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Monday, June 30, 2014

7-1-14 Hojin, Phone App, and Corporal Punishment

12:10 PM  A good morning, it's been. I just put together a birthday present for Hojin, a sweet 3rd-grader who I don't teach anymore because he's in B-level. He told me it was his birthday yesterday and HH confirmed it--though I suspect they're all just calling in their birthdays after having seen the fun stuff it earns them.

But Hojin is one I strongly like--he has a lot of English and has a good heart. He always smiles and makes me laugh; he earned a birthday present, so I put together an origami card out of colored folding paper, with a message inside and Hershey kisses on the outside. Then I delivered it to his class. He seemed quite happy.
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1:45 PM One of the difficulties of this morning's class was the fact that SG2 and I had to stand the whole time--apparently the VP decided that teachers shouldn't sit in class anymore, and I can see how that might be important in most situations. But SG2 is hurting. She's stiff and moving slow from her fall, and a 40-minute class on her feet wasn't fun.

I did sit in my 3rd-grade class because we were in the tucked-away English room and we weren't having class anyway-- we were having study. Which for me meant playing the Memrise phone app with Seonghak, Daehoon, Seokyoon, and Seongmo. At first, Seongmo was bored with the app and didn't want to do it, then he moved his entire chair around to the other side fo the desks so he could sit by me and get a decent look at the phone screen.

It was good to spend time with Daehoon because he's a doll and I never get to see him, even tough we have class together once a week. Seokyoon is a firecracker-smart kid who I rarely see also, and Seongmo's always been close to my heart, thanks to his spot in my first afterschool and his connection to BH.

I had a long time with Ponyfish-Minwoo aboout unknind words and how he can't say "I hate you" to me even if he's smiling and clearly joking. I explained that this hurts my feelings. He seemed to get it. Then we somehow had a long conversation about our dads physically disciplining us and the various welts and bruises we've received (very few for me, and none since I was 9 years old).

I think the conversation was originally about how he can't get low grades because he dad once practically put him in the hospital after a particularly dreadful test score. I believe it. These boys get some quite hardcore punishments at home. All my boys are worried about the exams, though. Seonghak's sweet brown eyes were glazed over with concern during our last class.

Hyo and Joonseo (2nd grade) came by after lunch to hang out and play phone games. Joonseo told me in Korean that Hyo can't do sports because he is weak. I indicated that I understood but tried to get Joonseo off that subject--Hyo doesn't need to be reminded of his tiny physical stature, especially not by his friends.

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Sunday, June 29, 2014

6-30-14 Duck Walks, Nebulas, and Surrounded by Hyenas

10:20 AM  Good morning. I just played a movie for my morning class with SG2 (we finally finished the Hunger Games). She and I hung out in the back of class and chatted happily. She's so sweet; I love being her friend. She's still healing up from her accident--I think she's got some wrenched joints, so she's still moving carefully.

She and I were talking about Changho, who is her homeroom student and who is astonishingly good at English for such a little guy. He really does well with pronunciation, and he always manages to communicate what he wants, even if he has to do it in a roundabout manner. He's the class vice-president, which doesn't surprise me at all. Changho is the kind of child who brings order to others. I'll teach his class later today.

Lately, I've just been stopping to ask PE Teacher random questions, since I know he can understand me. Today I was passing some late students who were being punished by having to frog-walk in a crouch up and down in front of the school. He says it's Ori-georeum in Korean--the Duck Walk. Thaaat's pretty adorable. Our punishments get very creative and occasionally cute.

Got presents ready for BY, whose birthday was yesterday, and HH whose birthday was 2 months ago but who did not inform me of his birthday until now.

Left a Cola for Chanyeong in the special needs room.

Saw Donggu this morning. He followed me down the 2nd-grade hallway, playing with my hair. I have his class next.
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4 PM: Gave HH his late birthday present, a handwritten note and his own entire can of Pringles, and he was pleased. There was some question of why he was getting a present two months late, but I explained (via holding up my calendar) that last Friday was BH's birthday and yesterday was BY's birthday and that they had both gotten their presents already.

I said I would have gotten him one before, so now I was just making restitution. He tucked his Pringle can under his overshirt, eyeing the other students and saying "I'm surrounded by hyenas." Which is probably the funniest thing I've ever heard a student say in English when they were clearly trying to be funny.

And despite getting a whole can to himself, HH came back by later to answer questions and get more of my Pringles. I jokingly told him that his greed makes me sometimes worry about his psychology.

My second class of 2nd-graders with NG was good. We just sat and talked for the whole thing. He's still not giving in on the whole "your students adore you and you need to recognize their value and get to know them as people" thing. He denies that they're cute. Denies that they're special. But he did let Seungyeop follow him around the room, with Seungyeop trying (and succeeding) to cuddle NG the whole time.

Then Donggu came over and looked at us accusingly. Donggu's more than a little jealous, but I'm not sure which one of us he's jealous of--NG, for being able to talk with me for long periods of time, or me for monopolizing NG's attention, when that's Donggu's homeroom teacher who he idolizes.

At any rate, the last two minutes of my talk with NG involved Donggu playing with NG's hair and pulling out allegedly gray pieces. (Later after lunch, Donggu came to my office and brushed my hair, no pulling involved.) For someone who says the kids are beasts, NG sure does endure a lot of their megawatt affection. He gets teased and petted and hugged more than I do, by a lot.

My class of 3rd-graders was free study time, which meant that one third of them studied one third chatted and one-third huddled around me, playing word games. I played mostly with Euigi and Computer Seonghyun, who kept giving me words like "nebula" and "equinox" to translate into Korean.

By now, I think I have a few dozen students addicted to the Memrise phone app I use to learn Korean. Clever Sunwoo wanted to know the app name so he could download it for himself. Youngmin had a million things to joke with me about and he commandeering my phone for long periods of time, playing Memrise.

I told Soccer Minwoo that we needed to play the word game together sometime, and I was shocked to find him waiting at my desk during the next class break, having taken my words to heart. Minwoo is here to play the word game. He did excellently well.

Got BY his birthday present-a game of Spoons and a hand-written note telling him how cool he is and encouraging him to use his powers for good and to be kind to others. I know he will.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

6-27-14 Wooseok and Raisins, BH's Birthday, and Mentoring

1:40 PM:

Just sent off my Wooseok after letting him pick out every last raisin from the nut mix bowl. Apparently, my kid has a serious thing for raisins. He kept coming by to buzz around the desk and kept reaching into the jar. I had to pull his hand out 4 times before I realized that this kiddo is just inexplicably addicted to raisins.

Words are inadequate to say how much I love Wooseok. This kid. I don't know what it is, but he's my boy. He kills me with his embarrassment over English. There was not a single soul listening, but in order to get him to say "I want these" in English, I had to let him bend behind the desk and whisper. It's like he has to protect himself from even the distant possibility of another person hearing or seeing him attempting English.

He said something not exactly unfriendly to Jeongmin while they were in the crowd around my desk, and I recalled how badly he scared Jeongmin last year. Now, they are the same size and Wooseok has mellowed with age until he no longer has to bully little bunny-rabbits like Jeongmin.

Speaking of Jeongmin, he told me that his biggest birthday present from his family was getting free time to play games. I hope he's joking. Sometimes the kids exaggerate their sad circumstances, but Jeongminnie's so driven, I wouldn't be surprised if free time was his birthday present.

