------------------
Thursday, April 24, 2014
4-25-14 Baseball with Jiwoong, Running, Calm About Knives
11 AM: Whew! Great day so far.
Yesterday was really busy, plus our office internet was out for a few hours, so I didn't get to write. But it was a great day--I got to play baseball with 3rd-grade Jiwoong!
Jiwoong ( my former afterschool boy whose curmudgeonly behavior earned him the nickname of "Grumpmaster" and who had been ignoring me for the first month of school) saw me come out to the path outside the soccer field. I was carrying my glove, so he asked to throw with me and we played catch. It was so sweet. I was incredibly happy to get to do anything with Jiwoong and the fact that he asked first was all the more wonderful.
Also, yesterday our educational supervisor for the city asked if I wanted to renew my contract for another year. I had already thought and prayed about this and there was no other choice for me--I said yes.
I haven't signed anything yet, but I know where my heart is. I complain and hurt and agonize over classes and over how to benefit the boys, but I know I want to stay here. Times are tough all over, and I have a right good job here. Co-workers I like, kids I love, the ability to try creative things even if they fall a bit flat at times. God carved out a safe place for me here, and I'm grateful for it. I'm staying for more, believing that I have more to do here and more to learn here.
Yesterday, my running hobby really kicked up a notch, too. I actually jogged for 30 minutes without stopping, which is really amazing when you consider that I could barely run for 2 minutes a few weeks ago. A combination of pointers from my friends (I was running way too hard and too fast, sprinting instead of going slow to preserve my energy) and daily training has brought me up to my current level.
Basically, I could run a 5K right now. And that is soooooo exciting! I'm going to keep up my running practice everyday, hoping to maintain some good endurance so I can run a real race with my buddies soon.
In my morning class of 2nd-graders, we had a grand time because H-Sol Teacher was so helpful. We did really well and the drawing-on-boards game that had failed so monstrously on Wednesday was a big hit. Also, English-Hyunseo excitedly told me that he loved last week's zombie game so much, he wanted to play it again.
That made me so happy. The Zombie Week stuff was fun for a few people, but overall it didn't go over big. Yet here was a kid so jazzed about the zombie game, he could barely get the words out in Korean or English. That made me so happy.
And my 3rd-grade boys were lovely. Sujin switched things around so he didn't have a partner, so I worked with him. And Byeonghyun, BY, Yoonjae, Yeongjoon and Kyeongtaek were all great.
Twin-Seungho told me through Minjoon that the snails died. Even pencil-case biomes aren't forever. And Minjoon told me he'd bring me deok (rice cake) on my birthday.
------------------------------------------
1:40 PM Class was gooood! My last round of 2nd-graders did so well. I knew I couldn't scrap the idea of the marker-board game because it had worked in H-Sol's class. We did it in class with NG Teacher and it was the best game yet. We seriously had so much fun with it and all 4 teams participated.
Ah, it was splendid. I teased Daehwan and Yehoon so much in class and I finally saw Laryngitis Seonghoon participating like he used to--actively, loudly, and mostly-correctly. Yehoon asked what "dalpaengi" was in English and I said "snails" immediately because I learned the word this week, thanks to Twin-Seungho's snail farm. And I talked lots more with NG, which is getting fun. I think we're friends, now, or if not, it's really close.
Sat across from the new math teacher at lunch and accidentally said I was "American people" plural, because I'm used to introducing myself in conjunction with another person. I corrected myself quickly, but I got a big laugh out of that one.
:Lunchtime Games were great. I threw baseball outside with 3rd-graders Gyuchan and Yoonseong, then I went in for 2nd-grade games. Of course, when I got to the office there were 5 kids hovering around the Question Seat, waiting for their chance to answer, so I had to talk to them first.
I've instituted a whole policy for Question Time. I printed out a list of 7 frequently asked questions that the boys can't ask me because they're too easy. However, I break that rule for the C-ban boys because they honestly can't think of English questions other than "how old are you" and "where are you from".
In addition, I made a new rule that on Monday-Wednesday-Fridays, I ask the boys 2 questions, but on Tuesday-Thursday, they have to ask me two questions instead. So the responsibility's on me most often, to think of interesting yet simple questions.
Making the printed-out rules seems to thrill the boys, because now it's a for reals game with standard regulations. They can know exactly what to expect. More kids than ever have been by today, including Afro-Jiwoong who trotted down to the big office all by his lonesome just to see if I was there. He was thirsty after our spicy lunch, so I gave him some of my drink. Later, Jeongmin was thirsty from running and he had some too.
-----------------------------------------------
3:30 PM Last class is over! I'm just at the office for a bit longer.
1st-grade babies got through class okay, though they were right lethargic. And I had to get Mr. B on the case of one of the kids--Hanwoong--because he wrote the f-word on his game paper at the end. Bad language doesn't affect me much, but youngun's have to learn what's classroom-appropriate and what's not. Hanwoong had to stand in the corner for a while, then come and apologize to me after class.
I think we're fine now--Hanwoong writing English obscenities on his paper didn't affect me one-tenth as much as Jiyoon drawing monkey pictures. Speaking of Jiyoon, today he was threatening his friend with a pencil-sharpening knife. The kids all have these tiny knives and it wouldn't be permitted in an American school, because they really could damage somebody.
Anyhoodle, I just told him to put the knife up, fairly blase about it by now. Yesterday in afterschool, Jiyoon did something else totally crazy/unacceptable and I just rolled my eyes, wrapped him in a hug to haul him away from the trouble he was causing, and led him to a desk where he could sit by me. We watched the final 20 minutes of our Thursday movie in relative silence. Jiyoon's nutsiness is just going to be part of my life now, since I'm one of his school-moms.
But today when he walked out of my classroom, I said "Bye, I love you," to Jiyoon for whatever reason, and he did a double take and pivoted back to say, "Love you, too." No clue if he really feels anything, but I know that I love him and I (usually) feel like it, as well.
Jeongmook spent as much of the class as possible holding my hand. And he tried to fix me up with his classmate Hanwoong because "Hanwoong tall, look good together!" Which makes me think that Jeongmook's sensitive about being so short. Not like he stands out among 1st-graders for his lack of stature, or anything. Jongmin has the best English of the lot and translated a great deal for me.
Piano-Jaehyung came by the office and I just did the English questions with him.Because I'd heard the other boys translate my English so often, I could ask Jaehyung the questions in English then Korean. His favorite season is fall, because then he can eat persimmons.
----------------------
Yesterday was really busy, plus our office internet was out for a few hours, so I didn't get to write. But it was a great day--I got to play baseball with 3rd-grade Jiwoong!
Jiwoong ( my former afterschool boy whose curmudgeonly behavior earned him the nickname of "Grumpmaster" and who had been ignoring me for the first month of school) saw me come out to the path outside the soccer field. I was carrying my glove, so he asked to throw with me and we played catch. It was so sweet. I was incredibly happy to get to do anything with Jiwoong and the fact that he asked first was all the more wonderful.
Also, yesterday our educational supervisor for the city asked if I wanted to renew my contract for another year. I had already thought and prayed about this and there was no other choice for me--I said yes.
I haven't signed anything yet, but I know where my heart is. I complain and hurt and agonize over classes and over how to benefit the boys, but I know I want to stay here. Times are tough all over, and I have a right good job here. Co-workers I like, kids I love, the ability to try creative things even if they fall a bit flat at times. God carved out a safe place for me here, and I'm grateful for it. I'm staying for more, believing that I have more to do here and more to learn here.
Yesterday, my running hobby really kicked up a notch, too. I actually jogged for 30 minutes without stopping, which is really amazing when you consider that I could barely run for 2 minutes a few weeks ago. A combination of pointers from my friends (I was running way too hard and too fast, sprinting instead of going slow to preserve my energy) and daily training has brought me up to my current level.
Basically, I could run a 5K right now. And that is soooooo exciting! I'm going to keep up my running practice everyday, hoping to maintain some good endurance so I can run a real race with my buddies soon.
In my morning class of 2nd-graders, we had a grand time because H-Sol Teacher was so helpful. We did really well and the drawing-on-boards game that had failed so monstrously on Wednesday was a big hit. Also, English-Hyunseo excitedly told me that he loved last week's zombie game so much, he wanted to play it again.
That made me so happy. The Zombie Week stuff was fun for a few people, but overall it didn't go over big. Yet here was a kid so jazzed about the zombie game, he could barely get the words out in Korean or English. That made me so happy.
And my 3rd-grade boys were lovely. Sujin switched things around so he didn't have a partner, so I worked with him. And Byeonghyun, BY, Yoonjae, Yeongjoon and Kyeongtaek were all great.
Twin-Seungho told me through Minjoon that the snails died. Even pencil-case biomes aren't forever. And Minjoon told me he'd bring me deok (rice cake) on my birthday.
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1:40 PM Class was gooood! My last round of 2nd-graders did so well. I knew I couldn't scrap the idea of the marker-board game because it had worked in H-Sol's class. We did it in class with NG Teacher and it was the best game yet. We seriously had so much fun with it and all 4 teams participated.
Ah, it was splendid. I teased Daehwan and Yehoon so much in class and I finally saw Laryngitis Seonghoon participating like he used to--actively, loudly, and mostly-correctly. Yehoon asked what "dalpaengi" was in English and I said "snails" immediately because I learned the word this week, thanks to Twin-Seungho's snail farm. And I talked lots more with NG, which is getting fun. I think we're friends, now, or if not, it's really close.
Sat across from the new math teacher at lunch and accidentally said I was "American people" plural, because I'm used to introducing myself in conjunction with another person. I corrected myself quickly, but I got a big laugh out of that one.
:Lunchtime Games were great. I threw baseball outside with 3rd-graders Gyuchan and Yoonseong, then I went in for 2nd-grade games. Of course, when I got to the office there were 5 kids hovering around the Question Seat, waiting for their chance to answer, so I had to talk to them first.
I've instituted a whole policy for Question Time. I printed out a list of 7 frequently asked questions that the boys can't ask me because they're too easy. However, I break that rule for the C-ban boys because they honestly can't think of English questions other than "how old are you" and "where are you from".
In addition, I made a new rule that on Monday-Wednesday-Fridays, I ask the boys 2 questions, but on Tuesday-Thursday, they have to ask me two questions instead. So the responsibility's on me most often, to think of interesting yet simple questions.
Making the printed-out rules seems to thrill the boys, because now it's a for reals game with standard regulations. They can know exactly what to expect. More kids than ever have been by today, including Afro-Jiwoong who trotted down to the big office all by his lonesome just to see if I was there. He was thirsty after our spicy lunch, so I gave him some of my drink. Later, Jeongmin was thirsty from running and he had some too.
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3:30 PM Last class is over! I'm just at the office for a bit longer.
1st-grade babies got through class okay, though they were right lethargic. And I had to get Mr. B on the case of one of the kids--Hanwoong--because he wrote the f-word on his game paper at the end. Bad language doesn't affect me much, but youngun's have to learn what's classroom-appropriate and what's not. Hanwoong had to stand in the corner for a while, then come and apologize to me after class.
I think we're fine now--Hanwoong writing English obscenities on his paper didn't affect me one-tenth as much as Jiyoon drawing monkey pictures. Speaking of Jiyoon, today he was threatening his friend with a pencil-sharpening knife. The kids all have these tiny knives and it wouldn't be permitted in an American school, because they really could damage somebody.
Anyhoodle, I just told him to put the knife up, fairly blase about it by now. Yesterday in afterschool, Jiyoon did something else totally crazy/unacceptable and I just rolled my eyes, wrapped him in a hug to haul him away from the trouble he was causing, and led him to a desk where he could sit by me. We watched the final 20 minutes of our Thursday movie in relative silence. Jiyoon's nutsiness is just going to be part of my life now, since I'm one of his school-moms.
But today when he walked out of my classroom, I said "Bye, I love you," to Jiyoon for whatever reason, and he did a double take and pivoted back to say, "Love you, too." No clue if he really feels anything, but I know that I love him and I (usually) feel like it, as well.
Jeongmook spent as much of the class as possible holding my hand. And he tried to fix me up with his classmate Hanwoong because "Hanwoong tall, look good together!" Which makes me think that Jeongmook's sensitive about being so short. Not like he stands out among 1st-graders for his lack of stature, or anything. Jongmin has the best English of the lot and translated a great deal for me.
Piano-Jaehyung came by the office and I just did the English questions with him.Because I'd heard the other boys translate my English so often, I could ask Jaehyung the questions in English then Korean. His favorite season is fall, because then he can eat persimmons.
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Tuesday, April 22, 2014
4-23-14 Mending Things With Jiyoon, Bad Triple Class, and Great Myeongbae
11 AM:
Okay, so here's the deal with BY. He's still a kid. I got way to freaked out over his actions yesterday, mainly because I felt like he was conning me. I'm used to him conning other people and me telling him to reconsider his actions and be kinder and less manipulative. It hurt when he turned his bag of social tricks on me.
But! He's a kid! Why can't I just remember that he's a precious child of God, a middle school fella who does some dumb things but who still needs compassion? Goodness knows if someone brought the hammer down on me every time I messed up, I'd be in trouble.
I haven't seen him yet today, but I'll be sure to be extra nice when I do. I care about this one. Conniving moments don't discount his personal worth.
Speaking of trouble-kids, I had another blowup in afterschool, with William-Jiyoon. He drew ugly pictures of me and said I looked like a monkey, so I slapped his hand a few times and dragged him down to the big office to let someone else deal with him.
I was wrong, totally wrong. Because I was angry at him. It hurt me that this little guy that I've poured so much into could be so nasty as to reject all my attempts at connection in favor of just being snotty. I should not have slapped his hand. That was me being a bully--I'm bigger than Jiyoon. It's not right to use force to hurt someone when they've hurt you.
I was wrong.
After I went to the big office, there was no Mr. B to handle Jiyoon, so we just walked back. Jiyoon was crying by this time. I paused in the hall and hugged him. I just held him and said I was sorry. I told him he had to stop acting that way in class. Please, please stop. We held hands and walked all the way back quietly.
I did tell him I was sorry, but it wasn't enough. I need to make it up to him somehow.
Today, JY-Teacher is having Jiyoon and Wonhye (who egged him on) come to the office to apologize. I want to let them know they're still much-loved and that I'm not angry with them anymore. The complexities of teaching little guys.
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3 PM: Jiyoon and Wonhye came by, nearly in tears from the talk JY-Teacher was giving them. When we were done with their lecture, I hugged them and gave them little hand-written notes on blue paper with chocolate taped to it. The message said, "Everything's going to be okay". And it will be.
