3:30 PM: Not positive, but I think I might have William-Jiyoon's heart. He's in my new afterschool, but couldn't come to the first two days because he had swim meets to go to. But today in class he answered a million questions, and I motioned him to my office for chocolate. He lingered around the office and translated other students for me.
When I asked him if he'd be in afterschool next week, he said yes and looked interested when I told him the book and movie we were watching. My little psycho sure is looking angelic these days.
I had a minor come-apart with my babies in 1st grade today, but I didn't raise my voice and wasn't angry. Friday boys are always the ones I have to get on to, and today Jinhyuk knocked over a giant flat screen television after being warned repeatedly to calm down. I gave them all a big speech in dreadful Korean, and Jeongmook asked me to please use English. So I switched over, and by hook or crook, by kids knew what I meant.
I thought we were all okay, but afterward I was surprised to see that Jinhyuk was about to cry and Dongjoon kept bowing and holding my hand, in the posture of a whipped puppy. I had to reassure both boys repeatedly that I wasn't mad and that everything was okay. I forget that me being upset with Jinhyuk and Dongjoon means more to them because I'm one of the people who loves them--when one of the adults in your life is stressed out over you, it's hard. I told Dongjoon, "Don't worry. You are my boy." Those words always seem to work.
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Thursday, May 29, 2014
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
5-29-14 Triple Niceness, Class Management, Youngmin
9:20 AM
Thursdays are my easy day, meaning no classes for the first two morning periods, so I'm chilling happily.
Big Class was good yesterday! I walked in the door and I didn't have to move the babies forward and re-arrange their desks because they had arranged themselves. My boys. My triple-class mini-monsters had moved up their own desks and never once attempted to scoot backward.
I could have hugged them. Also, there were fewer sleepers and they responded well to having their manhwa taken. And I've got more names now, so previous sleepers like Minjoon and Seunchan are guys I can joke with and tease while they doing speaking.
However, NG points out that speaking practice, as I make them do it now, it kind of mindless and too easy. He is right, but grrr. I had just figured this thing out. I had just gotten a format that worked, and now he thinks we should change it. But I'm so thankful to have someone who can see the problem, who can go, "No, the kids can do more than this. We can give them more and ask more of them."
We still don't know what we'll alter about it, but speaking practice for our little guys is about to get harder and better. And my classroom management is still going well. If I see a problem, I can move the kids around. Tell Hyungoon to get out of the window, tell Yooseok to sit down, tell Seungchan to get off his desk. And soon I shall have great things for them.
My warmpups are still great--the soccer videos and quizzes have really gone over well with the kids and they are all up in the World Cup facts.
Went downstairs to the special needs room to hang with Dohyun and Chanyeong. Taught Dohyun the English words for various fruits.
----------------------------------------
10:15 AM: Youngmin's trying to figure out where I live, specifically. He says he's going to stalk me, which is just too cute. Having Youngmin trotting around after me would be fun--he can do a lot with the amount of English he has. It's like he doesn't necessarily know more English than the other A-levels, but he knows how to negotiate the maximum amount of linguistic value from his existing vocab.
My Deokryeong came by. He's precious. Jeongmin came by as well and I'm working to appreciate him and not get annoyed--for some reason, he's been extra clingy lately. Can I have cookies, can I see your book, can I drink your drink, can we walk, can I play cards without you while you talk to the 3rd-graders, why do you like Hyunho, do you know that he's trouble, do you know that he broke things.
Hyunho's had problems, too. I walked in after lunch to find him in my chair, on my computer. This is not good, because I'm always working on Powerpoints, etc, and he could mess up my files. I told him very calmly that we had to stay of of Teacher's computer unless she gives us permission. He said he understood. Oy.
---------------------------------------------
Thursdays are my easy day, meaning no classes for the first two morning periods, so I'm chilling happily.