Speaking of birthdays, it was BYEONGHYUN'S BIRTHDAY TODAY. This is huge. My boy, the first kid I met at school last August, and it is his 16th birthday today. But he doesn't get to celebrate because his finals are next week and he has to study.

For 3rd grade class today, I just let them have study time at KBR's suggestion, and I sat in front of Byeonghyun to play a word game with him. He taught me a lot of words and I impressed his buddy Shion no end with my knowledge of Korean.

And then he told me, casually, that it was his birthday! And I thanked the good Lord for letting me remember to take extra "presents" to school yesterday, because during the next class period I was able to give Byeonghyun a fresh pack of UNO cards, some chocolate, and a hand-written note.

Byeonghyun is worried about high school because he wants to go to the school next door, but within that school the kids are separated into geniuses, quite smart kids, and normal kids (absolutely no low-levels). He has to be in our school's Top-20 exam takers in order to make it into the Genius level classes--otherwise, he'll just be in Quite Smart land.

I was astonished that he's not in the top bits of the school, but that's because his math skills are low, he says. He's in the Top 3 English speakers, definitely, but what matters on the exams is good math ability and last year he had dreadful math grades and a teacher he hated for the course.

So my boy is quite stressed. So much hinges on his scores next week. I told him, and later wrote it on his birthday note also, that I would pray for him.

During the midterms, Byeonghyun was in the 30's out of 300 kids, but HH was number 1. And I realize yet again that HH, another kid who is precious to me, is experiencing killer stress levels, trying to stay on top of the pile. Lately, HH has been my sidekick, coming by at all hours of the day for conversation. And I'm glad he does--I try to cram in as much encouragement as possible.

BY doesn't care how he scores. I'm sure his parents do, but BY is an individualist. He is his own free little bird, and those wings will fly whithersoever they will.

Next week is finals for 1st and 3rd graders, but the 2nd graders will be going on a series of field trips. I told NG that maybe this will be a chance for him to get to know his kids better. It's been an ongoing subject of discussion between us--my extensive knowledge of the kids and his (alleged) complete lack of interest in them.

I know he cares about the kids, because he jokes with them and treats them with affection. And yet I think he could do more, in a mentoring sense. So it continues to be an I'm-joking-but-I'm-actually-serious topic that I bring up, asking if he's learned anything new about them this week. He always has.

Hyo hung around after lunch and brushed my hair. Then Deokryong did, then Jeongmin. I was leaning over my phone screen, helping Minjoonie play my Korean language-learning phone app, while the 2nd-graders brushed away. Minjoon's a genius, despite placing in B-level.

One more class until freedom! This weekend, I'm not going to go anywhere or do a single thing that requires energy. I'm gonna chill like it ain't been done before!
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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

6-25-14 Deokryong Evaluates, Charming Yunho, and Myeongbae-Forest

11:30 AM    First two classes went fine. H-Sol Teacher has promised to let me go to one of her classes to observe, but I won't get to do it this week because she's just giving them writing assignments, or next week because the 2nd grade will all be gone for field trips.

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5:30 PM  Walked home partway with Deokryong. Who informed me that while I am "cute," YSR teacher is pretty. Geonju, who loves me, reacted violently to this statement and was quick to say that I was prettier. I thought it was awesome because this was Deokryong claiming me as his own person--if he can rank me up against YSR, it means we're in 100% comfortable territory with each other.

Walked the rest of the way home with Geonju and got him and myself an ice cream. It was a nice time.

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Also remembered that my Yunho stepped into the hallway today and said in Korean, "Semmm...Why didn't you come to teach us yesterday?" I told him I was observing the 3rd-graders taking their tests. But it touched my heart that my little guy noticed I was gone and wanted to have me in class. Yunho, sometimes you are made of charm.

Taekyoon came by just to talk. When one of his low-level friends asked him what was he was doing, he told them he was talking with Sem, like it was the most normal thing in the world. I do so appreciate when they come by just to talk.

Today, Myeongbae got an answer in class because I reminded him, "You taught me this word." He instantly said, "forest!" because he remembered our word-learning session from two weeks ago. When I walked by him, he said "Namu moeem!" remembering what I had said when he tried to get me to say "forest" in Korean. Forest is "soop"(숲). What I actually said was "Tree-collection" or "gathering-of-trees-for-a-meeting". Basically, Entmoot from the Lord of the Rings. Myeongbae will not soon forget my super-cute language mistake.

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Monday, June 23, 2014

6-24-14 Observing Tests, Klepto Jiwoong, and I Believe in You

3 PM: Sanghyun (3rd grade) gave me an ice cube he'd harvested from the nurse's office to help me keep cool. So sweet.

Today was Cheongyu (3rd grade's) birthday, so I gave him a pack of cards, plus the last of the chocolate chips and a note card wishing him a happy birthday and thanking him for being such a good student. June has been a loaded month for birthdays--I've given out 7 small presents this month, and Computer Seonghyun(3) and BY are still left to go.

Today I didn't have to teach at all, but it was still a little tiring because I had to observe the 3rd-graders twice for 70-minute testing periods. Our poor boys had tests in Korean, English, and Math today and they'll have finals next week, to boot. I don't know why our 3rd-graders have so many tests, but it must be necessary for their high school prep.

In the morning, I observed with KBR and busied myself with standing in the back and reading TS Eliot's "4 Quartets". For observing with JY-Teacher, she and I walked to the outside building to see Chil-ban (class 7). When I walked in, they all cheered. BY told me that the boys had seen the (very strict) male Korean teacher and the (also very strict) male science teacher walk past and were afraid they were giving the test. It was apparently a big relief to see me after that scare.

Chil-ban is full of awesome kids. Yoontae, Face-Yoonjae, Sujin, Yeongjoon, BY, Heonmin, Kyeongtaek, Seongwonnie, Chocolate-Jinho, Boisterous-Jinbong, Puppy-Joonhyuk and Seung-Ah. I don't know how so many imminently likable kids got sorted into the same class, but it happened. If I didn't know that they all regularly get in trouble for gambling and that BY is something of a criminal mastermind, I wouldn't believe them capable of any shenanigans whatsoever.

My Minhwe distrusts Afro Jiwoong. When Jiwoong (2nd) left my desk, Minhwe (3rd) told me very seriously that Afro-Jiwoong is known for stealing. They go to the same hagwon and Jiwoong has been accused of stealing many things, most notably a Samsung GS4 phone, but the kids never have proof. Sad to sad, I'm inclined to believe Minhwe because Jiwoong is my boy, but he feels like he could get up to massive trouble.

Makes me wonder if I should take pains to hide my own phone or move my purse, but I don't know for sure. I'm certain that Minhwe truly believes what he told me. Minhwe's not the fibbing type, and he has no reason to ever interact with Jiwoong ever (I would find it hard to believe a similar tale if it was two kids in the same grade/same class involved. Jealousy and spite issues crop up with kids in close proximity, but Jiwoong and Minhwe are not.)

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3:40 PM Went outside to watch baby Chil-ban (class-7, 1st grade) play soccer. Sensitive-Jinhyuk, Donghyuk, and Team-Leader-Changhee are all on that team. Jinhyuk waved and called out to me while I sat on the shaded front porch, and Changhee smiled when I cheered for him. My boys are special and talented, yes they are.

Deokryong's been by 4 times today, messing with my computer, changing the background picture of my tablet to to a screenshot of him, me, and Hyunho. Cuuuute.