Triple Class was awful today. Awwww-fulll. I stopped class and we did nothing for the last 12 minutes because they weren't capable of not drawing naughty pictures on their miniature marker-boards. I wasn't angry, thank goodness. I just assessed the facts: my last 12 minutes of class are a draw-your-answers activity, and only 8 kids were attempting to play and of those, 4 were trying to act up.
Anyhoo, I just told them all that we were done and it was time to sit. I went to the front row and had a killer time playing word games with Myeongbae and Afro-Jiwoong.
Something's going on in the office. Sanghyuk's mom is here, yelling at him. He's crying.
Back to class--when the bell rang, I told NG-Teacher that I was sorry and I wouldn't just flat-out stop a class again. He smiled, not condescendingly, but like like he understood and like he thought I was funny.
I wasn't too sad today, but classes were so challenging, I honestly think I would have cried again if I hadn't made friends with NG-Teacher. It would have been hard to bear up under the sheer difficulty of today if I still thought I was being viewed with coldness/scorn from that direction. Now we've definitely got something closer to warmth/understanding. I've been taking every opportunity to talk together, and it's been a great day on that front. It fixes so much of what's hard about teaching grade 2.
Had a good talk with H-Sol as well. She understands how hard I'm trying to find good materials for the boys. We discussed out mothers and what we like for breakfast.
Lunchtime Games were good. Jeongmin, as always, tried to get me away from the other kids. Me, split 7 ways, is not as fun as me, directing all attention solely at Jeongmin. But I had fun with him and Eungyo, Kangyo, Gyuseong, Wonbin and the rest. My little Yeonghan and Soonwoo joined the bunch too. Yeonghan packed up the cards saying that he would be responsible for cleaning up the game since, "Someone who likes Sem is now here". I called him my thoughtful gentleman.
Myeongbae asked me what I thought of him and I said I liked him. He's smart and interesting--a great person. Then I got brave enough to ask him what he thought of me--he said he likes me, too. That's I'm nice and I make class fun and funny. Bless your heart, sweet child. You made everything better by saying that.
There have been a lot of challenging moments today. But! What I don't have time to mention is the 70+ interactions I've had with darling kids today, the smiles, the high-fives, the inside jokes. Me asking if their wounds are healing. Them asking about my baby brother. So much loveliness today. The bad doesn't come close to outweighing it.
----------------------------------------
Okay, so here's the deal with BY. He's still a kid. I got way to freaked out over his actions yesterday, mainly because I felt like he was conning me. I'm used to him conning other people and me telling him to reconsider his actions and be kinder and less manipulative. It hurt when he turned his bag of social tricks on me.
But! He's a kid! Why can't I just remember that he's a precious child of God, a middle school fella who does some dumb things but who still needs compassion? Goodness knows if someone brought the hammer down on me every time I messed up, I'd be in trouble.
I haven't seen him yet today, but I'll be sure to be extra nice when I do. I care about this one. Conniving moments don't discount his personal worth.
Speaking of trouble-kids, I had another blowup in afterschool, with William-Jiyoon. He drew ugly pictures of me and said I looked like a monkey, so I slapped his hand a few times and dragged him down to the big office to let someone else deal with him.
I was wrong, totally wrong. Because I was angry at him. It hurt me that this little guy that I've poured so much into could be so nasty as to reject all my attempts at connection in favor of just being snotty. I should not have slapped his hand. That was me being a bully--I'm bigger than Jiyoon. It's not right to use force to hurt someone when they've hurt you.
I was wrong.
After I went to the big office, there was no Mr. B to handle Jiyoon, so we just walked back. Jiyoon was crying by this time. I paused in the hall and hugged him. I just held him and said I was sorry. I told him he had to stop acting that way in class. Please, please stop. We held hands and walked all the way back quietly.
I did tell him I was sorry, but it wasn't enough. I need to make it up to him somehow.
Today, JY-Teacher is having Jiyoon and Wonhye (who egged him on) come to the office to apologize. I want to let them know they're still much-loved and that I'm not angry with them anymore. The complexities of teaching little guys.
-------------------------------
3 PM: Jiyoon and Wonhye came by, nearly in tears from the talk JY-Teacher was giving them. When we were done with their lecture, I hugged them and gave them little hand-written notes on blue paper with chocolate taped to it. The message said, "Everything's going to be okay". And it will be.
Triple Class was awful today. Awwww-fulll. I stopped class and we did nothing for the last 12 minutes because they weren't capable of not drawing naughty pictures on their miniature marker-boards. I wasn't angry, thank goodness. I just assessed the facts: my last 12 minutes of class are a draw-your-answers activity, and only 8 kids were attempting to play and of those, 4 were trying to act up.
Anyhoo, I just told them all that we were done and it was time to sit. I went to the front row and had a killer time playing word games with Myeongbae and Afro-Jiwoong.
Something's going on in the office. Sanghyuk's mom is here, yelling at him. He's crying.
Back to class--when the bell rang, I told NG-Teacher that I was sorry and I wouldn't just flat-out stop a class again. He smiled, not condescendingly, but like like he understood and like he thought I was funny.
I wasn't too sad today, but classes were so challenging, I honestly think I would have cried again if I hadn't made friends with NG-Teacher. It would have been hard to bear up under the sheer difficulty of today if I still thought I was being viewed with coldness/scorn from that direction. Now we've definitely got something closer to warmth/understanding. I've been taking every opportunity to talk together, and it's been a great day on that front. It fixes so much of what's hard about teaching grade 2.
Had a good talk with H-Sol as well. She understands how hard I'm trying to find good materials for the boys. We discussed out mothers and what we like for breakfast.
Lunchtime Games were good. Jeongmin, as always, tried to get me away from the other kids. Me, split 7 ways, is not as fun as me, directing all attention solely at Jeongmin. But I had fun with him and Eungyo, Kangyo, Gyuseong, Wonbin and the rest. My little Yeonghan and Soonwoo joined the bunch too. Yeonghan packed up the cards saying that he would be responsible for cleaning up the game since, "Someone who likes Sem is now here". I called him my thoughtful gentleman.
Myeongbae asked me what I thought of him and I said I liked him. He's smart and interesting--a great person. Then I got brave enough to ask him what he thought of me--he said he likes me, too. That's I'm nice and I make class fun and funny. Bless your heart, sweet child. You made everything better by saying that.
There have been a lot of challenging moments today. But! What I don't have time to mention is the 70+ interactions I've had with darling kids today, the smiles, the high-fives, the inside jokes. Me asking if their wounds are healing. Them asking about my baby brother. So much loveliness today. The bad doesn't come close to outweighing it.
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Monday, April 21, 2014
4-22-14 In Which I Get Way Too Angry at BY
11 AM Great morning!
But BY found my Facebook. Or he said he did--I don't know what to believe from him anymore. Yesterday, BY told me he'd found my Facebook account, then he said he was lying and he hadn't looked for it, he'd just told me that in order to see what my reaction would be.
I told him that I love the kids at our school, but I'd like to be left alone on Facebook. I see the students everywhere I go, and plenty of them have my number and can Katok-message me whenever they like (which is rarely). But all told, I'd like to have some space that's child free.
Today, he said he'd really looked up my profile and saw where I'd written about him. I was shocked, because my settings are supposed to be super-private.
Then it hit me--this was an experiment, too. My settings are still private--he was just fishing to see if I had in fact ever written about him.
I'm so angry with him. If he did read my account by some quirk of online programming, that's bad because I outright told him not to, if (more likely) he just lied about everything, I'm mad because he's being manipulative again. Ugh.
Still love the kid, but I'm so very tired of BY's little social experiments. People do not want to be experimented on, you idiot. I even changed my poss to start calling him "BY" instead of his full name in case he looks up this blog.
On happier notes, I got my package of Easter chocolate from Mom!
And my 2nd-graders with SG2 were wonderful. I love little Yeonghan and all the others. Duck-Subin did a smile and a little victory dance.when I told him his pronunciation was good, and he used to cringe away from me and hide his head in his coat when I came by. Progress.
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2 PM: Ha, Twin-Seungho put something cold on my hand and it was a baby snail! Then he opened up his pencil case and showed me a few lettuce leaves nestled inside, with a dozen teeny-tiny 3-millimeter-long snails. Ahh, so darling.
A-Minwoo tapped the antenna of my snail with his finger, which made the antenna disappear for a while, and I was mad because I thought he had damaged the snail, but then the antenna appeared again. It just sprung back into place and Seungho said, "Stress, Teacher. Stress." The trauma of the moment made the antenna disappear, but then it got better.
Lunchtime Games were good. Hyunho was in the office when I came back, talking to B-Teacher of all people. Hyunho's just awesome, to be working on conversating at all times. Improve that English and those people skills, child. Both will carry you far.
But during the Lunchtime Games, Hyunho accused Jeongmin of being a pervert and Jeongmin said he was lying and I had to tell them both to cut it out because their petty arguments aren't good for them. Hyunho just stews in his resentment for Jeongmin sometimes, and that concerns me.
Hyo came and sat with me. Afro-Jiwoong came and I showed him how to play UNO.
BY came by my office and I told him I was angry. I didn't know if he disobeyed my wishes or if he lied--turns out, he did both. He snooped out what he could see of my profile--like my favorite books and my friends list--but couldn't see the posts.
I told him I didn't like his lying, and that I was also upset that he'd look me up when I told him not to. I turned my chair away from him and just stopped talking. I'm not upset any more, and I'm done with my own childish little displays of hurt feelings. I'll forgive him.
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But BY found my Facebook. Or he said he did--I don't know what to believe from him anymore. Yesterday, BY told me he'd found my Facebook account, then he said he was lying and he hadn't looked for it, he'd just told me that in order to see what my reaction would be.
I told him that I love the kids at our school, but I'd like to be left alone on Facebook. I see the students everywhere I go, and plenty of them have my number and can Katok-message me whenever they like (which is rarely). But all told, I'd like to have some space that's child free.
Today, he said he'd really looked up my profile and saw where I'd written about him. I was shocked, because my settings are supposed to be super-private.
Then it hit me--this was an experiment, too. My settings are still private--he was just fishing to see if I had in fact ever written about him.
I'm so angry with him. If he did read my account by some quirk of online programming, that's bad because I outright told him not to, if (more likely) he just lied about everything, I'm mad because he's being manipulative again. Ugh.
Still love the kid, but I'm so very tired of BY's little social experiments. People do not want to be experimented on, you idiot. I even changed my poss to start calling him "BY" instead of his full name in case he looks up this blog.
On happier notes, I got my package of Easter chocolate from Mom!
And my 2nd-graders with SG2 were wonderful. I love little Yeonghan and all the others. Duck-Subin did a smile and a little victory dance.when I told him his pronunciation was good, and he used to cringe away from me and hide his head in his coat when I came by. Progress.
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2 PM: Ha, Twin-Seungho put something cold on my hand and it was a baby snail! Then he opened up his pencil case and showed me a few lettuce leaves nestled inside, with a dozen teeny-tiny 3-millimeter-long snails. Ahh, so darling.
A-Minwoo tapped the antenna of my snail with his finger, which made the antenna disappear for a while, and I was mad because I thought he had damaged the snail, but then the antenna appeared again. It just sprung back into place and Seungho said, "Stress, Teacher. Stress." The trauma of the moment made the antenna disappear, but then it got better.
Lunchtime Games were good. Hyunho was in the office when I came back, talking to B-Teacher of all people. Hyunho's just awesome, to be working on conversating at all times. Improve that English and those people skills, child. Both will carry you far.
But during the Lunchtime Games, Hyunho accused Jeongmin of being a pervert and Jeongmin said he was lying and I had to tell them both to cut it out because their petty arguments aren't good for them. Hyunho just stews in his resentment for Jeongmin sometimes, and that concerns me.
Hyo came and sat with me. Afro-Jiwoong came and I showed him how to play UNO.
BY came by my office and I told him I was angry. I didn't know if he disobeyed my wishes or if he lied--turns out, he did both. He snooped out what he could see of my profile--like my favorite books and my friends list--but couldn't see the posts.
I told him I didn't like his lying, and that I was also upset that he'd look me up when I told him not to. I turned my chair away from him and just stopped talking. I'm not upset any more, and I'm done with my own childish little displays of hurt feelings. I'll forgive him.
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Sunday, April 20, 2014
4-21-14 2nd-Grade Good
12:00 PM: Gooood morning! I can't believe how well my early classes of 2nd-graders went. The one with SG2 was calm and sleepy but we did get a bit done, and I got good dialogues out of Soonhyuk and Jeongkyo (who lives in my neighborhood and who I saw yesterday), as well as Yeonwoo and Geonhong.
I'm really trying to keep connected with Soonhyuk, because he's my kid. I want him engaged, talkative and feeling like he's capable of big things. And Jeongkyo's a smarty who just needs very little nudging to be amazing. I intentionally spent a little extra time with them on their activity because I knew they could do it and get the candy reward, too.
The next class was even better. 2-3, 2-4 were little dolls and we had fun. They almost all tried to do the dialogue and Soonwoo, Dongha, and Yeonghan actually accomplished it. Hyunho tried to talk to me through the whole entire class, though. It was great because he's my little guy and I adore him, and also great because he's trying so hard to use English. But on the other hand, he takes my attention away from the other kids.
Kyeongwon noticed this, and with Dongha's help, he translated that Hyunho wants all eyes on him--Hyunho craves the interest of others. I had fun jokes with Seungyeop who when I asked if he had a "Yeongpil"(pencil), he said "No, he's Sangpil," pointing to his partner. I about died laughing at the pun. The kids were active, and I got in more conversation with NG-Teacher, so it was just a happy morning for everybody.
My 3rd-grade boys have been hilarious in their requests for trail mix this morning. JY-Teacher said that Jiwoong had to answer harder questions because he wants to go to the special international high school.
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I'm really trying to keep connected with Soonhyuk, because he's my kid. I want him engaged, talkative and feeling like he's capable of big things. And Jeongkyo's a smarty who just needs very little nudging to be amazing. I intentionally spent a little extra time with them on their activity because I knew they could do it and get the candy reward, too.
The next class was even better. 2-3, 2-4 were little dolls and we had fun. They almost all tried to do the dialogue and Soonwoo, Dongha, and Yeonghan actually accomplished it. Hyunho tried to talk to me through the whole entire class, though. It was great because he's my little guy and I adore him, and also great because he's trying so hard to use English. But on the other hand, he takes my attention away from the other kids.
Kyeongwon noticed this, and with Dongha's help, he translated that Hyunho wants all eyes on him--Hyunho craves the interest of others. I had fun jokes with Seungyeop who when I asked if he had a "Yeongpil"(pencil), he said "No, he's Sangpil," pointing to his partner. I about died laughing at the pun. The kids were active, and I got in more conversation with NG-Teacher, so it was just a happy morning for everybody.