Big Class was good yesterday! I walked in the door and I didn't have to move the babies forward and re-arrange their desks because they had arranged themselves. My boys. My triple-class mini-monsters had moved up their own desks and never once attempted to scoot backward.
I could have hugged them. Also, there were fewer sleepers and they responded well to having their manhwa taken. And I've got more names now, so previous sleepers like Minjoon and Seunchan are guys I can joke with and tease while they doing speaking.
However, NG points out that speaking practice, as I make them do it now, it kind of mindless and too easy. He is right, but grrr. I had just figured this thing out. I had just gotten a format that worked, and now he thinks we should change it. But I'm so thankful to have someone who can see the problem, who can go, "No, the kids can do more than this. We can give them more and ask more of them."
We still don't know what we'll alter about it, but speaking practice for our little guys is about to get harder and better. And my classroom management is still going well. If I see a problem, I can move the kids around. Tell Hyungoon to get out of the window, tell Yooseok to sit down, tell Seungchan to get off his desk. And soon I shall have great things for them.
My warmpups are still great--the soccer videos and quizzes have really gone over well with the kids and they are all up in the World Cup facts.
Went downstairs to the special needs room to hang with Dohyun and Chanyeong. Taught Dohyun the English words for various fruits.
----------------------------------------
10:15 AM: Youngmin's trying to figure out where I live, specifically. He says he's going to stalk me, which is just too cute. Having Youngmin trotting around after me would be fun--he can do a lot with the amount of English he has. It's like he doesn't necessarily know more English than the other A-levels, but he knows how to negotiate the maximum amount of linguistic value from his existing vocab.
My Deokryeong came by. He's precious. Jeongmin came by as well and I'm working to appreciate him and not get annoyed--for some reason, he's been extra clingy lately. Can I have cookies, can I see your book, can I drink your drink, can we walk, can I play cards without you while you talk to the 3rd-graders, why do you like Hyunho, do you know that he's trouble, do you know that he broke things.
Hyunho's had problems, too. I walked in after lunch to find him in my chair, on my computer. This is not good, because I'm always working on Powerpoints, etc, and he could mess up my files. I told him very calmly that we had to stay of of Teacher's computer unless she gives us permission. He said he understood. Oy.
---------------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
5-28-14 Sanghwa Quips, Triple Fun, and Afterschool Hunger Games
11 AM: One of the best things from yesterday was when I was having Question Time and one of the C-levels, Jeongil was stumped on what to ask me. He finally landed on, "Teacher...do you like English?" I was blindsided by the perfection of it. My boy Sanghwa was watching this event, and he lifted his hands to the sky and said, "Oh. Game Over!"
I fell apart, laughing. It was such an apt description of what had happened, and it meantso much to hear something funny from Sanghwa. Points to you, Jeongil. You the man.
And in 2-5, 2-6 with H-Sol today, Giwoong and Hyunmin continue to study my hemline (which is not high) like it's notes for a final exam. However, we got in a lot of meaningful discussion today--I got good speaking practice out of them and I also had a Korean conversation with them about how they're both highly intelligent,but Giwoong does better in class because he speaks more. Hyunmin would excel if he talked a little more. Both boys seemed to respond well to my assessment of their intelligence.
And we also gained some rapport from the fact that I took away Giwoong and Hyunmin's playing-coins and made them sit down when they got up to waddle around aimlessly. Not in a mean way, just in a controlling-the-room way. The boys have gotten to where they just laugh over being put back in their place. They mostly stay put and mostly don't attempt to read comics/play with coins, etc. I'm happy with the way classroom discipline is progressing.
2-1, 2-2 with NG was good, too. It was our first attempt at having the kiddoes do a writing assignment and it failed, but we learned from it--next time, we'll explain the assignment and NG will work with the individual young'uns on it while I do speaking practice with the others. We're going to try that strategy out on the Triple Class this afternoon. Hee hee. Writing assignments for 30 kids--that's going to go beautifully.