But I've got to stop the boys from getting into my real computer--it's only an issue for the 2nd-graders because the big guys are too mature, but I've got Hyo, Jeongmin, Deokryong, and Hyunseop all trying to do things on my computer while I'm talking to other kids and I have to remember to just close the laptop sometimes. They don't have the ability to order anything online, etc, but still.

Actually, since we had a super late lunch today and I couldn't play with the Sa-ban kids, an amry of 3rd-graders came by after lunch to ask me questions. While they did that, Jeongmin, Hyo, and Hyunseop sat around and played with my hair, since I wouldn't let them use the computer.

3rd-graders finally had to have a food limit set for them. I had to tell PonyFish-Minwoo that he can only get popcorn/trail mix etc twice a day. That's going to be the rule for everybody, too. Because if a couple well-fed kids come by 4 times a day, then I often run out of munchies for genuinely hungry kids by the end of the day, before I can restock. (And I do try hard to stay stocked up--currently I have popcorn and trail mix and I'll buy more chocolate tomorrow.)

But this might be good for the ones who just need to talk. Minwoo keeps coming by to chat--I think half of his seemingly endless hunger is actually a need for somebody to listen to him.

One of the older male teachers drove me home yesterday because it was raining exuberantly. I'm grateful to have so many people to look after me.

HH asked me what I think of SG1--I told him she was cute and awesome and I thought she was a great person. He looked stricken; surely I could not be fooled into thinking his cruel homeroom teacher was a nice girl. I told him that I liked her, no matter what he said.

Jaehyung came by for a while, and I read him part of "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut" by Dr. Seuss. I don't think he can read English letters..he wasn't able to sound out the word "red" by reading r-e-d.

The kids are teaching me so much Korean. All I have to do is take a half second to ask them what something means, then they'll tell me.

One of my friends sent this picture to me because he says that this is the exact way I sound when I encourage people:



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Sunday, June 22, 2014

6-23-14 Beomjoon, Worried for SG2, and Smooth Donggu

10:00 AM   Had an excellent class with 2-1, 2-2. My Beomjoon stayed awake for the entire thing. Not only that, he was so insistent on watching a few more minutes of The Hunger Games, he begged for them. I told him that if he memorized his speaking part perfectly, we would.

Then for the first time ever in the history of Beomjoon, he flawlessly memorized his English-speaking piece. He kept smiling at me while his partner did the other half of the speaking lines, because Beomjoon knew. He knew. His abilities had won his class a movie.

At the end, he also played 5 minutes of the Where-Do-You-Find it game and won. Because he knew more answers than anyone but Soonhyuk. It was divine. My boy, the genuis. All this from a kid who I had to go over to every class period and lift his elbow just to tuck the English script under it, because he keeps his head down and pretends to sleep.


My family's all in Texas, thank the Lord. I was so so so worried about my Mom. Her health and her feelings are so important to me, and this undertaking has been monumental for her--basically 4 months without Dad, managing selling a house and buying a new one and moving four kids halfway across America. But she's safe. She's with Daddy and she's not raising the little ones alone anymore. *mentally hugs mommy*

My poor sweet SG2 fell down some stairs yesterday and today she's walking slowly. She has no visible bruises, but she's moving like she's 80 years old and she was in the hospital yesterday. Further proof that none of us take sick days, basically ever. I've taken 2 days in 10 months, and those were because I was physically incapable of setting foot outside my door.

Went to Seoul on Saturday and Sunday and got cuuuute dresses. This is a huge, ginormous deal and worthy of celebrating. Then I came home and went for a run and worked, worked, worked on stuff for my kids. It's gone well so far.
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12 PM:  2-3, 2-4 went great. They only sorta-learn their speaking parts, but they're all my little dears and we have a good time together.

During the game at the end, I kept disqualifying Yeonghan because he was getting the answers from NG, and I kept trying to coax answers out of Yeonghyun, who could always think of the right word in Korean, but never in English. Yeonghyun concluded a particularly epic fail-to-recall-the-word session by saying he was going to commit suicide. It was said in such a  dramatic fashion, I burst out laughing.

My Donggu was the clear winner, with 5 correct answers. This is the same kid who, during his speaking practice, when asked "What should I bring to the field trip?" answered while looking at me, "Don't forget to bring my heart." Dude. Donggu's getting so smooth lately.

I have a birthday present for Taegyoon all set up--an unused pack of UNO cards, commemorating his turning 16 yesterday. I forget how often Taegyoon makes me laugh when he comes in with Minjoonie.

Brought my personal laptop to school, so I'm getting some real work done inbetween classes. :-)

Got a huge smile and darling wave from William-Jiyoon in the hallway. My little guy.

Hyunho said his mom saw me on the street and told him I looked like a doll. It's a huge compliment here. I told him to tell his mom I said hi.
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Thursday, June 19, 2014

6-20-14 Texas Family, Good Games, and Food Bear

11 AM: I think my mom and siblings are moving to Texas on "my" tomorrow morning and their tomorrow night, but I'm not sure. Time is weird weird weird when you're living a half-day ahead ahead of your family. It's so strange thinking that after another day or so I'll never see those walls (which I helped paint) or that carpet (which I helped destroy) ever again.

I grew up there. Most of the traditional Good Childhood Memories I've had were made there, after I was 10. Our first place was less happy, but my whole family seemed to bloom in the light of the new house. And we lived there for almost 18 years, and now we....they...are going somewhere else.

It's also funny to say that we're moving, because I'm not moving. I've already moved. My family is moving, and now when I go home, home will be Texas. So many things change when you're a grownup. You're never fully separate from your base camp, your true family, but you're also kind of doing your own thing.

In H-Sol's class this morning, 2-7, 2-8 were charming. Dude! They sat quiet and utterly rapt, playing the game I made for them. I was fifteen levels of astounded at how well they did with their speaking practice and their game playing. My baby Yunho was splendid, and so were Hosung, Taehoon, Hyunshik, Hyunseo, and Suyong. A lot of these boys are just now starting to open up and smile and talk, and I think they have lots of potential.
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2 PM: My "where can you find these things?" game worked super well. The 3rd-graders loved it, easy though it was, and it went over pretty well with the 2-5, 2-6 boys, even though they have the nasty computer that plays everything at super-slow speeds. Only Minshik, Seonghoon, Yehoon, and Daehwan were interested in playing, but they were hardcore interested, jumping up and down when they got a right answer.

There's classical music playing from our school speakers right now, in anticipation of a fire drill. They're testing the system to see if it works all right. The poshness is quite enjoyable. Clarinet solo!

I went by the special needs room. Joonsung was happily singing the number '54' in Korean, repeatedly for no clear reason.

My Minhwe is Buddhist, I just found out. He was explaining to me why he doesn't celebrate Christmas.

I didn't go to Lunchtime Games. I just let the kids come to me. Jeongmin and Hyo came to play the dual-person game on my computer, and little Hyunseop did the same. Deokryong came by about 5 times today, including lunchtime. I didn't feel like climbing up to Sa-ban, and we all got along with just the existing kids.

I got to talk more with Hyo, who helped me with my Korean vocabulary app. Hyunseop did the questions for the first time, and I was so glad to have him around--he's another kid that I want to keep safe, especially since he's nursed a broken arm and bandaged hands for a couple weeks, and since SG2 thinks he's been bullied.