My 3rd-grade boys have been hilarious in their requests for trail mix this morning. JY-Teacher said that Jiwoong had to answer harder questions because he wants to go to the special international high school.
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Thursday, April 17, 2014
4-18-14 Mr. B, Trying to Smalltalk, and English-Questions
11:00 AM Good day. This morning's class with H-Sol went well because she translated everything I said bit by bit for the 2nd-graders. We can't often do that because the kids have to try to understand the English first, but today it went well. I was temporarily mortified because I had translated one word into Korean wrong and H-Sol pointed it out to me, but it was good to know so I could fix it for the next class.
Inbetween classes, I called Jiwoong over to talk with me for chocolate. It didn't take too much convincing and we got some facetime in, which is important since I'm trying to reconnect with Jiwoong.
That was 3rd-grade Jiwoong I was talking about, but shortly afterward a friend of 2nd-grade boy Afro-Jiwoong came in. Little Keunho is an A-level 2nd-grader and he came into my office all by himself, which is almost indescribably brave for a little guy to wander to the office where the big guys hang out. He parked himself on the stool and asked for "the questions" since he'd witnessed Afro Jiwoong running through them all yesterday. I was really pleased to be talking to a new kid.
3rd-grade class was great. Byeonghyun and BY are charmers as always, and I got to do the dialogue with Yeongjoon because he had no partner. I think that might have been by design actually, because by now they know that if you don't have a partner I'll run the lines with them. They were all funny and sharp and I got to hear Puppy-Joonhyuk speaking. Until Yeongjoon drew my attention to him the other day, I didn't even know I taught him--he's just one of those students that blends in until you can appreciate him.
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1:40 PM: Got an iced coffee can from Mr. B who is just the nicest person. I don't mention Mr. B as much lately, but I do see him every day and I appreciate him more than ever. Last year it would have been unmanageable to try to handle the 3rd-grade boys without him. These days, he just sits in on my classes with the smart baby 1st-graders so he doesn't have to help me ride herd on the bunch of them.
These days, me and Mr. B have no stress in our work together so we can just talk together, about his tennis injury, about my weekend plans, about his family reunion, my new running hobby, etc. It took me months to be sure that he was a good person--working with older men is just frought with inherent difficulties--but now I know he is, so we can have helpful, supportive conversations.
All this to say that I'm working on the relationship with my other guy-coworker, NG-Teacher. I'm trying to make friends, and we're kinda getting there. I decided I would stop ignoring him in class (mostly due to my own illogical prejudice against him) and go out of my way to make smalltalk.
On Wednesday, I fiiiinally got a real conversation going while I was playing the Triple Class a video clip. I went to the back of the class to talk to NG about the film clip and we were just starting to talk like normal people do when Seungchan turned his little fluffy head around and cutely asked NG, "Sem Joayo?" or "Do you like the other Teacher?" whereupon NG had to go correct him for being rude.
I was seriously disappointed because Seungchan's interruption cut off my earnest attempt at connecting with someone I'd gotten off on the wrong foot with. In my head I was like, "Kid, if you spoil my overtures of niceness with your sassy ways, I will be most displeased."
But I was back in gear today, trying to talk. NG and I talked about the weather (cold, because it rained yesterday) and the weekend (he's not doing anything special, I'm going to Easter music services at my church). Then we joked a bit about Walk-to-School-Mingi because Mingi came up to NG and just clinged to him, staying in a hug. I told Mingi that I wanted a hug because I never get them (untrue if we're talking about 1st-graders). Mingi looked puzzled but I told him I was just joking. Ah it's a start, it's a start.
Last night, Artist Joohyun texted me to let me know he'd gotten 2nd in his class on the English listening test. You go, smart little artist! I was so proud of him. At first I didn't know who was texting because I have 4 students named Joohyun, but to confirm his identity he sent me a picture of the note I'd given him in December, which went along with his birthday present.
He's saved the note all these months. And it had numbers scrawled at the bottom--he'd written down my birthday on the note, so he wouldn't forget. I was so very touched by Joohyun's thoughtfulness.
Today, I went walking with one of the other female teachers whose name I can't remember. She and I had a good walk and a good talk and she told me that the atmosphere was good and that it had been a fun time for her, too. Swear I will get her name later. While I was waiting for her on the front porch, BY attacked me and nearly scared me to death. He thought it was hilarious and so did HH, who was watching and who might have encouraged him to do it. I told BY that I'd kill him for it, but I'd do it later when he wasn't expecting it.
Sat next to Jaehyung and across from Inha at lunch--the teachers had almost all moved out, so me and another lady let them sit by us and we gave them our extra desserts. I found out that Inha has been taking care of rabbits out behind the school--one white and one brown one. I saw the white one the other day. It has beautiful pink ears and red eyes.
Sleepy Moonshik asked for my number at the Lunchtime Games, as did Afro-Jiwoong and Myeongbae. I'm expected lots of vaguely-English texts in the near future.
Twin-Eunjae wanted to know if I had double eyelid surgery and Twin-Eungyo wanted to know if I dyed my hair. I told them that my eyes and hair just came this way. It's an American thing.
-----------------------------------
4:40 PM Great day! My last class was full of sweet babies (new kids: Jihoo by Jiyoon, and Giseong by Jinhyuk, Bin by Jongmin). I got the usual flirting from Jeongmook ("what color is lipstick, teacher?") and cleverness from Jongmin, who translated me for the whole rest of the class.
My afterschool boys Dongjoon and Jinhyuk are in this class, and I think we scooted our rapport ahead a few steps during. Jinhyuk had a stomachache, so I fussed over him. Then when the students were doing practice sentences saying "My favorite teacher is..." I did sentences saying "My favorite student is Jinhyuk" and "My favorite student is Dongjoon".
To clarify, I've generally stopped outright telling students they are favorites, because nobody really gets the joke. Sometimes I've had to randomly choose a kid for a game or choose one to give the right answer and when the others ask why he was picked instead of them, I joke "Because he's my favorite," but no one understands that I'm trying to be funny.
But anyhoo, Jinhyuk and Dongjoon were the only students who could hear me at the time and I wanted to say something special about them. So it went okay--they seemed to feel the warmth and nobody got offended at being left out.
Jiyoon, one of my most severe trouble-younguns in afterschool, did a good speaking practice with his partner and he said I was his favorite teacher because I'm pretty. I was also pleased at how many students said SG2 was their favorite teacher because she's beautiful, and according to one boy "because like an angel". Dude. That's pretty poetic for a 1st-grader. I also let Jihoo, Jiyoon, and some of the neighboring kids hold my hair, which according to them is "soft" and "amazing". This was a pretty sweet and angelic class, considering that last week I had to have them all put their heads down on their desks in punishment.
Little Bin in the front row really wants to be noticed. When Jeongmook said, "Teacher, I see you every morning," Bin said, "Me too! Every morning I see you! You not...hello! You not." So little Bin feels neglected because I don't yet recognize him in the vast throng of babies who walk to school near me. He said, "When see me, 나의 이름 불러줘요!" (say my name please!)
So today on the walk home when Jeongwook rode past and said, "Goodbye, I love you Teacher!" I said "bye Jeongmook!" and when little Bin rode his bike past, purposely slowing down to say "Goodbye Leigh Teacher" very carefully so I'd have time to see him and respond, I got to reply, "Bye, Bin!"
SG2 came to my office to ask me out into the hallway to double-check the Englsih exam she'd made up. It was perfect, and it made me really happy. She's such a delightful person and I feel like we're not many steps away from being real buddies.
During English-Questions in the office, I got tired of thinking of questions so I told the boys they had to ask me questions in English. The lower level boys did good, solid questions like how old are you, what's you favorite food, when's your birthday, where were you born, but to my delight the higher levels started gaming the system.
Because I didn't specify what kind of English questions, my awesome Gyuchan decide to ask ridiculously impractical questions. Such as: "I'm am a boy. Are you a girl? No..are you woman?" I haven't laughed so hard all week. It was just so unexpected, after everyone else had tried a direct information-getting approach. I never thought someone would do something funny, asking questions they already knew the answers to.
And the English-Questions are getting so fun. Differing groups of boys will circulate it, joking and helping each other figure out the English. I used to stop the high levels from translating for the low levels (thinking that it would keep them from learning for themselves), but then I noticed that if a High-Level translated for a Low-Level, then when the High-Level left the room, the Low-Level would translate for the next Low-Level.
They were actually learning. By listening to what the advanced students said, the less advanced students learned what "When did you wake up this morning?" and "what did you eat for breakfast?" meant. They laugh at each other's mistakes, but they also applaud when someone gets in a good answer, and it's just super fun. They are listening so carefully, waiting to hear what kind of question they will get, so they can be prepared.
Just got a small flurry of texts from beautiful little Sleepy Moonshik, who told me "hwaiting!" when I said I was working on English lessons. Encouragement is a grand thing.
----------------------------------
Inbetween classes, I called Jiwoong over to talk with me for chocolate. It didn't take too much convincing and we got some facetime in, which is important since I'm trying to reconnect with Jiwoong.
That was 3rd-grade Jiwoong I was talking about, but shortly afterward a friend of 2nd-grade boy Afro-Jiwoong came in. Little Keunho is an A-level 2nd-grader and he came into my office all by himself, which is almost indescribably brave for a little guy to wander to the office where the big guys hang out. He parked himself on the stool and asked for "the questions" since he'd witnessed Afro Jiwoong running through them all yesterday. I was really pleased to be talking to a new kid.
3rd-grade class was great. Byeonghyun and BY are charmers as always, and I got to do the dialogue with Yeongjoon because he had no partner. I think that might have been by design actually, because by now they know that if you don't have a partner I'll run the lines with them. They were all funny and sharp and I got to hear Puppy-Joonhyuk speaking. Until Yeongjoon drew my attention to him the other day, I didn't even know I taught him--he's just one of those students that blends in until you can appreciate him.
--------------------------------------------
1:40 PM: Got an iced coffee can from Mr. B who is just the nicest person. I don't mention Mr. B as much lately, but I do see him every day and I appreciate him more than ever. Last year it would have been unmanageable to try to handle the 3rd-grade boys without him. These days, he just sits in on my classes with the smart baby 1st-graders so he doesn't have to help me ride herd on the bunch of them.
These days, me and Mr. B have no stress in our work together so we can just talk together, about his tennis injury, about my weekend plans, about his family reunion, my new running hobby, etc. It took me months to be sure that he was a good person--working with older men is just frought with inherent difficulties--but now I know he is, so we can have helpful, supportive conversations.
All this to say that I'm working on the relationship with my other guy-coworker, NG-Teacher. I'm trying to make friends, and we're kinda getting there. I decided I would stop ignoring him in class (mostly due to my own illogical prejudice against him) and go out of my way to make smalltalk.
On Wednesday, I fiiiinally got a real conversation going while I was playing the Triple Class a video clip. I went to the back of the class to talk to NG about the film clip and we were just starting to talk like normal people do when Seungchan turned his little fluffy head around and cutely asked NG, "Sem Joayo?" or "Do you like the other Teacher?" whereupon NG had to go correct him for being rude.
I was seriously disappointed because Seungchan's interruption cut off my earnest attempt at connecting with someone I'd gotten off on the wrong foot with. In my head I was like, "Kid, if you spoil my overtures of niceness with your sassy ways, I will be most displeased."
But I was back in gear today, trying to talk. NG and I talked about the weather (cold, because it rained yesterday) and the weekend (he's not doing anything special, I'm going to Easter music services at my church). Then we joked a bit about Walk-to-School-Mingi because Mingi came up to NG and just clinged to him, staying in a hug. I told Mingi that I wanted a hug because I never get them (untrue if we're talking about 1st-graders). Mingi looked puzzled but I told him I was just joking. Ah it's a start, it's a start.
Last night, Artist Joohyun texted me to let me know he'd gotten 2nd in his class on the English listening test. You go, smart little artist! I was so proud of him. At first I didn't know who was texting because I have 4 students named Joohyun, but to confirm his identity he sent me a picture of the note I'd given him in December, which went along with his birthday present.
He's saved the note all these months. And it had numbers scrawled at the bottom--he'd written down my birthday on the note, so he wouldn't forget. I was so very touched by Joohyun's thoughtfulness.
Today, I went walking with one of the other female teachers whose name I can't remember. She and I had a good walk and a good talk and she told me that the atmosphere was good and that it had been a fun time for her, too. Swear I will get her name later. While I was waiting for her on the front porch, BY attacked me and nearly scared me to death. He thought it was hilarious and so did HH, who was watching and who might have encouraged him to do it. I told BY that I'd kill him for it, but I'd do it later when he wasn't expecting it.
Sat next to Jaehyung and across from Inha at lunch--the teachers had almost all moved out, so me and another lady let them sit by us and we gave them our extra desserts. I found out that Inha has been taking care of rabbits out behind the school--one white and one brown one. I saw the white one the other day. It has beautiful pink ears and red eyes.
Sleepy Moonshik asked for my number at the Lunchtime Games, as did Afro-Jiwoong and Myeongbae. I'm expected lots of vaguely-English texts in the near future.
Twin-Eunjae wanted to know if I had double eyelid surgery and Twin-Eungyo wanted to know if I dyed my hair. I told them that my eyes and hair just came this way. It's an American thing.
-----------------------------------
4:40 PM Great day! My last class was full of sweet babies (new kids: Jihoo by Jiyoon, and Giseong by Jinhyuk, Bin by Jongmin). I got the usual flirting from Jeongmook ("what color is lipstick, teacher?") and cleverness from Jongmin, who translated me for the whole rest of the class.
My afterschool boys Dongjoon and Jinhyuk are in this class, and I think we scooted our rapport ahead a few steps during. Jinhyuk had a stomachache, so I fussed over him. Then when the students were doing practice sentences saying "My favorite teacher is..." I did sentences saying "My favorite student is Jinhyuk" and "My favorite student is Dongjoon".
To clarify, I've generally stopped outright telling students they are favorites, because nobody really gets the joke. Sometimes I've had to randomly choose a kid for a game or choose one to give the right answer and when the others ask why he was picked instead of them, I joke "Because he's my favorite," but no one understands that I'm trying to be funny.
But anyhoo, Jinhyuk and Dongjoon were the only students who could hear me at the time and I wanted to say something special about them. So it went okay--they seemed to feel the warmth and nobody got offended at being left out.