But yesterday's Big Class was actually kind of fun. They were loud as a volcano eruption, but they were in happy spirits and I got 3 kids who had never spoken ever to do their practice. I described the class to NG as being like running a very small and unsuccessful nightclub. A tiny, noisy crowd that's almost (but never quite) having fun. And yet I do enjoy them so much--they are charming and it's not their fault that they got smooshed into a class with a billion other students.
I have an open class next month, says Mr. B. But! It's a 1st grade open class. So I have time to plan for it, and it's also my cute little babies, so totally workable.
B-Teacher made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the office. Holla. Lunch always seems so far away.
JY-Teacher tells me that I can maybe have an extra day of summer vacation because I had to work on Labor Day. That will be great--I think I'll be home the first 2 weeks of August. our break is from the 3rd week of July to the 3rd week of August, but most teachers have to teach a bit during that time. I shall know soon.
My afterschool yesterday was fantaaaaastic. I thought it would be so boring, but we did vocab on the Hunger Games, then did a wordsearch and a definition-thing where the boys wrote the Korean version of words like "hunger" and "archery". Then we matched the first 10 minutes of the Hunger Games and I narrated in Korean/English the whole time.
Because last semester, I had 22 kids and only 2 of them were B-level. Now I have 13 and 7 are A, meaning I have half the class who need extra help to connect with the material. But it went along in such a lovely fashion. They were basically enraptured by the story, thinking about the implications of Katniss volunteering to sacrifice herself and save her sister's life.
Before afterschool, my Jaehoon and Daehyun came by to visit me, just because they missed me. They're in Adorable History Teacher's afterschool now, and they say that I teach better than he does, which is flattering but I won't hear any ill words spoken against AHT, because he is wonderful.
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I fell apart, laughing. It was such an apt description of what had happened, and it meantso much to hear something funny from Sanghwa. Points to you, Jeongil. You the man.
And in 2-5, 2-6 with H-Sol today, Giwoong and Hyunmin continue to study my hemline (which is not high) like it's notes for a final exam. However, we got in a lot of meaningful discussion today--I got good speaking practice out of them and I also had a Korean conversation with them about how they're both highly intelligent,but Giwoong does better in class because he speaks more. Hyunmin would excel if he talked a little more. Both boys seemed to respond well to my assessment of their intelligence.
And we also gained some rapport from the fact that I took away Giwoong and Hyunmin's playing-coins and made them sit down when they got up to waddle around aimlessly. Not in a mean way, just in a controlling-the-room way. The boys have gotten to where they just laugh over being put back in their place. They mostly stay put and mostly don't attempt to read comics/play with coins, etc. I'm happy with the way classroom discipline is progressing.
2-1, 2-2 with NG was good, too. It was our first attempt at having the kiddoes do a writing assignment and it failed, but we learned from it--next time, we'll explain the assignment and NG will work with the individual young'uns on it while I do speaking practice with the others. We're going to try that strategy out on the Triple Class this afternoon. Hee hee. Writing assignments for 30 kids--that's going to go beautifully.
But yesterday's Big Class was actually kind of fun. They were loud as a volcano eruption, but they were in happy spirits and I got 3 kids who had never spoken ever to do their practice. I described the class to NG as being like running a very small and unsuccessful nightclub. A tiny, noisy crowd that's almost (but never quite) having fun. And yet I do enjoy them so much--they are charming and it's not their fault that they got smooshed into a class with a billion other students.
I have an open class next month, says Mr. B. But! It's a 1st grade open class. So I have time to plan for it, and it's also my cute little babies, so totally workable.
B-Teacher made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the office. Holla. Lunch always seems so far away.
JY-Teacher tells me that I can maybe have an extra day of summer vacation because I had to work on Labor Day. That will be great--I think I'll be home the first 2 weeks of August. our break is from the 3rd week of July to the 3rd week of August, but most teachers have to teach a bit during that time. I shall know soon.