Several of my 3rd-graders hung around us, buzzing about the game Jeongmin and Hyunseop were playing, chattering about my new phone, trying unsuccessfully to change the language on my tablet to English. HH asked a million questions, and he heartily disapproved of the 2nd-graders playing on "Sem's computer," but I explained that I was cool with it.

I miiiiight just be able to buy a treadmill soon. One of the South African girls in town is selling hers, and I've been looking for a way to exercise when it rains. Could this be my chance? It could! It could!

I wonder if I'm over-feeding the 3rd-graders. Ever since the animal crackers ran out and I refilled the "Food Bear" container with multi-flavored popcorn, they've been coming by several times a day to get more small handfulls. The bear is getting perilously low. But still, popcorn is a relatively cheap way to feed a relatively massive number of young'uns, so.

BY informed me that Chocolate-Jinho is a gambler, but since BY himself is often in trouble for that, I told him I didn't care about that sort of thing. BY is an excellent source of information at other times, though--I just have to remember to ask him. He's a well of smartness.
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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

6-19-14 Former Hurts, Crayon Lending, and Chocolate Jinho

9 AM: Feeling so much better.

Yesterday was nasty, in terms of how physically bad I felt. Thanks to simply being female, I was feeling exhausted and was hurting everywhere, stomach especially. It was baaad. I got through my morning class with NG okay, but then for H-Sol's class I had slowed down to where I had to concentrate to speak clearly.

For my little just-before-lunch 1st-graders, I had no energy at all. I couldn't even raise my voice, not because my voice was hurting but because it took more effort than I had to give. But they were beautiful--they did their activities perfectly and they kept telling each other to be quiet. My Jaehoon looked sad because he hadn't won the game, but I told him he could comeby my office anytime for chocolate, "Because you are my boy." "And you are my teacher," he said back.

Lunch was an ordeal. I wasn't very hungry and I was trying to figure out how to not eat much and to leave early without people noticing. Not that anybody looking at me wouldn't already be able to tell that I was in dire straits. My face was white as copy paper. I had to tell my lunch coordinator the cause of my malady because she was on the verge of getting me a ride to the hospital.

For after-lunch class, I stood and listened to the kids, and that was about all I could do. Sleeping in the nurse's office for 2 hours afterward was all that kept body and soul together. But this morning, I'm fine!
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2 PM:  3rd-graders have been borrowing my crayons all day.

time animated GIF

They have some sort of home economics project going on, and it's pretty funny to see these giant boys beseeching for crayons, then tracking me down to return them. Hyungmin specifically is who I'm thinking of.

Hyungmin is so funny because even though he's A-ban, he never tries to communicate with me in English. Today our entire will-you-give-me-crayons/ yes-i-will/ okay-I'll-bring-them-back-by-lunchtime  conversation was held totally in Korean on his side, and half in English on mine.

I had to turn and look at BY, commenting on Hyungmin's determination to use only Korean. BY said, "I often come over here to your desk and I see a scene like this. You're speaking English and they're speaking Korean, but you still understand each other."

A new boy--3rd grade C-level--has been coming by more lately. He's a Jinho, and I think I'll call him Chocolate Jinho because he has eyes that color. I had to coax Jinho into talking to me at all, because he always hung in the back behind the kids who were at my desk, answering and asking questions. But once I got him talking, Jinho seemed glad to have someone to converse with.

Chocolate Jinho came by yesterday when I was hurting so badly. Through the haze of pain, I told him to just take some crackers. He did, but then he settled onto the stool anyway and said, "Questions please." Daww. Daw. I summoned up my full effort to ask him, "How many hours did you sleep last night? What did you have for breakfast?"

He came by again today and spent 5 minutes thinking of English questions to ask me, but because there weren't other kids breathing down his neck, he was able to do. Later, when C-Yooseok came by and swore that he couldn't think of a single English question, I pointed behind him to Chocolate Jinho and said "아까 했어." or "He already did it earlier." Jinho quietly preened.

HH came by and I wouldn't accept any easy questions from him ("what's your favorite color?" coming from this student is ridiculous because he speaks almost like a native). Taegyoon asked HH if he was having trouble with English, but HH replied that Sem simply wasn't accepting his questions. But it only took another minute for him to come up with clever questions and earn his chocolate.

Deokryong can't change the language settings on my school tablet. There IS no English setting to change it to. Eck. But I did get to feed Deokryong twice today. He keeps coming by because now I have popcorn in addition to trail mix.

Artist-Jungbok, who I haven't taught since last year, came by to give me his favorite gum.

Hyo asked me if my job was hard. I told him that some days, it honestly was hard. But most of the time it was a right good job.
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Monday, June 16, 2014

6-17-14 Late Father's Day, Open Afterschool, and Groceries With Sunwoo

12 PM: Grr, so angry but getting over it.

I was told I'm having an open afterschool today. It's past the normal time for open classes, and me and B-Teacher were the only people who had two open classes last week, but I have another. Because one of the moms doesn't like the idea of the afterschool program in general and will be looking for things to criticize, so say both KBR and JY-Teacher.

Why. I'm tired. I spent 2 hours yesterday making stuff for my afterschool, then I went for an hour-long run, then got cleaned up just enough to go meet my best friend's mom and aunt who are visiting Korea for the first time. Then I got up an hour early today to work on more afterschool stuff, only to be told about the open class. I filled out a lesson plan, then added even more activities to today's list.

I'm not angry anymore, just explaining why I was upset. As a native teacher, it's harder to teach the little guys because the only means you have of teaching them the thing they don't know (English) is by using the thing they don't know (English). To keep order, explain tasks, and make learning stick while teaching in a foreign language is hard.

But my boys are excellent. They mind very well, Jiyoon included, and I love them to death. I have food for them, plus movie clips, and we're going to draw our favorite characters and then say why we like them. And I won't resent the mom who dislikes afterschool--I come from a family that doesn't even believe in public school, let alone multiple programs to make public school last as long as possible. I see her point, and I understand her feelings.

When I meet her, I want to be able to treat her with graciousness and thoughtfulness, like I'd want someone to treat my own mom.


Very belated, but HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my Daddy!

I think I'm sort of pretending I'm not away because that's the easiest way to deal with missing Dad and everyone else, but I can't wait to be back with my favorite man in the world (excepting Little Bro 1 and Little Bro 2).

It's Dad's grit and determination that I call onto get me through the hard days. Our family doesn't quit. You don't have to win, but you do have to give it everything, and I tried to take that lesson to heart. You and me, Daddy. We can get these things done, you over there and me over here. Thank you for always pushing me.


C-Jeongmin came by to give me gum. HH came by to chat, Minhwe asked me which of the 7 Wonders of the World I liked best (Pyramids), and Gyuchan told me that the Korean national soccer team's chances of beating Russia tomorrow are slim.

Pepper Dongmin came by. Always good to see him.
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2 PM: Quite sleepy, but I'm holding on okay. That said, I've got Big-Class next, then another 2nd-grade group and then open afterschool. But it's only another 3 hours! I can do it!

For lunchtime, I went outside and sat alone on a park bench, enjoying the cool breeze and praying a bit. One of the older male teachers came along after 10 minutes and gave me a cup of coffee. We sat together and talked about the World Cup, which I can now discuss to some degree because of my research.