Jiyoon, one of my most severe trouble-younguns in afterschool, did a good speaking practice with his partner and he said I was his favorite teacher because I'm pretty. I was also pleased at how many students said SG2 was their favorite teacher because she's beautiful, and according to one boy "because like an angel". Dude. That's pretty poetic for a 1st-grader. I also let Jihoo, Jiyoon, and some of the neighboring kids hold my hair, which according to them is "soft" and "amazing". This was a pretty sweet and angelic class, considering that last week I had to have them all put their heads down on their desks in punishment.
Little Bin in the front row really wants to be noticed. When Jeongmook said, "Teacher, I see you every morning," Bin said, "Me too! Every morning I see you! You not...hello! You not." So little Bin feels neglected because I don't yet recognize him in the vast throng of babies who walk to school near me. He said, "When see me, 나의 이름 불러줘요!" (say my name please!)
So today on the walk home when Jeongwook rode past and said, "Goodbye, I love you Teacher!" I said "bye Jeongmook!" and when little Bin rode his bike past, purposely slowing down to say "Goodbye Leigh Teacher" very carefully so I'd have time to see him and respond, I got to reply, "Bye, Bin!"
SG2 came to my office to ask me out into the hallway to double-check the Englsih exam she'd made up. It was perfect, and it made me really happy. She's such a delightful person and I feel like we're not many steps away from being real buddies.
During English-Questions in the office, I got tired of thinking of questions so I told the boys they had to ask me questions in English. The lower level boys did good, solid questions like how old are you, what's you favorite food, when's your birthday, where were you born, but to my delight the higher levels started gaming the system.
Because I didn't specify what kind of English questions, my awesome Gyuchan decide to ask ridiculously impractical questions. Such as: "I'm am a boy. Are you a girl? No..are you woman?" I haven't laughed so hard all week. It was just so unexpected, after everyone else had tried a direct information-getting approach. I never thought someone would do something funny, asking questions they already knew the answers to.
And the English-Questions are getting so fun. Differing groups of boys will circulate it, joking and helping each other figure out the English. I used to stop the high levels from translating for the low levels (thinking that it would keep them from learning for themselves), but then I noticed that if a High-Level translated for a Low-Level, then when the High-Level left the room, the Low-Level would translate for the next Low-Level.
They were actually learning. By listening to what the advanced students said, the less advanced students learned what "When did you wake up this morning?" and "what did you eat for breakfast?" meant. They laugh at each other's mistakes, but they also applaud when someone gets in a good answer, and it's just super fun. They are listening so carefully, waiting to hear what kind of question they will get, so they can be prepared.
Just got a small flurry of texts from beautiful little Sleepy Moonshik, who told me "hwaiting!" when I said I was working on English lessons. Encouragement is a grand thing.
----------------------------------
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
4-17-14 Facebook, Seeing Yeonghyo, and Charming Youngmin
8:30 AM: I shall have to accept that my life's just busier lately. With all the lesson planning I do, plus running immediately after school, then (usually) studying Korean, it doesn't leave as much time for writing as it used to.
Daesung called last night. We sorta-talked for 3 minutes, like usual. Becky and me went to the orphanage last Saturday, but they had sent all their kids off to Taekwondo class and so we had no one to teach. We rescheduled for not this Sunday but next Sunday. I told him I'd bring him a present of chocolate.
C-Yooseok just popped into the office right now to whisper a request for what I thought was "cho-co-lit". He was actually saying "jeo-ka-rak" or chopsticks. So I found him a disposable pair from our office ramen stash. I hope he's going to use them to eat breakfast, not to stab anybody.
Gave Leader Jaehoon my phone number yesterday. After class he said, "Teacher! Do you have Facebook?" No one had asked me that question before, so I just stared at him, stricken dumb by the horrific notion of friending my students on Facebook. He took my silent terror as an admission of guilt and said cheerily, "Me too! Teacher, add me. Add me." I told him we could use Kakao instead. Bullet dodged.
It's interesting that a phone number feels less personal than Facebook friending, but I only post on Facebook once a week and when I do, it's nearly always about the students. I don't even use Facebook for family or friends back home--it's strictly a social tool for acquaintances in Korea, so I can keep track of events and dinners and invitations. I post something cute once a week so people know I'm still alive, but that's it.
Saw Yeonghyo this morning! I was walking to school a little earlier than usual, at the time when more high school students are on the street, and I passed a couple of big high school kids. Then I heard a voice behind me say, "Leigh!" I turned around it was Yeonghyo, looking older and with longer hair than when I last saw him in February. I beamed and fussed over how good it was to see him again, and he told me that high school is horrible, which I expected. So good to see my former boy, the one who reached out to me and got the UNO games started.
Slow-jogged for 10 minutes yesterday. That's high endurance for me. I fully expect to be ready for a 5K by the end of June. Slow and steady gets the job done!
--------------------------------------------------------------
10 AM: In the break between classes, a pack of boys came by to practice English. Heonmin (one of KBR's favorites), little Byeongji who I got to talk to yesterday but who I rarely see since he dropped to B-class, Puppy-Joonhyuk (so called because yesterday he was walking with Yeongjoon, who said Joonhyuk was his puppy before "selling" Joonhyuk to me because I had no pets), Youngmin (funny guy, tried to scare me with a 3-inch-long stag beetle on Monday), Face-Yoonjae (who is getting more interested in English lately), precious Joonwoo (polite, thoughtful, rarely see him these days) and my Wooseok, who will speak for trail mix and trail mix alone.
We had some great convos. I asked about their siblings and their dads' jobs--most common answer was 'businessman' but Wooseok's dad drives a bus.
The boys gathered around and Puppy-Joonhyuk wanted to know the word for their race of people. One non-offensive word for white person is "baek-in" so he wanted to know "hwang-in" (orange person) in English, but I told him they were called "asian". Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people are all Asian. Byeongji, Heongmin, Yoonjae and Joonhyuk all repeated "Asian..." like it was a big revelation. Byeongji wanted to know if Vietnamese people were also Asian and I said they were.
Yesterday, Face-Yoonjae hung around while I was talking to BY and he asked what we were talking about. Yoonjae has English that's a step above a lot of the other A-levels, but he still can't follow a full conversation. That was one of the first times I've heard a student actually ask "what were you talking about?" because sometimes they'll express envy of the high-English kids, but won't actually inquire into was was said. BY explained that we'd been discussing my plans for my afterschool kids, plans which involved feeding them chips. He'd been negotiating for me to feed the 3rd-graders as well.
--------------------------------
2 PM: Classes were good! 1st grade babies were doll-doll-dolls and the 3rd-graders were sly and funny. Minhwe tried to wiggle out of doing any work, as did Jinseo and Joonseok, but we got through things. Gyuchan was in fine form and he even hid in the corridor after class so he could scare me when I was locking up--except I saw him hiding and was waiting for it. Gyuchan's bigger than me, so stealth isn't his strong suit.
Lunchtime Games were great! I was a little late because me and the other female teachers went to walk over to the boys' high school and sit in their picturesque garden (our middle school is decidedly lacking in the ambient and picturesque categories). The high schoolers gawked at us from the windows and started shouting questions in English. Their native teacher is a guy, so they're not used to foreign women.
So since I was walking back later than usual, I ran across Deokryong! So he came upstairs with me. He wanted me to go to his homeroom, Gu-ban (9), but I insisted that we go to Sa-ban (4) because I was not throwing one more classroom into the mix after the Sam-ban (3) trouble on Tuesday.
It was so nice to have Deokryong in there with us. I've missed him so much. And there's a new student--Jiwoo--who is C-level and is very nice to me. We did Jenga with Hyunwoo and Jaewon, and A-level student who was in the Saturday English program last year. We had fun, and soon Myeongbae-n-Jiwoong came in.
I told Myeongbae-n-Jiwoong yesterday that they had earned chocolate but that they should redeem it today because I'd run out and needed to restock the supplies. So they followed me downstairs and got their treats, along with Deokryong and Jeongmin. And get this--the 5 of us sang "Let It Go" all the way down the stairs! Myeongbae and Deokryong love that musical and were more than excited to sing it all together. That was a special moment.
Upstairs, Deokryong had asked Afro-Jiwoong in Korean, "Don't you think Sem and Elsa are similar?" Jiwoong replied, "Not similar--exactly the same." That was cute because they didn't know I could understand them.
Downstiars, Myeongbae and Jiwoong wanted extra chocolate and they were willing to converse for it. They sat down on the stool without my asking them to and looked very excited to hear their English questions. Whether or not it started out that way, I have stumbled on something that makes kids eager to hear and respond to English questions. How fun!
And the older boys do the same. Duyeol rolled in this morning, sat on the stool and said, "Teacherrrr. Mission, please!" Meaning that the sentences I pose to them are their "mission" which they must complete to get the reward. Daww. Youngmin was so confident in his English skills, he came back for a second roundof questioning. Youngmin's definitely my boy now because he goes out of his way to greet and joke with me at every turn. At lunch, I caught his eye and he stuck out his tongue! But he's so funny, you have to appreciate it. I don't feel the slightest inkling of disrespect; such is Youngmin's charm.
----------------------------------------------------------------
8:30 PM: It was raining on the way home from school, and Donggu rode his bike alongside me so I could hold the umbrella over both of us. I didn't even invite him--he just silently drove his bike under my umbrella, knowing I'd hold it over both of us. Sweet.
-------------------------------
Daesung called last night. We sorta-talked for 3 minutes, like usual. Becky and me went to the orphanage last Saturday, but they had sent all their kids off to Taekwondo class and so we had no one to teach. We rescheduled for not this Sunday but next Sunday. I told him I'd bring him a present of chocolate.
C-Yooseok just popped into the office right now to whisper a request for what I thought was "cho-co-lit". He was actually saying "jeo-ka-rak" or chopsticks. So I found him a disposable pair from our office ramen stash. I hope he's going to use them to eat breakfast, not to stab anybody.
Gave Leader Jaehoon my phone number yesterday. After class he said, "Teacher! Do you have Facebook?" No one had asked me that question before, so I just stared at him, stricken dumb by the horrific notion of friending my students on Facebook. He took my silent terror as an admission of guilt and said cheerily, "Me too! Teacher, add me. Add me." I told him we could use Kakao instead. Bullet dodged.
It's interesting that a phone number feels less personal than Facebook friending, but I only post on Facebook once a week and when I do, it's nearly always about the students. I don't even use Facebook for family or friends back home--it's strictly a social tool for acquaintances in Korea, so I can keep track of events and dinners and invitations. I post something cute once a week so people know I'm still alive, but that's it.
Saw Yeonghyo this morning! I was walking to school a little earlier than usual, at the time when more high school students are on the street, and I passed a couple of big high school kids. Then I heard a voice behind me say, "Leigh!" I turned around it was Yeonghyo, looking older and with longer hair than when I last saw him in February. I beamed and fussed over how good it was to see him again, and he told me that high school is horrible, which I expected. So good to see my former boy, the one who reached out to me and got the UNO games started.
Slow-jogged for 10 minutes yesterday. That's high endurance for me. I fully expect to be ready for a 5K by the end of June. Slow and steady gets the job done!
--------------------------------------------------------------
10 AM: In the break between classes, a pack of boys came by to practice English. Heonmin (one of KBR's favorites), little Byeongji who I got to talk to yesterday but who I rarely see since he dropped to B-class, Puppy-Joonhyuk (so called because yesterday he was walking with Yeongjoon, who said Joonhyuk was his puppy before "selling" Joonhyuk to me because I had no pets), Youngmin (funny guy, tried to scare me with a 3-inch-long stag beetle on Monday), Face-Yoonjae (who is getting more interested in English lately), precious Joonwoo (polite, thoughtful, rarely see him these days) and my Wooseok, who will speak for trail mix and trail mix alone.
We had some great convos. I asked about their siblings and their dads' jobs--most common answer was 'businessman' but Wooseok's dad drives a bus.
The boys gathered around and Puppy-Joonhyuk wanted to know the word for their race of people. One non-offensive word for white person is "baek-in" so he wanted to know "hwang-in" (orange person) in English, but I told him they were called "asian". Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people are all Asian. Byeongji, Heongmin, Yoonjae and Joonhyuk all repeated "Asian..." like it was a big revelation. Byeongji wanted to know if Vietnamese people were also Asian and I said they were.
Yesterday, Face-Yoonjae hung around while I was talking to BY and he asked what we were talking about. Yoonjae has English that's a step above a lot of the other A-levels, but he still can't follow a full conversation. That was one of the first times I've heard a student actually ask "what were you talking about?" because sometimes they'll express envy of the high-English kids, but won't actually inquire into was was said. BY explained that we'd been discussing my plans for my afterschool kids, plans which involved feeding them chips. He'd been negotiating for me to feed the 3rd-graders as well.
--------------------------------
2 PM: Classes were good! 1st grade babies were doll-doll-dolls and the 3rd-graders were sly and funny. Minhwe tried to wiggle out of doing any work, as did Jinseo and Joonseok, but we got through things. Gyuchan was in fine form and he even hid in the corridor after class so he could scare me when I was locking up--except I saw him hiding and was waiting for it. Gyuchan's bigger than me, so stealth isn't his strong suit.
Lunchtime Games were great! I was a little late because me and the other female teachers went to walk over to the boys' high school and sit in their picturesque garden (our middle school is decidedly lacking in the ambient and picturesque categories). The high schoolers gawked at us from the windows and started shouting questions in English. Their native teacher is a guy, so they're not used to foreign women.
So since I was walking back later than usual, I ran across Deokryong! So he came upstairs with me. He wanted me to go to his homeroom, Gu-ban (9), but I insisted that we go to Sa-ban (4) because I was not throwing one more classroom into the mix after the Sam-ban (3) trouble on Tuesday.
It was so nice to have Deokryong in there with us. I've missed him so much. And there's a new student--Jiwoo--who is C-level and is very nice to me. We did Jenga with Hyunwoo and Jaewon, and A-level student who was in the Saturday English program last year. We had fun, and soon Myeongbae-n-Jiwoong came in.
I told Myeongbae-n-Jiwoong yesterday that they had earned chocolate but that they should redeem it today because I'd run out and needed to restock the supplies. So they followed me downstairs and got their treats, along with Deokryong and Jeongmin. And get this--the 5 of us sang "Let It Go" all the way down the stairs! Myeongbae and Deokryong love that musical and were more than excited to sing it all together. That was a special moment.
Upstairs, Deokryong had asked Afro-Jiwoong in Korean, "Don't you think Sem and Elsa are similar?" Jiwoong replied, "Not similar--exactly the same." That was cute because they didn't know I could understand them.
