11 AM: Good day!
I spent a million hours putting together a killer game for the 2nd-graders and we didn't even do it because they took up all the time doing their speaking practice. But anyhoo...they all spoke well, and we're getting the pattern of the new type of speaking practice.
Class with NG was good. We get along as well as any other co-teaching configuration I've got, and it's such a relief to not have to worry about earning disapproval. We know each other--he's not going to disapprove. Some days, things just don't work well, and some days they work excellently. This is just life with the 2nd graders, and we're all in the same boat.
Class with H-Sol was also great and the kids surprised me with how well they did at speaking practice. You go, Sleepy Moonshik! You go. Giwoong rocked his part as well.
The only downside to H-Sol's class was when Hyunmin stuffed a medium-sized ball down his shirt, arranged it just so, then kept looking back toward me for reference before crossing his arms and settling into a casual sideways pose that looked familiar...it was the way that I often stand. Posture and proportion-wise, Hyunmin was doing a killer (and strangely enough, a reasonably flattering) impression of me.
But they're supposed to not be focusing on my torso, so I don't know how to deal with that. I keep everything covered up and even wear little jackets over my shirts to further obscure everything, but the kids still have a supernatural level of focus on that area. Maybe I should stop crossing my arms. I don't even know. I just rolled my eyes at them in this case and hoped they'd get bored of the concept soon. They're just being dumb little babies, not doing something criminal; that's my take on it.
Took presents of chocolate to the principal and vice-principal, complete with notes in Korean and English. :-) I've been needing to re-connect with them and thank them for letting me work at their school.
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9 PM: Just got back from post-work dinner after working at the office of education on a pamphlet they made for the schools in our province. Semi-exhausting, but we only worked for 3 hours when they projected 10 hours.
I had to skip my afterschool today because I had to take a cab to the education office and my Jaehoon met me in the hall as I was running our asked me what we were eating today. Because it's Food Wednesday--the babies are expecting to be fed and to be delighted. I told him I'd catch them later--it couldn't be helped that my extra-work-work was scheduled for today.
Seonwonnie stuck up on me in the hallway twice today, to tap my shoulder and hide so I wouldn't know it was him right away. Daww.
Chanyeong was in my Triple Class today. He was there and nobody could figure out why, so I took him by the hand and led him out of the room to try to find where he goes. I went from my place in Room 10 and took him to H-Sol in room 9, and she told me that he belongs in Room 11, with C-ban. It's strange to me to think of Chanyeong being in any English class at all--that's the unfairness of the system, the boys with the intellect of a 3-year-old child are sorted into class with sharp kids who simply test poorly.
At least Chanyeong has all the special programs as well. Because traditional public education can't do anything for him. NG met me in the hallway and we each took one of Chanyeong's hands and led him to his proper class. I was glad to have Chanyeong installed in a safe place, and then we could proceed with the chaos of Triple Class. Do to the sheer insane numbers of kids in the room, I only got 2/3rds of the kids to do their speaking parts, but I tried.
And when class was done, a little cloud of them followed me to the office for chocolate, not because I promised them any but because they know if they come along, I'll feed them after wheedling some conversation from them. Little Jiwon, and Myeongbae and Afro-Jiwoong, and my Deokryong came along and that was great. If it weren't for office visits, I wouldn't ever see Deokryong at all.
Myeongbae's a genius. He was feeding the other kids lines to their dialogues, but he had the entire dialogue memorized, both parts. The same thing happened with Daejeong in the morning--he sat in the front and unwittingly memorized the whole thing on account of hearing it so many times.
At lunch, Jaehyung walked around the entire soccer field with me. It was so sweet. We talked about the weather mostly, about how he feels happy on sunny days like today and gloomy when it's overcast. What a wonderful boy.
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