(Last night, I got into a mild argument with my Irish friend about whether a certain questionable penalty kick for Brazil was the fault of the cheating player or the fault of the ref for not catching the fake-fall. Other friends were staring at us. And I realized--I have become Sports People. The type of person who argues about stats and calls and things you can't comprehend unless you too follow their exact branch of sport-related mania. I am that.)

This morning, I watched on B-Teacher's computer as the USA beat Ghana in the World Cup. Woot! Go us. One month ago, I would not have cared a lick. Yeonghan wants to know my favorite American player--I don't have one because I haven't researched them yet, but I will.

In class today, Yeonghyun tried really hard to answer all the questions (so proud of him), and Soonwoo and Hyunho really did answer everything. I did a variety of ridiculous things to get Gunwoo and Hwanghyuk smiling, and they worked beautifully. I love seeing the cool kids break down into grins and giggles. Donggu wanted chocolate, so I led him out of the classroom and we walked most of the way down the hall holding hands until he had to stop and kick Chaeho for teasing him about it.

Yesterday, I asked NG about his students and he told me that Sad-Minjong has been in computer programming competitions and knows more about computers than most adults. Today in class with SG2, I asked Minjong if he was good at programming, and he said "a little," but he smiled deeply like he was pleased to be acknowledged.

Went by the special needs room this morning. Said hi to Chanyeong and chatted with Dohyun a bit. Joonsung came to see me this morning and sat by me while I worked. I gave him raisins and banana chips, and he was content.

I didn't do Lunchtime Games--I just let Jeongmin and Deokryong come by and sit on either side of me, using my computer to play a 2-person flash animation game. They did pretty well. I noticed that Jeongmin speaks politely to Deokryong---he uses "yo". I wonder why? They're the same age. I haven't yet heard two kids of the same year speaking to each other formally. Maybe Jeongminnie's just extra polite?

In other news, I have started wearing cutoff leggings under my dresses, for added protection against wardrobe malfunctions (one doesn't spend an entire lifetime wearing pants or floor-length skirts and then adjust easily to fluffy one-piece above-the-knee dresses). For the last two months, I was trying to look like KBR but thanks to genetics, the same outfit looks different on KBR than on me; she doesn't need the leggings, and I do.

So I had to modify my new goals for what I was trying to do with my clothes. It wasn't enough to but outfits that looked prettier and more in line with what the Korean girl-teachers wear--I needed to allow for what is best for me personally to wear.

If you cut gray or black or brown leggings to stop just under the kneecap, they look perfect and match grandly with your dress. Also, you don't have to fuss with a hem when you sit down or stand up, and don't have to worry about where kids are looking when they walk up the staircase behind you. Best of all worlds! Cute girly dresses (like KBR wears) paired with leggings that allow for maximum coolness in the summer. Score, score, and score.

But the kids were bound to notice eventually. Jeongmook was the first. Today, my little guy caught up with me outside, pointed to my leggings and said "what...what is THIS?" in a tone of accusation and betrayal. Further proof that this was the right choice. Jeongmook is not happy about this, and any wardrobe choice that makes the little ones unhappy is undoubtedly right.
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6:30 PM:  Open afterschool went fine!  I was a bundle of firecracker-nerves, but it all went okay. I met the one mom in the back of the class and I asked her in Korean to please have a seat. And I introduced myself in Korean, which is usually medium-disarming for most folks I've met.

I ran the boys through all the stuff I had prepared--the quiz on the vocabulary we learned yesterday, a presentation of the PPT game I'm not finished with, and an introduction of the idea "Who is your favorite character?"

Then we ate chocopies while watching 10 minutes of our movie, then I showed them a slide of 8 characters and they each got colors and got the chance to draw their favorite. After that, they came up to the front of the class and told us all why they liked that character.

We closed out with 5 very exciting minutes of our movie and that worked great. I was packing up the class and babies were returning ink pens to me and asking me what happened next in the movie, and the one mom came to speak to me.

She looked quite friendly and said in nice English, "Thank you for letting me watch your class!" It turns out, she's Junho's mom. Junho is a smart-smart kid, but a bit grumpy, though I've been thawing him lately. I think he's only just now having fun in afterschool because he's been sorted into a District group with none of his friends, and with two low-levels and Jinhyuk who is rather apathetic.

But Junho was smiling sheepishly when I told his mom he was good at art and that he'd drawn a really killer invention the first week of class. She looked happy at the news and her only suggestion for me was that it would be better for the boys to watch a movie with sound. I told her the computer was broken and she said she hoped the sound would be fixed soon. I told her I'd talk to the technology teacher.

Hey, that's not bad, is it? Not bad at all. I feel better about everything. Jiyoon was great, Dohyun was good and Wonhye, too. You go, kidlets, you go.

My little 1st-grade Sunwoo walked me home again. Yesterday after afterschool, Coffee-Sunwoo wanted to walk home with me so we went together the whole 15 minutes, and it was lovely. Coffee-Sunwoo is quite a good companion and he's so quiet and gentle, I never get to chat with him in class.

Today, Sunwoo stepped right up and asked for us to walk together again. On the walk home, he told me that he felt really sensitive about his English because he just barely made it into English A-ban. He doesn't feel like he belongs. I told him not to worry; that he would get better in time. I told him he doesn't have to speak English to me if Korean is easier, but he barely uses any Korean, even if it means being silent until he can think of the English.

He also told me of his own accord that he's often scared of the big 2nd and 3rd-grade boys at our school. I told him that if anyone is mean to him, he should come to me. I want to protect him, I said. I bought him a raspberry ice-drink at a 7-11, and then I gave him the option of continuing on to his home, or detouring to grocery shop with me (the grocery mart is right on the way home for both of us).

Sunwoo decided to hold my shopping container for me, so I put in all the fruits and veggies I wanted and he toted it after me as we chatted. The clerk thought we were the cutest thing ever and asked if he was my student. yep! I answered an affirmative and said that he was very smart. He looked quite happy to get that kind of public acknowledgement, and he's officially the first kid I've grocery-shopped with.
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Sunday, June 15, 2014

6-16-14 Taking Care, Constructive Criticism, and Nope Nope Nope

10:30 AM:  Morning was good! I found a new way to engage the 2nd-graders when I do the Listening section of the CD. I started calling them up to read the lines individually, and that worked tremendously well. SG2 said she thought it was an improvement, and I could tell that my little guys were more engaged.

One of the older male teachers sent me an instant message last week (over the new office-messenger network), reminding me to smile more. I took the hint and this morning I made sure to smile and feel joy at as many people as I could.

Went to the special-needs room. Gave Chanyeong his Coca-Cola (which he loves), and gave Byeongsu a birthday present of unopened UNO cards since it was his birthday yesterday. Talked to Dohyun about the weather and showed sympathy for Seongwon's still-broken arm.

--------------------

12 AM:  Second class of 2nd-graders went well! I still think my methods of eliciting responses from the kids have improved greatly-greatly, but NG thinks I should play the kids the audio with the script first.

He's right. But. He's supposed to tell me what a great idea I had and how much better it is for the kidlets' education, because it is obviously better than what I was doing just last month, and I had more clear responses and more interest from the lot of them. Some of the boys--Yeonghan, Soowoo, Hyunho, Hwanhyuk and Sangpil to name a few, could follow the entire thing medium-well.

But some can't. Minsu can barely read English at all, even word-by-word. So tomorrow I'll play the boys the audio along with the written script instead of hoping they can get it just from listening on the first go. I can learn from advice and from correction but sometimes I wish NG would just do what everyone else does and tell me I did good. Aw, Wendy...