Downstiars, Myeongbae and Jiwoong wanted extra chocolate and they were willing to converse for it. They sat down on the stool without my asking them to and looked very excited to hear their English questions. Whether or not it started out that way, I have stumbled on something that makes kids eager to hear and respond to English questions. How fun!
And the older boys do the same. Duyeol rolled in this morning, sat on the stool and said, "Teacherrrr. Mission, please!" Meaning that the sentences I pose to them are their "mission" which they must complete to get the reward. Daww. Youngmin was so confident in his English skills, he came back for a second roundof questioning. Youngmin's definitely my boy now because he goes out of his way to greet and joke with me at every turn. At lunch, I caught his eye and he stuck out his tongue! But he's so funny, you have to appreciate it. I don't feel the slightest inkling of disrespect; such is Youngmin's charm.
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8:30 PM: It was raining on the way home from school, and Donggu rode his bike alongside me so I could hold the umbrella over both of us. I didn't even invite him--he just silently drove his bike under my umbrella, knowing I'd hold it over both of us. Sweet.
-------------------------------
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
4-16-14 Joonsung Sweetness, Territorialism, and Hyo
11 AM: Am so very tired. I took up running as a hobby because all my friends are runners, and it's got me worn out a bit. I can tell this is going to help my future health, fitness and energy, though.
First classes had good moments. lots of boys really trying to work on their stories. Tiring because of all the one-on-one time, though. But I'm cementing relationships with a lot of the kids like Sleepy Moonshik and Daehwan-n-Yechan and Hyungu-n-Chanwook, etc.
And I modified each lesson 3 more times, getting easier and clearer each time.
Yesterday, Joonsung came by to use my computer like he always does, but I was so busy fixing lessons, I couldn't address him. I kept telling him no in Korean, telling him to wait, that I needed my computer. He stood over me and kept talking to me while I basically ignored him. I had 10 minutes to alter a lesson before giving it to a fresh batch of 2nd-graders.
So when I wouldn't look up at him, Joonsung placed his hands on either side of my face and gently turned my head toward him. When I looked up, he was smiling patiently. And I realized that this must be the way his caretakers get his attention when he's ignoring them. I smiled and had to keep working, but I finished early and let him use the computer.
That was yesterday. He came by again this morning and I let him use the computer then, too.
Yesterday, I had it confirmed that I'm the source of a territory war between Jeongmin and Hyunho. For the Lunchtime Games, Hyunho came by to get me instead of Jeongmin. It didn't matter to me which kid picked me up from the office--the point, to me, is that I get to go be with the students and see them having fun while maybe hearing a little about that day.
But Hyunho decided we should play in class 2-3 instead of 2-4...his homeroom, not Jeongmin's. In hindsight, it was also probably a calculated move to make it harder for Jeongmin to find us. Because Jeongmin didn't show up until there were only about 5 minutes of lunchtime left.
I asked where he'd been and he said, "Outside, searching for you." He looked so hurt that I felt guilty, and I hadn't even done anything. I asked him to stay and play Jenga, but he waved a paper in his hand and said, "I have to do this homework by tomorrow." He gestured to the other kids playing Jenga and said, "They have to do it too, but they're playing..." It was like the good son, get nothing while the prodigals have a grand time. I told him that in the future, I'd leave him a note if I went upstairs before he found me.
Why does Hyunho have to be so sneaky about this stuff? He knew I wouldn't know what was going on and that I wouldn't care which student found me first, but that Jeongmin would care. Hyo also coudln't find me and asked me in class, "Teacher, lunchtime, where? Not see." Hyo was really disappointed that he didn't get his lunchtime discussion in. Eek, one misstep in regard to where you'll be and at what time, and you've got massively letdown students. I must start leaving notes. I must!
But I also heard form Mr. B that Hyunho's been having behavioral problems at home, like tantrums and breaking things? Last week he was out of school and I thought he was on vacation, but his mom had pulled him out of school, either for treatment or discipline. He's always been intelligent and sweet and good for me, but I know he's been less smiley and much louder/more aggressive this semester (and sneakier, too). I'll pray for him.
--------------------------
3 PM: Lunchtime Games were good! Jeongmin has told me he couldn't come today and said I should go on with Hyunho, but later when I did go with Hyunho, Jeongmin was upstairs waiting. So anyways, I had Lunchtime Games with everybody pertinent--Jeongmin, Hyunho, AND Hyo.
This morning Hyo rode his bike beside me on the way to school for several minutes. We talked about his family in Incheon, where he often visits. He wanted to make sure that he didn't miss me today at lunch. At lunch games we didn't really get to talk, but I did save him from being sat upon by Hyunho. Hyunho is small but strong, but Hyo is just small, so it was still too much for him, so I gave Hyunho half my chair.
Hyunho and Jeongmin seemed to be getting along, but Hyunho did say something rude to Jeongmin. Hyunho told him to "stop being cute in front of Sem because it disgusts me". Once I figured out what he was saying, I told him that Jeongmin wasn't begin cutesy, he was just being nice and I liked his behavior. Hyunho just kept saying, "Maybe Sem likes it, but it still makes me disgusted so cut it out."
Gyuseong did the same thing later, saying I shouldn't pay attention to Jeongmin. Then Jeongmin and Hyunho teamed up to pin Gyuseong to the floor and twist his arms into uncomfortable shapes, whereupon I made them stop... I just don't know. People say girls are weird, but girls have nothing on this folderol. I can't keep track of who's mad at who, who's playing power games for frivolous reasons, and who's just a silly kid having fun.
I do know that Hyo told me he'd been crying this morning. He couldn't tell me why, but I told him to come to my office when he's in trouble.
-----------------------------------------------
First classes had good moments. lots of boys really trying to work on their stories. Tiring because of all the one-on-one time, though. But I'm cementing relationships with a lot of the kids like Sleepy Moonshik and Daehwan-n-Yechan and Hyungu-n-Chanwook, etc.
And I modified each lesson 3 more times, getting easier and clearer each time.
Yesterday, Joonsung came by to use my computer like he always does, but I was so busy fixing lessons, I couldn't address him. I kept telling him no in Korean, telling him to wait, that I needed my computer. He stood over me and kept talking to me while I basically ignored him. I had 10 minutes to alter a lesson before giving it to a fresh batch of 2nd-graders.
So when I wouldn't look up at him, Joonsung placed his hands on either side of my face and gently turned my head toward him. When I looked up, he was smiling patiently. And I realized that this must be the way his caretakers get his attention when he's ignoring them. I smiled and had to keep working, but I finished early and let him use the computer.
That was yesterday. He came by again this morning and I let him use the computer then, too.
Yesterday, I had it confirmed that I'm the source of a territory war between Jeongmin and Hyunho. For the Lunchtime Games, Hyunho came by to get me instead of Jeongmin. It didn't matter to me which kid picked me up from the office--the point, to me, is that I get to go be with the students and see them having fun while maybe hearing a little about that day.
But Hyunho decided we should play in class 2-3 instead of 2-4...his homeroom, not Jeongmin's. In hindsight, it was also probably a calculated move to make it harder for Jeongmin to find us. Because Jeongmin didn't show up until there were only about 5 minutes of lunchtime left.
I asked where he'd been and he said, "Outside, searching for you." He looked so hurt that I felt guilty, and I hadn't even done anything. I asked him to stay and play Jenga, but he waved a paper in his hand and said, "I have to do this homework by tomorrow." He gestured to the other kids playing Jenga and said, "They have to do it too, but they're playing..." It was like the good son, get nothing while the prodigals have a grand time. I told him that in the future, I'd leave him a note if I went upstairs before he found me.
Why does Hyunho have to be so sneaky about this stuff? He knew I wouldn't know what was going on and that I wouldn't care which student found me first, but that Jeongmin would care. Hyo also coudln't find me and asked me in class, "Teacher, lunchtime, where? Not see." Hyo was really disappointed that he didn't get his lunchtime discussion in. Eek, one misstep in regard to where you'll be and at what time, and you've got massively letdown students. I must start leaving notes. I must!
But I also heard form Mr. B that Hyunho's been having behavioral problems at home, like tantrums and breaking things? Last week he was out of school and I thought he was on vacation, but his mom had pulled him out of school, either for treatment or discipline. He's always been intelligent and sweet and good for me, but I know he's been less smiley and much louder/more aggressive this semester (and sneakier, too). I'll pray for him.
--------------------------
3 PM: Lunchtime Games were good! Jeongmin has told me he couldn't come today and said I should go on with Hyunho, but later when I did go with Hyunho, Jeongmin was upstairs waiting. So anyways, I had Lunchtime Games with everybody pertinent--Jeongmin, Hyunho, AND Hyo.
This morning Hyo rode his bike beside me on the way to school for several minutes. We talked about his family in Incheon, where he often visits. He wanted to make sure that he didn't miss me today at lunch. At lunch games we didn't really get to talk, but I did save him from being sat upon by Hyunho. Hyunho is small but strong, but Hyo is just small, so it was still too much for him, so I gave Hyunho half my chair.
Hyunho and Jeongmin seemed to be getting along, but Hyunho did say something rude to Jeongmin. Hyunho told him to "stop being cute in front of Sem because it disgusts me". Once I figured out what he was saying, I told him that Jeongmin wasn't begin cutesy, he was just being nice and I liked his behavior. Hyunho just kept saying, "Maybe Sem likes it, but it still makes me disgusted so cut it out."
Gyuseong did the same thing later, saying I shouldn't pay attention to Jeongmin. Then Jeongmin and Hyunho teamed up to pin Gyuseong to the floor and twist his arms into uncomfortable shapes, whereupon I made them stop... I just don't know. People say girls are weird, but girls have nothing on this folderol. I can't keep track of who's mad at who, who's playing power games for frivolous reasons, and who's just a silly kid having fun.
I do know that Hyo told me he'd been crying this morning. He couldn't tell me why, but I told him to come to my office when he's in trouble.
-----------------------------------------------
Monday, April 14, 2014
4-15-14 All the Hugs, Rude Jiyoon, and Quiet Minjong
11 AM: Yesterday was just so jam-crammed with stuff to do, I couldn't write much.
But classes passed okay. My 1st-grade class was amazing and I gave them all goodbye hugs when they left class, because they requested it. I was holding my English textbook to myself, so we had a bit of a barrier there. Even so, Jaeyeong got back in line four times. After 3 hugs, I told him to just leave or he'd be late for his next class.
Afterschool went okay. We did a zombie activity from the 2nd grade classes, but Jiyoon was acting up so bad I had to take him out in the hall. When I called his name he had said in quick succession, "What, man? Hey baby? What, woman? What, grandmother?" He was trying to be rude and I was ready to take him down to the 1st-floor office, but he begged and we just stood and talked for a few minutes. I told him that he was a smart and funny boy. But that he could be a better person. Don't know if he understood, but we didn't have any more rudeness.
This morning, Quiet Minjong got some work done when I addressed it with him, solo-style. I was so proud and I had him come to the office for chocolate because Minjong more than other kids seems...tragic? I don't know if he's just a quiet kid with a somber expression, but even when I taught him last year, I'd catch him staring at the wall, looking burdened. Everybody gets tired and everybody gets bored, but Minjong's a different level, and his smiles are rare, so I was glad to talk with him and tell him I was proud.
Soonwoo and Yeonghan did great work, getting into deep and thoughtful discussions about their choices. GOSH. They talked about stuff and argued their points with me. I could have pinched their squishy, beautiful cheeks. Hyunho was also a master of writing thoughtful things. My boy in unstoppable in English class.
And Hyunseop, a cutie pie with a few broken fingers due to some unknown accident, together with Donggu, a budding comedian who had seemed humorless last year, did some great stuff. They even wrote "Leigh Teacher" as one of the characters they'd take with them on the boat if zombies attacked.
---------------------------------
But classes passed okay. My 1st-grade class was amazing and I gave them all goodbye hugs when they left class, because they requested it. I was holding my English textbook to myself, so we had a bit of a barrier there. Even so, Jaeyeong got back in line four times. After 3 hugs, I told him to just leave or he'd be late for his next class.
Afterschool went okay. We did a zombie activity from the 2nd grade classes, but Jiyoon was acting up so bad I had to take him out in the hall. When I called his name he had said in quick succession, "What, man? Hey baby? What, woman? What, grandmother?" He was trying to be rude and I was ready to take him down to the 1st-floor office, but he begged and we just stood and talked for a few minutes. I told him that he was a smart and funny boy. But that he could be a better person. Don't know if he understood, but we didn't have any more rudeness.
This morning, Quiet Minjong got some work done when I addressed it with him, solo-style. I was so proud and I had him come to the office for chocolate because Minjong more than other kids seems...tragic? I don't know if he's just a quiet kid with a somber expression, but even when I taught him last year, I'd catch him staring at the wall, looking burdened. Everybody gets tired and everybody gets bored, but Minjong's a different level, and his smiles are rare, so I was glad to talk with him and tell him I was proud.
Soonwoo and Yeonghan did great work, getting into deep and thoughtful discussions about their choices. GOSH. They talked about stuff and argued their points with me. I could have pinched their squishy, beautiful cheeks. Hyunho was also a master of writing thoughtful things. My boy in unstoppable in English class.
And Hyunseop, a cutie pie with a few broken fingers due to some unknown accident, together with Donggu, a budding comedian who had seemed humorless last year, did some great stuff. They even wrote "Leigh Teacher" as one of the characters they'd take with them on the boat if zombies attacked.
---------------------------------
Sunday, April 13, 2014
4-14-13 Ambitious Soonhyuk, Choosing to Smile, and Yoonseokness
10 AM: First class went well, but instead of having too much time to complete the activity, we had not enough. It was a zombie activity, and their writing was great but we spent so much time coming up with stories, we didn't have time to play the game at the end!
Still, I got to hear lovely thoughtful things from several of the boys. Geon used to be C-ban, but he moved up to B and he's got a likable personality. Geonghong is a natural leader--I got to watch him steering the other kids toward the outcome he wanted. Tiny Yongmoon joked with me, though I didn't always understand.
Yeonwoo was cleverer than most, and Joonhyuk is a precious kid with virtually no English. Sanghyeop decribed his job during the zombie apocalypse as being "Sanghyeop". We laughed and had good time.
The only downside for me was Soonhyuk's sad feelings. Soonhyuk's my boy, and he feels trapped in B-ban. He kept writing on his paper, "I'm A-ban. I"m A. I'm A-ban". And I spent less time with him than with the other boys because he had everything done already and didn't need to be guided.
When I finally came around to Soonhyuk, he had walked over to the window to stare morosely out of it. I couldn't blame him. He was left alone with nothing to do for 10 minutes while me and SG2 helped the other kids. But what can I do? If the other kids don't get one-on-one time, they can't figure out their activities despite me adapting the activities to be as simple as possible and including a lot of Korean words.
