Minsu the Cat--one of the few students I've ever disliked--has been really cute to me lately and gave me an adorable argument about why I should give him more Pringles chips today. Good times with any kid are nice, but good times with Minsu the Cat are all the more special because he used to be so indifferent.
2nd-grade kiddoes found it important to point out in class that I am taller than NG, which I totally understood but pretended I didn't because they were speaking Korean. We were standing right by each other and he was leaned against the blackboard and I wasn't. I'm still not sure if I'm actually taller--more likely, we're dead even--but all I know is that NG got even quieter than usual and it took 20 minutes for him to say anything at all after that. He came over to intervene when both Soonhyuk and Daejeong tried to scoot past me to steal the microphone.
One thing I admire about Technology Teacher is how, though he is genuinely short, 5'4 at most, he doesn't ever let it show on his face that it bothers him. He's just got a beautiful heart and a kind nature, and nobody talks about his size. NG isn't small like that. But I guess guys never like being pointed out as being too short, even if they're statistically average.
However, the boys who pointed the height differential out--Taehyun and Geonhong--had other motivations, I'm sure. They sat in the very front row of class and stared at me, starry-eyed for half the time. Geonhong and especially Taehyun have recently decided that I am crush material (no idea why it suddenly hit them halfway through our 2nd semester) and it's not so much that they were trying to make NG feel bad as it is that they're so intensely focused on what I look like and on what anyone in my vicinity looks like.
Taehyun told me several times, with great sincerity, both during and after class that I was beautiful. At other times he was telling NG in Korean that he's handsome, so I know whatever Taehyun's doing is motivated by something inside his reservoir of contradictory little-boy feelings. He respects and adores his Guy-Teacher, but probably doesn't appreciate that Guy-Teacher is the only person in class capable of communicating with Girl-Teacher.
HS and I should be going out for coffee next week. I told her about my orphanage visit this weekend.
SG2 and I have an open class next week. *gasp* *bolt the door* *bar the window* *sprinkle holy water around the class* But these are never too bad. I just hope to goodness I don't have a 2nd-grade open class in addition.
The midterm results are in and our 2nd grade boys were supposed to complete their English exam with a 70% average across 300 students. The questions were easy, and continuously revamped to be even easier. What our boys actually got was under 50% average for the 300 kids.
Ay ay ay.
I knew our babies were proven to have some of the lowest test scores in the nation in all subjects, but even for them, this is quite bad. Bless their little non-studying hearts; it seems that the experimental semester with no tests for them didn't really lessen their educational burden in order explore career options--it just made them even more indifferent to education and made them forget that their are consequences to not trying.
Bless them.
I feel worst for my little Jeongmin, who studied hard and didn't get a single 100 on any test. And I directly contributed to his not getting 100 on the English exam--he had answered a question in a way that would be conversationally acceptable, but not technically correct on a written test, and I agreed with NG's assertion that it wasn't right. And now Jeongmin's mom is going to have a fit over No Hundreds, and I had something to do with lessening the single Hundred he had in the bag, considering that English is his best subject.
Being an adult is so lame, sometimes. Of course I didn't tell my kid that I helped lower his grade. Though when he came to my desk today, he was more than just sad and defeated. He had the look of a guy whose wife left him or who lost his job, which he desperately needed to pay the second mortgage.
He put his head in his hands and told me that he wants to have a good future and wants go to the good English high school, but there's no way he will if his grades aren't closer to perfect. I petted his hair and side-hugged him and prayed out loud for God to give him peace and strength and to show him that he has a bright future.
And I picked up a tiny paper bag I had bought to put individual candies in--
Looks a bit Like This.
He thanked me and took it before heading home.
I had a reason for picking the words "Bright Future". My youngest sister, when she was 3 years old, had a little baby t-shirt with those words printed on it. It was my favorite shirt for her because, due to various circumstances of her upbringing before she joined my family, there was no reason for anyone to believe she had a bright future.
She wasn't prized or valued. in an environment where people preyed on the weak, she was the weakest and the most preyed upon. I'm always inclined to dress little girls in a cute, lovely way, but I wanted to dress specifically her in a lovely way so that people could see a visual representation of how pretty she was inside, and of how loved and valued she was by her new family.
The darling little t-shirt was just a simple pastel cotton thing but when I'd see her wobbling past with the those words written on her, it symbolized everything that I believed about her and everything I wanted others to see. This baby has the protection of a holy God and the love of a dedicated mama, and no one is going to stop this baby from seeing good days.
When she outgrew the t-shirt, I kept it in a box with my other treasured memories. I don't know if I've told anyone (maybe Mommy?) about how much that shirt and that concept meant to me, but I like the idea that applying the words "bright future" to someone is like a step of faith, believing as you say it that this is how it's gonna be.
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