On Friday, I explained to my Hyunho that I had been so worried about his fighting with Jeongmin, and his sadness and his headache. He looked me in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry for worry you." My heart nearly broke. For my boy to care what I felt about his situation, it was so moving.

And speaking of GIFs (animated pictures), my best female friend and I use this one for shorthand all the time. It's a picture of an octopus hurriedly moving away from something, with the "nope nope nope" caption. When we don't want to do something, we move our hands like a scurrying octopus in imitation of this.

Student wants you to smell something unidentifiable?

You have to teach a double afterschool?

It's going to be 99 degrees with 80% humidity tomorrow?




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Wednesday, June 11, 2014

6-12-14 Exhausted, Open Class, Jaehyung Cuteness

2 PM:  So sleepy and so tired. So much.

Open class went fine, though I felt lightheaded after it. Me and H-Sol had about 15 moms come in and watch for 3 minutes, then another 15 moms come in to observe after that. It was stressful to the max, but our little guys behaved themselves--wonder of wonders. :-)

I hugged H-Sol after class, though I seriously felt like I was about to keel right over.

During lunchtime games, Hyunho was just sitting at his desk with his head down. I didn't even notice him until the Sa-ban teacher went to ask him how he was. I knew a little bit about his trouble--Jeongmin told me that he and Hyunho had gotten into a pushing fight today and that he had shoved Hyunho twice. I went over to talk to Hyunho, but he would lift his head, so I just sat with my hand on his back while I watched Yeonghan and Soonwoo play Yugioh cards.

I told Jeongmin to take it easy on Hyunho because he's bigger and they're both just kids. I hate to have to keep correcting Jeongmin over his ongoing tiffs with Hyunho, but I honestly think that Jeongmin's the more mature of the two and the more likely to be able to control his behavior. Hyunho's a strong little rabbit that occasionally decides to fight to the death over slights to his honor. This is when tables get flipped and glasses get broken.

Yeonghan gave me Pringles and asked "do you know Pringles?" Yes, little bear. We have them at home; in fact, I think they originate at home.

Watched Chanyeong played basketball-soccer with the cool-dude 2nd-graders. I was watching to see if they were being mocking, but they seemed to be genuine. At that point, Piano-Jaehyung came up to braid my hair and pound my back, in that order. The back-pounding was intended to be a massage, and it really was pretty stress-relieving after my crazy day.

Then he back-pounded SG1, who was sitting on the bench with me and he asked me why I was alone. I said I wasn't alone--I was with SG1 and YSR on the park bench. He said, in Korean, that because of the language gap I was alone. It was actually kind of sweet, though, because he seems to pity me and think I'm lonesome because of this. I'm not lonesome, Jaehyung-ah, I'm just sleepy.

It was Minsang's birthday today. Gave him Easter pencils and chocolate.
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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

6-11-14 Confiscated Objects, Pouty Faces, and Poison Ivy

10 AM:

My H-Sol class is cancelled because we're having it tomorrow. It will be an open class, but the parents will probably only be there for 5 minutes in the middle of class. I'm trying to be chill, and I really do feel mostly-chill about it.

Yesterday, NG tried this new thing where he played the kids in 2-7, 2-8 an English factual video and told them what the facts meant. It took about 10 minutes, and while he was talking I noticed that the kids only pay slightly more attention to him than to me. Even when it's all Korean, explaining a few English words here and there, they still don't focus.

So I started circulating in the room, turning heads back toward NG, stopping leg-wrestling matches, and confiscating objects.

The Confiscated-Object Haul:

3 volumes of manhwa (comic books), 2 plastic-encased decks of Yugioh trading cards, a yellow handtowel that was being used to thwack people on the head, a basketball, and a long silver tube that looked like it might have once been part of a vacuum cleaner.

Seriously.

After the 5th confiscation, the babies generally got the idea that I'd be taking all their stuff if they produced it, so they calmed down and started listening. By the end, most of the kids were paying attention, or at the very least they were quiet. Score! And they don't much mind having their stuff taken. I put it on a desk at the front of the classroom and they can get it after class.

My Yunho was in fine form. In the back of the room, he kept staring at me and feigning a theatrical "angry" face for unknown reasons. He pounded his fist on his desk one time and looked fierce. I was standing at the front near NG, so I didn't want to yell out to Yunho to stop, so I just smiled at him. Smiles did not melt his theater-anger, so I finally did a sad pouty-face, which made him crack up. He was so delighted, he proceeded to spend the rest of class trying to coax the pouty-face from me again.

Now I know the key to getting Yunho to do anything--aegyo.

This morning, Soonhyuk begged for The Hunger Games and I told him we'd watch it if we finished our speaking early. We did. Soonhyuk memorized his dialogue perfectly and he also answered about 15 soccer questions perfectly. My smart boy. I love him so. And to think that he wasn't even on my radar until last December, and then only because of his hyung Sooncheonie.

----------------------------

5 PM : Finally got some information on the best Korean soccer players. The kids don't really know their own national team, so I tried to do internet research and was having trouble figuring out which players on the roster might be the most interesting ones to make quizzes about.

Then I realized I'd just been asking the wrong kids. On the walk home, I stopped my Yeonghan to get him to tell me the best 2 Korean soccer players and he wrote down the very two names I'd seen most often in online articles. Score.

So next week, I'll do two videos of Korean players, which the kids should connect to pretty well.

In the Triple Class, I had to keep going to the mic to tell them to be quiet, but they did quiet down every time. And they got so used to me saying, "Be quiet, be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet. be quiet. Thank you." That they would join in and chorus sweetly, "Thank youuu," along with me. It was the single cutest thing the Triple Class has done.

During one of the breaks, Inha, B-Jeongmin, Yeongchang, and Myeongjong all came into the office, scratching their arms madly, begging me for medicine. They had happened upon a patch of poison ivy and, I dunno, rolled in it or something.

Oookey. How to handle this? I told them to go to the nurse's office. The office was locked up, they said, still scratching. I knew this to be true because there was a teacher meeting and the nurse told me I coudn't nap in the office because she had to lock it up.

Due to said meeting, there were no Korean teachers in the office, so next we looked for the 1st aid kit. Except the boys didn't know where it was and I had never seen it, not even once. Zip, zilch, nada. So they exited the room, still itching and hopping like mad. Poor babies. They did eventually get sprayed down with medicine when the teachers got bad from their meeting, but lets just say they'll think twice about doing anything adventurous during meeting times, when no one with Korean ability can help them.
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Monday, June 9, 2014

6-10-14 New Phooone, and Worried for Hyunseop

11 AM:  Good day!

Last night, the beautiful and effervescent KBR took me to a phone store to get the latest model--an LG-G3. I had been making do with an older-model phone (read: it was released in 2011, and therefore unspeakably outdated by South Korean standards. We're pretty sharp about our technology.)

I had bought the phone from an online American company because Korean cellphone rules are confusing. So I was paying too much for a not-very-good smartphone, and yet I was happy with it because it was available to me the second I arrived in the airport in Korea. Instead of waiting 2-3 weeks for a phone in my new, unknown country, I had one right away and was able to call my mom from the orientation facilities.

Anyhoodle, I'd wanted to change my phone for quite a while, and then when I accidentally dropped it in a bag where my water bottle had opened, that roughed up my existing phone enough that it could no longer make voice calls, which worried my Mom. Technically, it should have worried me, too, but I communicate with my friends entirely by Kakao, so I didn't feel the loss of audio-calls immediately.