Anyhoo, I told Soonhyuk's partner Jeongkyo to come by for chocolate later (because they had done great art and great sentences), but I couldn't find Soonhyuk to tell him to come. I even went back up the stairs to look for him, Reeses in hand, with no results. Poor baby. I know you're bored. I know you're stuck in an uninspiring class level and you want to be recognized for better things because you're just so bright you could light up a room if given the chance. You'll get it, Soonhyuk. You'll eventually get where you need to go. And before that, I'll get your Reeses to you.
Yeonghan met me in the hall and pleasantly told me that we had class together next. I look forward to that. 2-3, 2-4 are grand kids, one and all. I like them lots.
A perky C-level 2nd-grader came by with Jeongkyo and wanted chocolate, in exchange for conversation. His name is Gangmin and I know him from Lunchtime Games. He doesn't play, but he buzzes around the room, pausing occasionally to loudly ask me to save him from imagined violence or to assure me that he likes ladies (they feel the need to inform me of this from time to time). Gangmin seemed like a fun student, so I was glad to talk with him and find out that he's a soccer goalie, etc.
SG2 told me she was at school all weekend, doing paperwork. Suddenly my weekends full of hours (5-6 hours on Saturday, 5-6 on Sunday?) of lesson planning in cool, ambient coffeeshops don't seem so arduous.
--------------------------------------------------------------
11:40 AM: YESSSS class went well! And not because my activity succeeded--because I loved the kids.
I was with NG-Teacher, and I felt like we were both happier. This weekend, I watched a TED Talk (educational video) about the scientific power of smiling and decided to weld that to my faith in God. I practiced smiling on my own, so I found it easier to smile in front of people today. Being joyful is a form of worship because it's showing thankfulness/gratefulness to God.
I smiled in class,to the kids and to myself and I felt so much happier. I had 10 totally invested kids and 12 sleepers/wanderers/doodlers who could not be brought to do anything. But that was okay! I was happy with any of the little guys I got to work with, period. They were wonderful.
Hyunho, Yeonghyun, Kibeom, and Sangpil won the challenge (we actually got to play this time), but I made sure to get Yeonghan, Dongha, and Kyeongwon to follow me for chocolate as well--they put in a world of effort, truly.
In short, I feel pretty buoyant. I don't have to have perfect classes where everyone participates. I just have to work hard and adore the ones I have, whether they're working or not.
Saw Itaewon-Sungmin in the office. He always greets me so kindly. The B-level 3rd grade boys often seem to want to reconnect, now that I don't teach them anymore. Talked with Duyeol, gave him candy after hearing when he woke up and how he doesn't remember what he ate for breakfast.
Jaehyung surprised me in the hall. I was talking to O-Teacher when he walked up and just sort of stood right on me without stepping on my feet. I was so shocked, it made O-Teacher laugh.
Normally, the students can't surprise me. If you work in a boys' school, you expect the unexpected. They will run around corners and narrowly miss bowling you over, they will jump out of nowhere, they will be sitting and standing and sliding on things they should not be sit-stand-or-sliding on. I walk down the hall like a creature with all its nerves removed. I am unbotherable!
Except by Jaehyung. And by C-Jeongmin, who grabbed my arm and made me jump just minutes after Jaehyung did. I'm not getting jumpier--they're just leveling up their surprise quotient.
And! Gyuseong from Lunchtime Games! My darling Gyuseong who can't hardly speak English is...A-ban. I just assumed that he was C level since I didn't teach him and he couldn't really speak to me but nope. I saw him walking back from the English Center and asked him what level he was, and it's A. What a shock.
Additionally, A-Yoonseok says that C-Yoonseok is not a Yoonseok at all but a Yooseok. But C-Yoonseok (maybe Yooseok) has not yet been consulted about the status of his Yoonseok-ness (maybe Yooseok-ness), but I will ask him later. Kindly tell me who you really are, sir. One is either a Yoo or a Yoon. Sides must be chosen.
----------------
Still, I got to hear lovely thoughtful things from several of the boys. Geon used to be C-ban, but he moved up to B and he's got a likable personality. Geonghong is a natural leader--I got to watch him steering the other kids toward the outcome he wanted. Tiny Yongmoon joked with me, though I didn't always understand.
Yeonwoo was cleverer than most, and Joonhyuk is a precious kid with virtually no English. Sanghyeop decribed his job during the zombie apocalypse as being "Sanghyeop". We laughed and had good time.
The only downside for me was Soonhyuk's sad feelings. Soonhyuk's my boy, and he feels trapped in B-ban. He kept writing on his paper, "I'm A-ban. I"m A. I'm A-ban". And I spent less time with him than with the other boys because he had everything done already and didn't need to be guided.
When I finally came around to Soonhyuk, he had walked over to the window to stare morosely out of it. I couldn't blame him. He was left alone with nothing to do for 10 minutes while me and SG2 helped the other kids. But what can I do? If the other kids don't get one-on-one time, they can't figure out their activities despite me adapting the activities to be as simple as possible and including a lot of Korean words.
Anyhoo, I told Soonhyuk's partner Jeongkyo to come by for chocolate later (because they had done great art and great sentences), but I couldn't find Soonhyuk to tell him to come. I even went back up the stairs to look for him, Reeses in hand, with no results. Poor baby. I know you're bored. I know you're stuck in an uninspiring class level and you want to be recognized for better things because you're just so bright you could light up a room if given the chance. You'll get it, Soonhyuk. You'll eventually get where you need to go. And before that, I'll get your Reeses to you.
Yeonghan met me in the hall and pleasantly told me that we had class together next. I look forward to that. 2-3, 2-4 are grand kids, one and all. I like them lots.
A perky C-level 2nd-grader came by with Jeongkyo and wanted chocolate, in exchange for conversation. His name is Gangmin and I know him from Lunchtime Games. He doesn't play, but he buzzes around the room, pausing occasionally to loudly ask me to save him from imagined violence or to assure me that he likes ladies (they feel the need to inform me of this from time to time). Gangmin seemed like a fun student, so I was glad to talk with him and find out that he's a soccer goalie, etc.
SG2 told me she was at school all weekend, doing paperwork. Suddenly my weekends full of hours (5-6 hours on Saturday, 5-6 on Sunday?) of lesson planning in cool, ambient coffeeshops don't seem so arduous.
--------------------------------------------------------------
11:40 AM: YESSSS class went well! And not because my activity succeeded--because I loved the kids.
I was with NG-Teacher, and I felt like we were both happier. This weekend, I watched a TED Talk (educational video) about the scientific power of smiling and decided to weld that to my faith in God. I practiced smiling on my own, so I found it easier to smile in front of people today. Being joyful is a form of worship because it's showing thankfulness/gratefulness to God.
I smiled in class,to the kids and to myself and I felt so much happier. I had 10 totally invested kids and 12 sleepers/wanderers/doodlers who could not be brought to do anything. But that was okay! I was happy with any of the little guys I got to work with, period. They were wonderful.
Hyunho, Yeonghyun, Kibeom, and Sangpil won the challenge (we actually got to play this time), but I made sure to get Yeonghan, Dongha, and Kyeongwon to follow me for chocolate as well--they put in a world of effort, truly.
In short, I feel pretty buoyant. I don't have to have perfect classes where everyone participates. I just have to work hard and adore the ones I have, whether they're working or not.
Saw Itaewon-Sungmin in the office. He always greets me so kindly. The B-level 3rd grade boys often seem to want to reconnect, now that I don't teach them anymore. Talked with Duyeol, gave him candy after hearing when he woke up and how he doesn't remember what he ate for breakfast.
Jaehyung surprised me in the hall. I was talking to O-Teacher when he walked up and just sort of stood right on me without stepping on my feet. I was so shocked, it made O-Teacher laugh.
Normally, the students can't surprise me. If you work in a boys' school, you expect the unexpected. They will run around corners and narrowly miss bowling you over, they will jump out of nowhere, they will be sitting and standing and sliding on things they should not be sit-stand-or-sliding on. I walk down the hall like a creature with all its nerves removed. I am unbotherable!
Except by Jaehyung. And by C-Jeongmin, who grabbed my arm and made me jump just minutes after Jaehyung did. I'm not getting jumpier--they're just leveling up their surprise quotient.
And! Gyuseong from Lunchtime Games! My darling Gyuseong who can't hardly speak English is...A-ban. I just assumed that he was C level since I didn't teach him and he couldn't really speak to me but nope. I saw him walking back from the English Center and asked him what level he was, and it's A. What a shock.
Additionally, A-Yoonseok says that C-Yoonseok is not a Yoonseok at all but a Yooseok. But C-Yoonseok (maybe Yooseok) has not yet been consulted about the status of his Yoonseok-ness (maybe Yooseok-ness), but I will ask him later. Kindly tell me who you really are, sir. One is either a Yoo or a Yoon. Sides must be chosen.
----------------
Thursday, April 10, 2014
4-11-14 Good 2nd-Graders, Language Compliments, and Jeongmook
11 AM: Good day!
My first class of 2nd-graders was amazing. I was with H-Sol Teacher, and the boys in 2-7, 2-8 actually responded! They said words! I had to be realllly patient with them, but once I stopped being mentally huffy and wanting to rush through, they actually had time to formulate some answers to the game.
I was quite happy. And they were quite happy. I gained a new favorite--English-Hyunseo who says he actually enjoys English. He was very clever and I liked him.
And that was nothing compared to Governor Yunho and crew. My favorite little flirt and his co-horts were hilarious in both their drawings and their commentary on the drawings. Yunho insisted he should win a prize because his comic was "Neomu utgyeoyo" or "incredibly funny" and therefore should be dubbed the best. Him and Gicheol and Taehoon and Hyunshik were a barrel of laughs and I loved talking to them.
In 3rd grade, the boys were funny and amazing, and Yeongjoon really shone. He figured out some answers before Byeonghyun, which was really stunning. He sat in the front row with Byeonghyun and BY and informed me that they were the "A-line". The best students were in the front this time.
We had a nice class. KBR was great with the kids, though she told me that she's getting tireder and tireder of the actual doing of teaching lately. I told her that I know the feeling, though I also said I had a really good morning with my 2nd-graders.
Beautiful Face-Yoonjae's hair is going gray. The other kids are trying to pull it out, strand by strand. He's fifteen. I didn't know hair went gray that early.
Minhwe came by to get his chocolate. We chatted about his morning and he was a delight, as always. Can't believe I didn't notice Minhwe last year. He's such a precious soul.
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2 PM: Yeah-iss, last class o' 2nd-graders before lunch went pretty well. NG-Teacher offered me a mike at one point and I said I was okay, then after a few minutes he set it up for me anyway. So I used it. He knows better than me on some issues. The game worked much better today with a little patience.
I met Yeongsu and Jonghoon in this class, adding them to the list of my boys. They were noisy, but I connected with several of them and it went well. Seongkyu is a real card and Giwoong is a total brain, who answered a million questions. It was a good time.
Then after lunch I went walking with H-Sol Teacher, which was very pleasant. She's a wonderful person and we get along well. She complimented my Korean ability, which made me happy.
I went to Lunchtime Games and spent a lot of time talking to Hyo, who thinks his weekend plans will be ruined by rain. Eungyo talked to me some also--he's quite loveable.
Soonhyuk and Governor Yunho came by for chocolate and we had a nice discussion. It'll be funny to me if the boys end up learning the past tense of English simply because I keep asking them what they did yesterday.
S-Teacher says that 1st grade classroom number 9 voted me the prettiest teacher in school. But my boys Hyunseo, Byeongil and Doyeong are in there, so I know they put it a good word for me.
Leader Jaehoon stopped to tell me that he used the colored folding paper I'd given him for his birthday and made cranes out of it. Sweet baby.
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4:30 PM Last class o' 1st-graders was so nuts, I made them all put their heads down on their desks for half a minute. We had fun after that--they'd just escalated so far, I did not bring them down to zero before we could proceed. And they did great after that.
Little Jeongmook in the front row can't go 3 minutes without flirting. Grabbing my hand, saying "I love you", writing "I LOVE YOU" in all caps on his Bingo paper, saying "hug me please" in Korean--the flow of affection is nonstop from this one. He kicked it up a notch, too, adding, "Teacher. First kiss when? WHEN WAS. Who was it. WHO????" Translator-Jongmin joined in the questioning and I told them to mind their own business in Korean. But we ended up with a good class overall and several of them won chocolate.
My first class of 2nd-graders was amazing. I was with H-Sol Teacher, and the boys in 2-7, 2-8 actually responded! They said words! I had to be realllly patient with them, but once I stopped being mentally huffy and wanting to rush through, they actually had time to formulate some answers to the game.
I was quite happy. And they were quite happy. I gained a new favorite--English-Hyunseo who says he actually enjoys English. He was very clever and I liked him.
And that was nothing compared to Governor Yunho and crew. My favorite little flirt and his co-horts were hilarious in both their drawings and their commentary on the drawings. Yunho insisted he should win a prize because his comic was "Neomu utgyeoyo" or "incredibly funny" and therefore should be dubbed the best. Him and Gicheol and Taehoon and Hyunshik were a barrel of laughs and I loved talking to them.
In 3rd grade, the boys were funny and amazing, and Yeongjoon really shone. He figured out some answers before Byeonghyun, which was really stunning. He sat in the front row with Byeonghyun and BY and informed me that they were the "A-line". The best students were in the front this time.
We had a nice class. KBR was great with the kids, though she told me that she's getting tireder and tireder of the actual doing of teaching lately. I told her that I know the feeling, though I also said I had a really good morning with my 2nd-graders.
Beautiful Face-Yoonjae's hair is going gray. The other kids are trying to pull it out, strand by strand. He's fifteen. I didn't know hair went gray that early.
Minhwe came by to get his chocolate. We chatted about his morning and he was a delight, as always. Can't believe I didn't notice Minhwe last year. He's such a precious soul.
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2 PM: Yeah-iss, last class o' 2nd-graders before lunch went pretty well. NG-Teacher offered me a mike at one point and I said I was okay, then after a few minutes he set it up for me anyway. So I used it. He knows better than me on some issues. The game worked much better today with a little patience.
I met Yeongsu and Jonghoon in this class, adding them to the list of my boys. They were noisy, but I connected with several of them and it went well. Seongkyu is a real card and Giwoong is a total brain, who answered a million questions. It was a good time.
Then after lunch I went walking with H-Sol Teacher, which was very pleasant. She's a wonderful person and we get along well. She complimented my Korean ability, which made me happy.