My afterschool yesterday was fantaaaaastic. I thought it would be so boring, but we did vocab on the Hunger Games, then did a wordsearch and a definition-thing where the boys wrote the Korean version of words like "hunger" and "archery". Then we matched the first 10 minutes of the Hunger Games and I narrated in Korean/English the whole time.
Because last semester, I had 22 kids and only 2 of them were B-level. Now I have 13 and 7 are A, meaning I have half the class who need extra help to connect with the material. But it went along in such a lovely fashion. They were basically enraptured by the story, thinking about the implications of Katniss volunteering to sacrifice herself and save her sister's life.
Before afterschool, my Jaehoon and Daehyun came by to visit me, just because they missed me. They're in Adorable History Teacher's afterschool now, and they say that I teach better than he does, which is flattering but I won't hear any ill words spoken against AHT, because he is wonderful.
-------------------------------------------------------
Monday, May 26, 2014
5-27-14 Fish Name and Cute-Fives
11 AM: Good stuff.
Minjoonie tells me that my name in hanja--Chinese characters--means "carp" as in fish; 잉어. Nice.
My 2nd-graders with SG this morning were great. They were calmer than yesterday and they looooved the new soccer video. I'm introducing them to one player, one country, and one vocab term per video and it was amazing. Dongha outshone everybody this time around. He just knew answers to everything.
Seungyeop taught me a Korean phrase meaning "I can't stand it" and when I said that he was my Korean language teacher, he said that he deserved chocolate. When I asked him why he was happy today, he said it was because he was by Sangpil's side, which was pretty hilarious.
I got my hard-to-reach boys really giggling this morning. I made Quiet-Minjong smile a lot and I got Gunwoo dying laughing over my insistence that we had to do a elementary-style double-high-five after his speaking practice. That little bit of cuteness killed Woohyuk too--sometimes absurdity cuts right through their defenses and makes them giggle-buckets.
And learning about soccer was sooo the right decision. Yeonghan wants to talk about teams and they all feel knowledgeable about geography etc, which are related to knowing international sports. It's so fun to share something with them. Yeonghan's my baby, too. He's back to being a happy kid, with squishy pink cheeks and the world's brightest smile--I thought he'd lost it after last year, but no.
Gave speaking test to 3rd-graders. They were awesome. Jinyeong, a kid from last year's nightmare of an afterschool, made a favorable impression on me with his fun answers. He's my kid, now. Seongmo's favorite memory of the past was learning English with me, he said. And I got a lot of the others laughing by calling their names in a weird, growly monster-voice. Today has just been fun, period.
-----------------------------------------
Minjoonie tells me that my name in hanja--Chinese characters--means "carp" as in fish; 잉어. Nice.
My 2nd-graders with SG this morning were great. They were calmer than yesterday and they looooved the new soccer video. I'm introducing them to one player, one country, and one vocab term per video and it was amazing. Dongha outshone everybody this time around. He just knew answers to everything.
Seungyeop taught me a Korean phrase meaning "I can't stand it" and when I said that he was my Korean language teacher, he said that he deserved chocolate. When I asked him why he was happy today, he said it was because he was by Sangpil's side, which was pretty hilarious.
I got my hard-to-reach boys really giggling this morning. I made Quiet-Minjong smile a lot and I got Gunwoo dying laughing over my insistence that we had to do a elementary-style double-high-five after his speaking practice. That little bit of cuteness killed Woohyuk too--sometimes absurdity cuts right through their defenses and makes them giggle-buckets.
And learning about soccer was sooo the right decision. Yeonghan wants to talk about teams and they all feel knowledgeable about geography etc, which are related to knowing international sports. It's so fun to share something with them. Yeonghan's my baby, too. He's back to being a happy kid, with squishy pink cheeks and the world's brightest smile--I thought he'd lost it after last year, but no.