Another reason I put off getting a new phone for so long is that I'd heard the process for getting a Korean phone is nuts.

It is.

It so is. It took me and KBR 3 hours to get my phone, since they had to import my old info into my new phone and I had to sign a whole armada of paperwork, and the "servers" were "processing" or something. I picked the phone because it's brand-new, released this month, and if my cellphone contract is for 2 years I want to have something that will still be a decent phone in the future.

Just hit me that this phone will expire when I'm 30, y'all. 30.

And KBR was so amazing. I took her out to eat, then for coffee, then we came back to pick up the phone, so I semipaid her back for her time, but really nothing can ever say how grateful I am for her help. Getting a phone in my small town is a flat-out impossibility if you don't have a Korean friend or co-worker to translate for you, so she did something for me I could not have done for myself. I shall never stop appreciating her thoughtfulness.

She actually said she envied me the ability to live in a new place and meet different people, learn a new language, etc. For her, work is just work. For me, it's an adventure and a challenge and a life experience. I forget how, even though my compatriots don't have the same outsider-who-doesn't-know-what's-going-on status, they also don't get the fun and wonder of it. I'm really blessed.

In 3rd grade class, Seongmo was speaking Korean and I understood him. He told Seohyung that Messi's style of play for Barcelona was very different from his style while playing for Argentina. I told him that I agreed, from what I had seen. It's little moments like that which are so special--when I can continue a conversation because there are words I suddenly know.

Morning 2nd grade class went fine. They sorta-kinda got their speaking done, and they were precious. Yeonghan answered every question in the Geography section, rapid-fire naming identifying the flags of Argentina, Serbia, Portugal and Algeria. Duuuude.

SG2 is worried that little Hyunseop is getting bullied. Hyunseop was fine yesterday, but today he has a soft cast on one arm and cuts on one hand. And he fell out of his chair hard in class, and it looked like Donggu did it. She later said that she thinks Smart-Soonwoo is angry at the little guy and that she saw Soonwoo push Hyunseop. Another thing to pray about.
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Sunday, June 8, 2014

6-9-14 Mint Disaster, Hyunkyeong, Speaking Test

10:30 AM

Heh, heh. Had the weirdest stocking-related mishap this morning. I had a small run in my hose (near the foot, not quite noticeable), but I didn't see it until I was out the door. No problem, I thought. The convenience stores are have packages of hose and stockings, so I'll just grab one when I stop to buy bottled water.

Well. When I got to school and unwrapped the packet to change into the new pair, the weirdest minty smell emanated from somewhere. A nasty, icky smell and it was strong, too--intense, one might say.Then I realized the horrible eucalyptus-mint-moutwash smell was coming from the stockings themselves. Perplexed, I looked at the packaging... It had a picture of a mint leaf and the words "control" on it.

Erm. Whut. The picture on the front of the package was of a young woman wearing pretty silk stockings, but the stuff inside the package was a thick material clearly meant to "control" something, and also probably meant for the elderly.

Well. I could either go through the day with super-controlled tights reeking of eucalyptus mint, or I could toss the new stockings and wear the ones with the run in them. Guess which I chose. And let this be a lesson to me--read the Korean packages before you buy them, or you might find yourself stuck in a school bathroom stall with mint-flavored retirement-home stockings. Whhhhhhhy Korea?

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12 PM:  Since there seems to have been some doubt, let me clarify: I went with holey, not minty.

2nd-graders are doing decent with their memorization. Yeonghan knows the answer to every soccer question ever and he and I got into a fierce debate over whether Ronaldo or Messi was the better soccer player. Because I have debates about those sorts of things, now. I'm a soccer-y gal.


Saw America Hyunkyeong on the walk to school today. He and I had gotten in the same elevator on Thursday night at the movie theater, so our run-ins had been quite frequent lately. But today he called out to me on his bike so I'd hear him coming from 30 yards away and thus anticipate his grand arrival, I guess. Then he pulled up his bike and stopped it next to me so the passing middle-schoolers could see how cool he was and how casual and flirty he was being with the American teacher.

He trotted out the "Hiiii. I'm fine thank you and you" line, smooth as butter, clearly putting on a show for the younger boys. I reached up and patted his hair, which simultaneously showed my great affection for him and indicated that to me, he is a sweet, cute puppy. The other guys laughed, but Hyunkyeong laughed too. I didn't damage that tremendous ego one bit, because he made sure to holler at me again from inside the snack shop. Oh, America. I'm glad I see you often enough that I don't have to miss you, because I would so miss you. I hope you study books sometimes.
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4:30 PM:

Day was good. For 3rd grade, we finished early and the entire class was begging to watch The Hunger Games (the most vocal proponent being PonyFish Minwoo), so we saw 10 more minutes. They also loved the soccer video I did for them--Soccer Minwoo is very gratified that now we can have proper arguments about his favorite players.

For 1st grade, I did a speaking test and it went right well. Turns out, a lot of the boys say they genuinely like English class and for my part, I believe them. Because I love all my little ones, but 1-1, 1-2 has a special flair. During his test, my Chango intentionally chose harder words to convey his meanings, to show off his vocabulary.
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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

6-5-14 Hunger Games, Districts, and Sensitive Jinhyuk

10 AM:  Second day of short vacation, and it's lovely.

Spent almost all of yesterday studying Korean, which was such a relief. I was looking back over my notes from Tutor, and there were concepts she was trying to teach me which I couldn't understand in April, but in June I can grasp them easily.

Then I planned for my Hunger Games afterschool. I'm actually designing an "Arena" for them, a game where there are 10 locations and they have to try to avoid each other and gain "health points" by remembering vocabulary and answering questions. If two teams end up in the same location, they have to arm wrestle for the right to stay.

It's going to be beautiful, I think. My afterschool is a fun mix of kids. I've only seen them four times, but I'm already feeling the pulse of the class a bit, getting used to them.

Last semester, I had 22 kids, of which only 2 were B-level and the rest were A-level, making it easy to communicate with them. Now I have 15 kids, of which half are A-level, meaning I have to use a lot more Korean to connect with them. But hey, it's great for my language practice and it's good for winning the hearts of the class, which is what I have to do first, before anything else.

Interestingly, I have a few of the same boys from the first afterschool. I have Minsang (model student, quiet, calls or texts me every day), Jinhyuk (one of my "trouble boys"--smart but unmotivated, sensitive heart, I feel like his mother), Wonhye (I used to think he was a monster, but now I understand his bold personality better and he's my boy), and William-Jiyoon.

In the new class, everyone behaves better because I've gotten better at class management and I know what to expect of them. For my March-May afterschool, I was just thrilled that I could keep them all from using their phones because that was the thing that killed my Fall afterschool.  No phones--it was magical.

But now I know I can expect even from them, and I mostly know how to get it. I don't expect perfection by a long stretch, but I know that I can expect them to stay in their seats and not chat while I'm talking. I know that if one of them is too chatty, I can move him to another chair.

Sadly, the first two classes, I had to move my Sensitive-Jinhyuk away from his friends. Because bless his heart, he just could not stop talking and I knew he would obey me, while his best buddy was new to me, a kid whose heart I don't have yet.