I went to Lunchtime Games and spent a lot of time talking to Hyo, who thinks his weekend plans will be ruined by rain. Eungyo talked to me some also--he's quite loveable.
Soonhyuk and Governor Yunho came by for chocolate and we had a nice discussion. It'll be funny to me if the boys end up learning the past tense of English simply because I keep asking them what they did yesterday.
S-Teacher says that 1st grade classroom number 9 voted me the prettiest teacher in school. But my boys Hyunseo, Byeongil and Doyeong are in there, so I know they put it a good word for me.
Leader Jaehoon stopped to tell me that he used the colored folding paper I'd given him for his birthday and made cranes out of it. Sweet baby.
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4:30 PM Last class o' 1st-graders was so nuts, I made them all put their heads down on their desks for half a minute. We had fun after that--they'd just escalated so far, I did not bring them down to zero before we could proceed. And they did great after that.
Little Jeongmook in the front row can't go 3 minutes without flirting. Grabbing my hand, saying "I love you", writing "I LOVE YOU" in all caps on his Bingo paper, saying "hug me please" in Korean--the flow of affection is nonstop from this one. He kicked it up a notch, too, adding, "Teacher. First kiss when? WHEN WAS. Who was it. WHO????" Translator-Jongmin joined in the questioning and I told them to mind their own business in Korean. But we ended up with a good class overall and several of them won chocolate.
At lunchtime when H-Sol and I went walking outside the school gates, we were swarmed by a bunch of students hoping to accompany us outside and thus gain freedom. C-Yoonseok offered my his arm to escort me outside. He said to everyone else in English, "Teacher's friend. I am teacher-friend." I accepted his arm for a few seconds, before leaving him at the gate with Seungah and the rest.
Walked home part of the way with BY. We talked about how he sounds different in Korean than in English--his voice is much higher and quirkier in English. Turns out he speaks higher in English because his friends in America responded better to higher pitches than to lower ones. I feel like if he kept his English voice at the same register as his Korean voice, he'd get less teasing from the other kids. So I'm thinking about how to introduce that idea to him without seeming like I'm insulting him.
Weekend's here! Which means volunteering at the orphanage, lesson planning, and going to a board game cafe in Seoul! Next week shall be lovely.
----------------
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
4-10-14 Cloud Stories, Reasons For the Fight, and Disinfection
9:30 AM: It's a happy, idyllic morning at the office. No classes for the first two periods. Eating ghetto oatmeal (which is nurungji (scorched rice), reconstituted with boiled water, with a packet of almond tea added for flavor. Yeah, sounds weird but tastes approximately like a really hearty oatmeal).
I had to report my boys Yechan and Hyunseo for their fight yesterday. I told Mr. B the situation and he said he'd take care of it. I don't want them punished, I just want them to not do that again. And if there was a real issue between them, I don't want that to go unnoticed. Maybe it wasn't serious and one kid just broke another kid's ruler, but I saw how that emotionally wrecked Kyeongho during the first week of school.
My friend Amanda suggested that I observe a Korean teacher's class to see if they teach differently, and to get inspired for the 2nd-graders. I asked JY-Teacher if I could watch hers, but she wasn't really keen on it, plus she teaches 3rd, which is just going to be a bit different. When I told her that the kids weren't bad and that I was just searching for inspiration to engage them, she told me something helpful.
The 2nd-graders are on an experimental kind of semester where they don't have big tests. From what I understand, the boys don't have to prepare for midterms or semester finals, so they're even less inclined to do stuff. She said the Korean teachers have the same issue with the boys, so that helped me. I figure the non-interest situation is their natural condition and it's only exacerbated by the language barrier.
So. Continue trying, but focus less on classroom "success" and more on connecting with a few individuals.
And here are pictures of my boys' stories! First pictures are of the Reese's advertisements we did. I provided them with a lot of target vocabulary to use--I'm trying to teach them a lot of adjectives for describing things they see and taste. Commentary under the pictures, not over them.
Jiyoon finally drew somthing, after 6 weeks of steadfastly not doing work. It's a cloud mommy, giving birth to a cloud baby after a 12-month pregnancy.
2nd grade comics with Jeongkyo, who I'd never talked to before but who is quite pleasant,
And now there is some kind of bouncer situation at the office. Office Leader stands in the hall and only lets a few kids in at a time. Gyuchan hold his arm across the door, acting as a barrier for the kids. Maybe it's to keep the kids from swarming us during work hours, but I would welcome more company. C-Jeongmin just stood in the hall with 15 other students, staring into the office but not getting to come in. I'm not the only teacher he visits, but he does always stop by. Maybe the bouncer thing is only for the mornings? I hope it lets up in the afternoon.
-------------------------------------------------------
1:40 PM: Next classes went well. 1st-graders were lovely and I got to ask Hyunseo what the fight yesterday was about. Yechan had chucked a pencil case at his head, so Hyunseo retaliated. I believed it--Yechan is smart and talented, but very babyish in some ways. He's exactly the type to chuck a loaded pencil case at somebody's head with no thought for the fallout.
Between classes, I got chocolate from BY. BY. He's never given me anything ever.
3rd grade class was good, with clever comics from Jinseo, Gyuchan, Minhwe and A-Yoonseok. We had a nice time and they really made me laugh.
Jihoon from afterschool braved the scary hall full of big boys to come see me and get his chocolate from the other day.
After lunch, I went out walking with JY and SG1, then the Technology Teacher bought ice cream for us. And I walked back with the (young, single, cute) Geography Teacher, which was nice. He's got a decent amount of English, so we could discuss our teaching experience and our respective college majors pretty well. When we reached the gate, Jeongmin was waiting to pick me up for Lunchtime Games, so I walked along with my kid.
Jeongmin and I discussed my baby brother, who I said was adopted. Jeongmin said immediately that he wanted to adopt a child someday because he doesn't like the idea of making a baby. I wasn't sure what he meant exactly, and I was conflicted about how to answer, because human reproduction is not something you want to discuss with middle school boys ever in life. So I just said that children are great and adoption is wonderful.
At the games, I taught Eungyo the word "better" by using Korean. I have way more Korean than Eungyo has English, so I'm able to be his tutor. He thinks UNO is better than Monopoly.
Minchan saw me outside eating an apple and said that before the apple, my face was sad and after the apple, I looked cheerier. Cute observation.
-------------------------------------
9 PM: C-Jeongmin disinfected my hands today. I was sitting at my desk when he indicated that he wanted to give me handsoap. He put some on my hands, then led me over to the office sink so I could wash them. I did so, but I was so puzzled. Was this a commentary on my personal hygeine? Did he think my hands were dirty?
I asked JY-Teacher, and she laughed and said that it's just an indication of care and thoughtfulness. People sometimes clean/disinfect each other's hands--it was a sign that C-Jeongmin was thinking about my health. Dawww. I'd never heard that one before. In Korea, people will sometimes clean each other's ears with a Q-tip if their relationship is very close. It's not terribly common, but last month I saw a college-age couple doing this in a coffee shop.
Wooseok came by to talk with me, but again he's so afraid of English he won't hardly do it. When I asked how old he was he said in Korean that he didn't know, just so he wouldn't have to do it in English! I counted numbers on my fingers until we reached his age.
Dongmin came by for chocolate and he knew the question I was going to ask, the 'what did you do yesterday?' question. He told me in Korean, "Teacher, you know you already know what I did yesterday. So." I asked him a new question instead: "when did you wake up this morning?" I've been getting a jillion miles of conversation with my boys, and I love it. They come one after the other and sit down to talk.
HH and Jihyuk weren't in class today, and I missed them because without my favorites to talk with in the front row, I just have to stare at Jeongsu and Jiwoong and Gimin being nuts in the back row. I ended up just moving Gimin to the front to cut down on nonsense. We had an okay class though, and I got to reward Cheolho's big brother Suho for his good art.
Poor SG2 looks so tired. Tired-er than me. It reminds me that I really don't have things so bad after all. She's a grand person and I want to pray for her more.
My tutoring session went longer tonight. My tutor wanted to do more with me because it was "fun". Working with me with language is fun! For another person! EEEEEE! She suggested that we up our sessions to an hour and a half, and by now, we can totally do that. We have enough to learn and to talk about that we can do it. I'm beyond jazzed about this, I'm ecstatic. What a blessing to be learning and to be a blessing to someone else.
---------------------------------------------------
I had to report my boys Yechan and Hyunseo for their fight yesterday. I told Mr. B the situation and he said he'd take care of it. I don't want them punished, I just want them to not do that again. And if there was a real issue between them, I don't want that to go unnoticed. Maybe it wasn't serious and one kid just broke another kid's ruler, but I saw how that emotionally wrecked Kyeongho during the first week of school.
My friend Amanda suggested that I observe a Korean teacher's class to see if they teach differently, and to get inspired for the 2nd-graders. I asked JY-Teacher if I could watch hers, but she wasn't really keen on it, plus she teaches 3rd, which is just going to be a bit different. When I told her that the kids weren't bad and that I was just searching for inspiration to engage them, she told me something helpful.
The 2nd-graders are on an experimental kind of semester where they don't have big tests. From what I understand, the boys don't have to prepare for midterms or semester finals, so they're even less inclined to do stuff. She said the Korean teachers have the same issue with the boys, so that helped me. I figure the non-interest situation is their natural condition and it's only exacerbated by the language barrier.
So. Continue trying, but focus less on classroom "success" and more on connecting with a few individuals.
And here are pictures of my boys' stories! First pictures are of the Reese's advertisements we did. I provided them with a lot of target vocabulary to use--I'm trying to teach them a lot of adjectives for describing things they see and taste. Commentary under the pictures, not over them.
Hyunseo looked at advertisements on Google and drew the Reese's package.
Daehyun drew a cake on his advertisement.
I told my darling Cheolho that I thought he could do better on his advertisement because it was just okay, but he was a genius. (I rarely push my Korean students the way I did my American students. But I sensed that Cheolho would take it in the right spirit and rise to the occasion.) He went back and improved his advertisement with the addition of robot bears. Sweet. Robo-bears would sell the product to me, definitely.
Now we come to the "Cloud Stories" from Tuesday, wherein Yechan explains rain as originating from a sky-dragon. Twist ending: it's not really rain.
Again, Hyungkeun shocks and awes with his ability to craft a beautiful story, and one with a moral, no less! The dark cloud envies the bright cloud's beauty and popularity, while the bright cloud envies the dark cloud's practical ability to create rain. Moral? Both clouds are valuable and we need both for a balanced world. DUDE.
Cheolho being artsy and imaginative, like he does.
Changho hid this drawing from the prying eyes of a dozen other students, in order to deliver it to me. Clouds and I are lovely in a similar manner, it seems.
Jaehoon discusses his friend "Loud" and how Loud fell to C-ban in school, leading to the nickname "C-Loud" or "cloud". I was flabbergasted at the creative usage of the word "cloud".
Jiyoon finally drew somthing, after 6 weeks of steadfastly not doing work. It's a cloud mommy, giving birth to a cloud baby after a 12-month pregnancy.
Glasses-Seongmin, showing off his comics skills.
Tan-Seongmin's work.
Jihoon, my only B-class, putting forth a big effort on his story.
2nd-grade comics with Jiwon, who wins points for cuteness.
2nd-grade comics with Yooseok, who wins for most disturbing comic.
2nd-grade comics with Myeongbae, who wins for most informative. He came up with 6 separate solutions for sleepiness.
2nd grade comics with Jeongkyo, who I'd never talked to before but who is quite pleasant,
And now there is some kind of bouncer situation at the office. Office Leader stands in the hall and only lets a few kids in at a time. Gyuchan hold his arm across the door, acting as a barrier for the kids. Maybe it's to keep the kids from swarming us during work hours, but I would welcome more company. C-Jeongmin just stood in the hall with 15 other students, staring into the office but not getting to come in. I'm not the only teacher he visits, but he does always stop by. Maybe the bouncer thing is only for the mornings? I hope it lets up in the afternoon.
-------------------------------------------------------
1:40 PM: Next classes went well. 1st-graders were lovely and I got to ask Hyunseo what the fight yesterday was about. Yechan had chucked a pencil case at his head, so Hyunseo retaliated. I believed it--Yechan is smart and talented, but very babyish in some ways. He's exactly the type to chuck a loaded pencil case at somebody's head with no thought for the fallout.
Between classes, I got chocolate from BY. BY. He's never given me anything ever.
3rd grade class was good, with clever comics from Jinseo, Gyuchan, Minhwe and A-Yoonseok. We had a nice time and they really made me laugh.
Jihoon from afterschool braved the scary hall full of big boys to come see me and get his chocolate from the other day.
After lunch, I went out walking with JY and SG1, then the Technology Teacher bought ice cream for us. And I walked back with the (young, single, cute) Geography Teacher, which was nice. He's got a decent amount of English, so we could discuss our teaching experience and our respective college majors pretty well. When we reached the gate, Jeongmin was waiting to pick me up for Lunchtime Games, so I walked along with my kid.
Jeongmin and I discussed my baby brother, who I said was adopted. Jeongmin said immediately that he wanted to adopt a child someday because he doesn't like the idea of making a baby. I wasn't sure what he meant exactly, and I was conflicted about how to answer, because human reproduction is not something you want to discuss with middle school boys ever in life. So I just said that children are great and adoption is wonderful.
At the games, I taught Eungyo the word "better" by using Korean. I have way more Korean than Eungyo has English, so I'm able to be his tutor. He thinks UNO is better than Monopoly.
Minchan saw me outside eating an apple and said that before the apple, my face was sad and after the apple, I looked cheerier. Cute observation.
-------------------------------------
9 PM: C-Jeongmin disinfected my hands today. I was sitting at my desk when he indicated that he wanted to give me handsoap. He put some on my hands, then led me over to the office sink so I could wash them. I did so, but I was so puzzled. Was this a commentary on my personal hygeine? Did he think my hands were dirty?
I asked JY-Teacher, and she laughed and said that it's just an indication of care and thoughtfulness. People sometimes clean/disinfect each other's hands--it was a sign that C-Jeongmin was thinking about my health. Dawww. I'd never heard that one before. In Korea, people will sometimes clean each other's ears with a Q-tip if their relationship is very close. It's not terribly common, but last month I saw a college-age couple doing this in a coffee shop.
Wooseok came by to talk with me, but again he's so afraid of English he won't hardly do it. When I asked how old he was he said in Korean that he didn't know, just so he wouldn't have to do it in English! I counted numbers on my fingers until we reached his age.