Gave speaking test to 3rd-graders. They were awesome. Jinyeong, a kid from last year's nightmare of an afterschool, made a favorable impression on me with his fun answers. He's my kid, now. Seongmo's favorite memory of the past was learning English with me, he said. And I got a lot of the others laughing by calling their names in a weird, growly monster-voice. Today has just been fun, period.
-----------------------------------------
Sunday, May 25, 2014
5-26-14 Soccer, New Aquarium, and Seonwoo Strikes
11:45 AM:
Good day. :-) The soccer videos worked well. I had decided to try soccer-quiz videos in the style of the movie quizzes. I've had fun researching the subject of soccer, since I normally couldn't care less about the sport. But NG suggested that the kids were into soccer and might respond well to soccer vocabulary, and I also noticed that the World Cup is coming up next month, therefore it was time to make a little space in my brain for futbol.
I very much liked learning about the World Cup, how often it happens (every 4 years, like the Olympics), how many teams are in it (32), and what America's chances are of winning (ha, ha, ha! no. nope.). I found out that my Yeonghan looooves soccer and we had a talk about our favorite players because, like, that's something I have now.
My 2-3, 2-4 class was way noiser than my 2-1, 2-2 this morning, but we did okay. I have more classroom control these days. No, Dongu. Sit down. No Hyunseop, we are not having wrestling matches right now. They're still little noise machines, but I'm keeping tabs on them. And I'm connecting better to my sleepers--Gunwoo, Woohyuk, Beomjoon, etc.
I bought my fish a 3-gallon aquarium last night, complete with plants, pebbles, a tank thermometer, and chlorine treatments. I let the water sit for an hour, then I lowered his glass sphere to float in the water, to get him used to the temperature change, if there was one. Then I let aquarium water into his sphere, then after 10 more minutes, released him into the giant aquarium.
Some websites say you should take up to 24 hours to slowly introduce your fish to his aquarium because of the possible differences in pH balance, but I didn't have time for that. I had to drop off my little guy and hope he was strong enough to last.
He is! My fish was happy and kicking this morning, and he really seems to enjoy his new environment. I took video of him on my phone, and I showed it to Minjoonie today. Taekyoon, HH and the other boys were all suitably impressed at how beautiful Minjoon's fish looked, and he got lots of recognition for giving me the bestest and prettiest present ever.
----------------------
5:30 PM Day was fine!
Did a speaking test for 3rd grade. They were mostly marvelous and I learned a few more names. Youngmin wants to be me when he grows up. Good luck on that one, sugar.
But my Seonwoo accidentally hurt me. I had fallen and bruised my hand on Friday--loose board on a bridge made me take a tumble while running. So I have a dark bruise across my palm, and when Seonwoo finished his speaking test, he high-fived me harder than any kid ever has.
It was so hard, I felt it in my wrist bones. I was just speechless for a moment, then I 'm sure I looked hurt, both physically and emotionally. I told Seonwoo that he could not high-five women that hard because it's about 3 times too much pressure. Seonwoo backpedaled by saying that the amount of force he used was equal to the amount of love he had for me. I had to administer the rest of the speaking tests while holding my hand loosely, trying not to use it much.
It really surprised me, because of all the kids who try to show their affection physically (often in dude-bro ways, such as wanting to arm-wrestle, to prove to me that they're bigger and stronger), Seonwoo has never been one of them. It's kind of out of character for him, but he clearly didn't intend to hurt me. I just don't know what possessed him to think that I could withstand that kind of impact easily.
He came to the office to apologize and he blew on my hand to make it better, so I guess we're calling this matter closed. So weird.
New afterschool went well! Only 13 kids, with just 3 of them coming from my previous afterschool. We're going to read and watch and discuss The Hunger Games, so we'll see how that goes. :-)
-------------------------
Good day. :-) The soccer videos worked well. I had decided to try soccer-quiz videos in the style of the movie quizzes. I've had fun researching the subject of soccer, since I normally couldn't care less about the sport. But NG suggested that the kids were into soccer and might respond well to soccer vocabulary, and I also noticed that the World Cup is coming up next month, therefore it was time to make a little space in my brain for futbol.