Background on Jinhyuk, taken from my own blog post on March 27th:
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And I made a difference by going to sit with my troublemakers. I was sitting on a desk behind Leader-Jaehoon and CoolGuy Hyunseo and the other good boys who I already like. The song "Let It Go" came on and the boys asked me to sing with it--to really sing it, loudly. I  did so, and I noticed one of my troublemakers on the other side of the room, staring at me.

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

Well, I'd had enough of watching a student stare hopelessly, so I relocated to Troublemaker Central to help them with their worksheets. Staring boy is Jinhyuk.

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So that's Jinhuuk in a nutshell. A bit of trouble, but with a good heart, and terribly receptive to love or the lack of love. If he's not getting lots of touch and time and attention, either from his best friends or from me, he positively wilts. When I had to lecture him in his Friday class, I made sure to hold his arm later, to let him know we were okay and that he was still loved. When I had to separate him from his afterschool buddies, I went to sit by him and play word games, because sometimes Jinhyuk needs one-on-one recognition that he's special.

Minsang doesn't need much extra attention, because he has my phone number and therefore has access to me whenever. I never catch Minsang acting up in class. He is the Good Son.

Wonhye is the bomb diggity. He still won't do jack about his assignments, but now he and I are closer. I can make fun of his crayon-squiggles that he did instead of making a district logo, and we both know that I'm being funny. He now writes his name as the number 1 and the hand-drawn symbol for sunshine, because sunshine in Korean is 해 (hey). Therefore "1-hey" sounds like "Won-hye". Isn't that clever? My little sunshine.

I actually started singing "You Are My Sunshine" to him in class, which made him die of embarrassment. Then 3 of the other boys joined in, somehow perfectly knowing the lyrics.

Jiyoon, as always, is one of a kind. He's been behaving right well, though. He missed the first two afterschools because of swim meets, but since he's been back, he's been quite good. He even warned the other gabby kids to calm down because I mean business.

Because I have a new little firecracker in class, named Dohyun. Firecracker-Dohyun is pint-sized tiny, and he's B-level, and has enough personality for 4 kids. He likes me, but he also likes to mimic my voice and parrot what I say. I don't mind that much, but sometimes it crosses the line from Cute-Sass to Too-Much-Sass.

On Tuesday, it crossed the line and and said his name very firmly and fixed him with a "no, darling, that is quite enough" look. Dohyun shrugged it off as me not being serious until Jiyoon took him aside and explained something in a very sober, intense whisper.

I asked Jiyoon if he was explaining our incident together in April, and he nodded an affirmative. Dohyun looked at me with new eyes, full of amazement as he said, "Wow. Scary," in Korean. It seems that I'm somehow more worthy of respect and appreciation in Dohyun's eyes because I dragged Jiyoon to the big office, made him cry, and asked for and received a public apology for his bad behavior.

Dude. I never want to react to a student in anger again, like I did with Jiyoon, but I'm shocked that that event bore any positive fruit whatsoever. Jiyoon doesn't seem bothered in the slightest about the past and he's actively helping me keep the crazier kids in line, with stories about his battle scars from altercations with me.

After class, Jiyoon came up to me and asked sweetly for extra Pringles and I gave him and Wonhye theirs before the new kids got their portions, because sometimes you've got to let a kid know that you respect the history between you. Nobody's going to go without, but my first boys are entitled to just that extra measure of recognition.


When I assigned the boys to different Districts, it went better than I could have thought. They are all either in District 1, 3, 4, or 12, and I made them sit at tables with their team members. Then I told them to pick Tim-jjangs (team leaders), not knowing how it would go.

Well, there were two very clear team leaders right off. Smart-Jinwoo was the evident leader of District 4. He's smarter than most kids, has better English, and is just generally quick-witted and fast on the uptake.

Over in District 1, Jinhyuk's friend Changhee announced he was the leader and there was nobody willing challenge him. Changhee's one of those man-sized 1st-graders who is taller than me, so if anybody was inclined to knock him out of his jjang status, they'd have to pack a lunch an bring along two friends to accomplish the job.

But also, Changhee's a natural leader. He designed a killer logo, motivated his teammates to work, and asked me to look up the Louis Vuitton logo to give him inspiration. This kid is on top of his game, and if he hadn't become a team leader, I wouldn't have know it because he tried to sleep through the last afterschool.

District 12 was going to be trickier. They didn't immediately yell out that they had a jjang, so I went over to pick a leader. As I was debating which of the two big personalities to give it to (Jiyoon or Dohyun), they both suggested Sunshine-Jonghan. Jonghan is my baby. He's B-level, so I never teach him, but I know him from walking home together. He's not tiny in size, but he has the softest, highest baby voice imaginable, touched with just a hint of a headcold, to make it impossibly cuter.

Imagine a snuggly golden duckling, preening its fluffy-feathered self in a sunlit meadow of dandelions. Now give the snuggly duckling a voice. The voice you imagine is Jonghan's.

Jonghan looked agreeable, regarding the idea of being team leader, and I knew him to be a good-hearted perfectionist, so all worked out well. He's going to enjoy the extra responsibility and I'm going to enjoy watching him be thoughtful and cuuuuuute.

District 3 was hardest. You've got Joohyun (quiet, B-level), Jaehyung (quiet, B-level, loves me from the bottom of his soul), Junho (A-level, sharp but quiet and very moody), and Sensitive-Jinhyuk. Not a natural leader among the bunch. I didn't even know who to offer it to. Junho openly suggested Jinhyuk, so at that point I no longer had a choice

Because even though my boy Jinhyuk had his head down on the desk, and has never once completed an assignment for me without me holding his hand (sometimes literally), I had to make him team leader. Because even if he does a horrible job leading his team, it's better than me showing a lack of confidence in him. If I said, "No, I think Junho should be team leader," it would have shredded Jinhyuk's self-esteem. Not that he cares about leading, but he does care about being believed-in. And that's what class is ultimately about, isn't it?

Anyhoodle, I love my afterschool. We're going to have a rollicking good time next week.
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Sunday, June 1, 2014

6-2-14 Might Have a Long Summer Break

10:20 AM

I might get all of summer vacay off to come home and help my Mommy with health-related things. JY-Teacher asked our principal if I could have the extra time and he said yes, just like that. O_O With my family moving 10 hours away from our home state, it's extra-important that I be there with my Mom when she goes through all this. Plus the four younger siblings will need me, and I miss them so hard lately.

My squishy little brothers and sisters with their sparkly eyes and crazy comments and their suppositions about how the world works. I miss, miss, miss.

In other news, I'm at the lowest weight of my adult life. But I still eat like a ravening carnivore, so I'm not starving--it's just a side effect of running 4 miles a day. A side effect that allows me to buy more cute dresses! It's the opposite of a vicious cycle; exercise leads to pretty clothes leads to exercise leads to eating all I want.

SG2 and I had a grand conversation in class this morning while I played the boys a movie. She and I have similar personalities, so we can chat blithely for long periods of time. I didn't even chat with the boys because we were having such a good time.

Seungshik, one of the 3rd-graders, told me he'd seen me shopping in Myeongdong (Seoul) on Saturday. I can't even go to a city 90 minutes away without seeing our kids. But that's okay because I like 'em.

H-Sol came by to lesson plan with me for our open class next week. I think it'll go okay--she and I came up with something we think we can both be happy with. Score!

C-Jeongmin came by my desk to give me a packet of gummi bears. Love that kid. Bitty Baby Seongjik taught me how to properly say "what was the last movie you saw?" in Korean.

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