Dongmin came by for chocolate and he knew the question I was going to ask, the 'what did you do yesterday?' question. He told me in Korean, "Teacher, you know you already know what I did yesterday. So." I asked him a new question instead: "when did you wake up this morning?" I've been getting a jillion miles of conversation with my boys, and I love it. They come one after the other and sit down to talk.
HH and Jihyuk weren't in class today, and I missed them because without my favorites to talk with in the front row, I just have to stare at Jeongsu and Jiwoong and Gimin being nuts in the back row. I ended up just moving Gimin to the front to cut down on nonsense. We had an okay class though, and I got to reward Cheolho's big brother Suho for his good art.
Poor SG2 looks so tired. Tired-er than me. It reminds me that I really don't have things so bad after all. She's a grand person and I want to pray for her more.
My tutoring session went longer tonight. My tutor wanted to do more with me because it was "fun". Working with me with language is fun! For another person! EEEEEE! She suggested that we up our sessions to an hour and a half, and by now, we can totally do that. We have enough to learn and to talk about that we can do it. I'm beyond jazzed about this, I'm ecstatic. What a blessing to be learning and to be a blessing to someone else.
---------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
4-9-14 Letting Go, Breaking Up a Fight, and Seeing Hyunkyeong
11 AM: In which I again resolve to stop worrying.
First two classes were not horrible. The kids didn't mutiny, but they didn't listen and didn't learn and if I let myself, I could be an emotional basketcase over it yet again.
I'm so prideful and paranoid about these things. I try hard and do a lousy job at explaining things to the grade-2's, so they sit in their seats and do nothing at all. And I adore the kids so much, so I go one-on-one with them and we have a great time talking and working. But I fail, fail, fail at leading the class as a unit, while for 1st and 3rd grade I can lead a class.
And I don't think my co-teachers judge me, but in my head I picture them thinking how talentless and ineffective I am. Projecting my own thoughts about myself onto others. Because I really want respect. I want to be good at my work. Today I finally asked NG-Teacher if he had any ideas about how to make the 2nd lesson longer, or improve it. He didn't have any thoughts offhand, but I did finally let my pride go in order to ask for advice.
Anyways. Letting it go. The kids love me, and I love them. God loves all of us. I keep coming back to that.
In my second class, I sat and played an English word game with Sleepy Moonshik, who I adore. I told him to come by for candy later, and he did. He's my sweet little guy and it makes me happy to do nice things for him. I watched Soonhyuk be awesome at art and I praised him for his work. I listened to Mingyu answer a million questions and saw Taehyun smile. Good things did happen.
C-Jeongmin came by to give me a chocolate macaroon in a wrapper, secretly so the other kids wouldn't see what he was doing. Hyogwon came by to talk, too.
It is a good day. It will continue to be a good day. It will!
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2:30 PM Well, for 2-9, 2-1-, 2-11, only six students out of 30 paid any attention whatsoever, but we were all right.
I decided to only care about the boys I was talking with at the moment. Don't think about the room, don't think about anything but making Myeongbae feel special or appreciating Jiwon's cute art or puffing up Heekyu's already overinflated baby-ego.
That part was successful. I'm fairly unstressed right now because it's over. I didn't get mad during class, because I had no expectations for solid participation. I think I can continue to be chill like this. Step 1: Prepare the lesson with their best interests in mind. Step 2: Chill in class. Step 3: Love and adore the ones who I cross my path.
Afro-Jiwoong and Myeongbae are fast becoming serious favorites of mine. They always do the work and so always come to see me after class for candy. I make Jiwoong talk more, so we're getting a closer relationship just from sheer amount of exchanged sentences.
Yooseok and Taegeom did well, and Heekyu made me laugh out loud several times. Tiny Joohyun did his work and followed me downstairs for candy even when I hadn't signed his paper, just because he assumed I would. He was right.
Weeeeeee! Tomorrow is Thursday! Thursday is for smart, savvy 3rd-graders! And for squishy-cutie 1st-graders!
1st-graders who getting increasingly touchy. Somebody from Monday told the Wednesday boys that I sometimes give hugs. When they all left, I told them they were all getting high fives. Giseok said, "Teacher, not high five! A hug!" And he followed through by opening his arms when he left class. But I didn't hug him because Giseok is one of the rare 1st-graders who looks much older. He's just slightly too close to grown, I think.
And Giseok also loves me rather a lot. The boys in the front row were arguing over who didn't have a speaking partner, because the spare kid would get to talk with me. Minjin on the end won, and Giseok was in agonies over the missed opportunity. Like writhing-in-chair, beating-the-desk agonies. My co-teacher told me that Minjin had "won" me at rock-paper-scissors. The lengths they will go to for extra teacher-time are shocking.
Ah, my little ones. They are just super in all ways.
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6 PM: Students made me cry again, and it wasn't who you'd expect.
It was my little 1st-graders. My afterschool was going well. We were eating Reese's and writing commercial advertisements for Reese's when Yechan and CoolGuy Hyunseo broke into a fight.
A real fight. They were trying to hurt each other. Most mini-fights play out in 5 seconds before the participants get bored. After half a minutes, they weren't stopping, and Yechan finally got a chokehold on Hyunseo and was cutting off his air.
I yelled for them to stop and they didn't. I walked over and yelled in Korean--no response. Finally I physically pulled them apart and stood between them while everybody breathed and gathered their wits. I didn't realize that I'd gravitated toward one kid, but I was human-shielding Hyunseo, who is just an extra measure more dear to my heart. In that moment, I was his big sister, protecting him from harm while still viewing the other student as just another misguided kid, not an enemy.
I tried to think of what I should do next. Take them out in the hall? No. They're too far gone to understand a lecture. I just made them sit down separately. I tried to find Mr. B to report the incident and get to the bottom of it--I have no idea why my boys were suddenly at each other's throats, I just know that I've only ever seen anger of that caliber one other time, last year.
I stood in front of the class, calm and tired. I felt like I'd lived through a small storm. There were still five minutes of class left, so I told the guys they could all get an extra Reese's (they'd all already had two or three apiece) if they beat me at arm wrestling. They clearly had too much energy built up.
It was surprising how many of them won for real. Jaehoon won after much effort. Wonhye won immediately. Stalemate with Seongmin, lost to Jiyoon. JIYOON, for crying out loud. He's the size of a 9-year-old, but tenacious as a leopard. It worked. They were laughing and happy and chatty, speculating on who was stronger. And what it really amounts to is a chance to hold hands, which is what they're usually hoping for anyway. It was cute.
When they left, I felt so tired though. Physically tired from playing at arm-wrestling with darling kids (who should not be stronger as me but inexplicably are) and emotionally tired from watching the babies fight. Because it hurts. To see them hurt, to see them making bad decisions and trying to inflict pain on others, it's more draining than you might think.
But now I'm going to dinner with my buddy and I'm happy. :-)
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8 PM: Post-dinner, I feel better. I can be totally chill with the 2nd-graders now, I think.
Tonight I ran into so many of my former boys. One of them, Sunmoon (yes, his actual name is Sun/Moon) was in the Baskin Robbins tonight. He pointed me out to his friends and I pretended not to see it, then I caught his eye later and we waved. His friends were much impressed.
Then me and my friend walked past the arcade, one of my former students greeted me with the kind of heartfelt enthusiasm reserved for lost relatives or religious leaders. For a second, I didn't recognize this tall boy, but now I know he was Sunhong, the one I saved from bullying one day in class. He was speechless, but he kept trying to say something and kept touching my arm like he really wanted to let me know he cared. I patted his arm and smiled, told him it was good to see him.
Then immediately afterward, I saw America-Hyunkyeong and one of the Big C-class kids from last year ( I mentally call him Osong, since I ran into him in the town of Osong, but that's not his real name). They were chilling in front of the arcade and I gave them fistbumps and "hey what's up?"s. It was so good to see them. I freaked my friend out, though--she thought I was greeting random hooligans. I had to explain to her that they used to be my kids. They only look like college students--just two months ago, they were entrenched at my middle school, eating chips and throwing shoes at each other.
------------------------
First two classes were not horrible. The kids didn't mutiny, but they didn't listen and didn't learn and if I let myself, I could be an emotional basketcase over it yet again.
I'm so prideful and paranoid about these things. I try hard and do a lousy job at explaining things to the grade-2's, so they sit in their seats and do nothing at all. And I adore the kids so much, so I go one-on-one with them and we have a great time talking and working. But I fail, fail, fail at leading the class as a unit, while for 1st and 3rd grade I can lead a class.
And I don't think my co-teachers judge me, but in my head I picture them thinking how talentless and ineffective I am. Projecting my own thoughts about myself onto others. Because I really want respect. I want to be good at my work. Today I finally asked NG-Teacher if he had any ideas about how to make the 2nd lesson longer, or improve it. He didn't have any thoughts offhand, but I did finally let my pride go in order to ask for advice.
Anyways. Letting it go. The kids love me, and I love them. God loves all of us. I keep coming back to that.
In my second class, I sat and played an English word game with Sleepy Moonshik, who I adore. I told him to come by for candy later, and he did. He's my sweet little guy and it makes me happy to do nice things for him. I watched Soonhyuk be awesome at art and I praised him for his work. I listened to Mingyu answer a million questions and saw Taehyun smile. Good things did happen.
C-Jeongmin came by to give me a chocolate macaroon in a wrapper, secretly so the other kids wouldn't see what he was doing. Hyogwon came by to talk, too.
It is a good day. It will continue to be a good day. It will!
--------------------------------------------------
2:30 PM Well, for 2-9, 2-1-, 2-11, only six students out of 30 paid any attention whatsoever, but we were all right.
I decided to only care about the boys I was talking with at the moment. Don't think about the room, don't think about anything but making Myeongbae feel special or appreciating Jiwon's cute art or puffing up Heekyu's already overinflated baby-ego.
That part was successful. I'm fairly unstressed right now because it's over. I didn't get mad during class, because I had no expectations for solid participation. I think I can continue to be chill like this. Step 1: Prepare the lesson with their best interests in mind. Step 2: Chill in class. Step 3: Love and adore the ones who I cross my path.
Afro-Jiwoong and Myeongbae are fast becoming serious favorites of mine. They always do the work and so always come to see me after class for candy. I make Jiwoong talk more, so we're getting a closer relationship just from sheer amount of exchanged sentences.
Yooseok and Taegeom did well, and Heekyu made me laugh out loud several times. Tiny Joohyun did his work and followed me downstairs for candy even when I hadn't signed his paper, just because he assumed I would. He was right.
Weeeeeee! Tomorrow is Thursday! Thursday is for smart, savvy 3rd-graders! And for squishy-cutie 1st-graders!
1st-graders who getting increasingly touchy. Somebody from Monday told the Wednesday boys that I sometimes give hugs. When they all left, I told them they were all getting high fives. Giseok said, "Teacher, not high five! A hug!" And he followed through by opening his arms when he left class. But I didn't hug him because Giseok is one of the rare 1st-graders who looks much older. He's just slightly too close to grown, I think.
And Giseok also loves me rather a lot. The boys in the front row were arguing over who didn't have a speaking partner, because the spare kid would get to talk with me. Minjin on the end won, and Giseok was in agonies over the missed opportunity. Like writhing-in-chair, beating-the-desk agonies. My co-teacher told me that Minjin had "won" me at rock-paper-scissors. The lengths they will go to for extra teacher-time are shocking.
Ah, my little ones. They are just super in all ways.
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6 PM: Students made me cry again, and it wasn't who you'd expect.
It was my little 1st-graders. My afterschool was going well. We were eating Reese's and writing commercial advertisements for Reese's when Yechan and CoolGuy Hyunseo broke into a fight.
A real fight. They were trying to hurt each other. Most mini-fights play out in 5 seconds before the participants get bored. After half a minutes, they weren't stopping, and Yechan finally got a chokehold on Hyunseo and was cutting off his air.
I yelled for them to stop and they didn't. I walked over and yelled in Korean--no response. Finally I physically pulled them apart and stood between them while everybody breathed and gathered their wits. I didn't realize that I'd gravitated toward one kid, but I was human-shielding Hyunseo, who is just an extra measure more dear to my heart. In that moment, I was his big sister, protecting him from harm while still viewing the other student as just another misguided kid, not an enemy.
I tried to think of what I should do next. Take them out in the hall? No. They're too far gone to understand a lecture. I just made them sit down separately. I tried to find Mr. B to report the incident and get to the bottom of it--I have no idea why my boys were suddenly at each other's throats, I just know that I've only ever seen anger of that caliber one other time, last year.
I stood in front of the class, calm and tired. I felt like I'd lived through a small storm. There were still five minutes of class left, so I told the guys they could all get an extra Reese's (they'd all already had two or three apiece) if they beat me at arm wrestling. They clearly had too much energy built up.
It was surprising how many of them won for real. Jaehoon won after much effort. Wonhye won immediately. Stalemate with Seongmin, lost to Jiyoon. JIYOON, for crying out loud. He's the size of a 9-year-old, but tenacious as a leopard. It worked. They were laughing and happy and chatty, speculating on who was stronger. And what it really amounts to is a chance to hold hands, which is what they're usually hoping for anyway. It was cute.
When they left, I felt so tired though. Physically tired from playing at arm-wrestling with darling kids (who should not be stronger as me but inexplicably are) and emotionally tired from watching the babies fight. Because it hurts. To see them hurt, to see them making bad decisions and trying to inflict pain on others, it's more draining than you might think.
But now I'm going to dinner with my buddy and I'm happy. :-)
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8 PM: Post-dinner, I feel better. I can be totally chill with the 2nd-graders now, I think.
Tonight I ran into so many of my former boys. One of them, Sunmoon (yes, his actual name is Sun/Moon) was in the Baskin Robbins tonight. He pointed me out to his friends and I pretended not to see it, then I caught his eye later and we waved. His friends were much impressed.
Then me and my friend walked past the arcade, one of my former students greeted me with the kind of heartfelt enthusiasm reserved for lost relatives or religious leaders. For a second, I didn't recognize this tall boy, but now I know he was Sunhong, the one I saved from bullying one day in class. He was speechless, but he kept trying to say something and kept touching my arm like he really wanted to let me know he cared. I patted his arm and smiled, told him it was good to see him.
Then immediately afterward, I saw America-Hyunkyeong and one of the Big C-class kids from last year ( I mentally call him Osong, since I ran into him in the town of Osong, but that's not his real name). They were chilling in front of the arcade and I gave them fistbumps and "hey what's up?"s. It was so good to see them. I freaked my friend out, though--she thought I was greeting random hooligans. I had to explain to her that they used to be my kids. They only look like college students--just two months ago, they were entrenched at my middle school, eating chips and throwing shoes at each other.
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