I very much liked learning about the World Cup, how often it happens (every 4 years, like the Olympics), how many teams are in it (32), and what America's chances are of winning (ha, ha, ha! no. nope.). I found out that my Yeonghan looooves soccer and we had a talk about our favorite players because, like, that's something I have now.
My 2-3, 2-4 class was way noiser than my 2-1, 2-2 this morning, but we did okay. I have more classroom control these days. No, Dongu. Sit down. No Hyunseop, we are not having wrestling matches right now. They're still little noise machines, but I'm keeping tabs on them. And I'm connecting better to my sleepers--Gunwoo, Woohyuk, Beomjoon, etc.
I bought my fish a 3-gallon aquarium last night, complete with plants, pebbles, a tank thermometer, and chlorine treatments. I let the water sit for an hour, then I lowered his glass sphere to float in the water, to get him used to the temperature change, if there was one. Then I let aquarium water into his sphere, then after 10 more minutes, released him into the giant aquarium.
Some websites say you should take up to 24 hours to slowly introduce your fish to his aquarium because of the possible differences in pH balance, but I didn't have time for that. I had to drop off my little guy and hope he was strong enough to last.
He is! My fish was happy and kicking this morning, and he really seems to enjoy his new environment. I took video of him on my phone, and I showed it to Minjoonie today. Taekyoon, HH and the other boys were all suitably impressed at how beautiful Minjoon's fish looked, and he got lots of recognition for giving me the bestest and prettiest present ever.
----------------------
5:30 PM Day was fine!
Did a speaking test for 3rd grade. They were mostly marvelous and I learned a few more names. Youngmin wants to be me when he grows up. Good luck on that one, sugar.
But my Seonwoo accidentally hurt me. I had fallen and bruised my hand on Friday--loose board on a bridge made me take a tumble while running. So I have a dark bruise across my palm, and when Seonwoo finished his speaking test, he high-fived me harder than any kid ever has.
It was so hard, I felt it in my wrist bones. I was just speechless for a moment, then I 'm sure I looked hurt, both physically and emotionally. I told Seonwoo that he could not high-five women that hard because it's about 3 times too much pressure. Seonwoo backpedaled by saying that the amount of force he used was equal to the amount of love he had for me. I had to administer the rest of the speaking tests while holding my hand loosely, trying not to use it much.
It really surprised me, because of all the kids who try to show their affection physically (often in dude-bro ways, such as wanting to arm-wrestle, to prove to me that they're bigger and stronger), Seonwoo has never been one of them. It's kind of out of character for him, but he clearly didn't intend to hurt me. I just don't know what possessed him to think that I could withstand that kind of impact easily.
He came to the office to apologize and he blew on my hand to make it better, so I guess we're calling this matter closed. So weird.
New afterschool went well! Only 13 kids, with just 3 of them coming from my previous afterschool. We're going to read and watch and discuss The Hunger Games, so we'll see how that goes. :-)
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Thursday, May 22, 2014
5-22-14 Minhwe, Swap, and Observing
5:30 PM: Good day.
Had no video capability in the English room, so I taught 4 classes just by using the book and board-marker games, but it went well.
I assigned my 3rd-graders to write about an experience with foreign culture. It was hilarious when I asked both classes, "Do you know any foreigners? Have you met a person from another country?" and they said no. Then I would open my eyes a little wider and ask, "Guys. Do you know someone from another country?" Still getting definite "no's" from the boys. They I would point to myself. And suddenly they'd all laugh, because they'd forgotten me.
It's actually really endearing because it illustrates how my older boys have really forgotten that I'm from another country. It warms the heart right down to the core, the fact that despite the language gap I don't register as an outsider at all. Hugs to all of you, 3rd-grade guys.
Minhwe shocked me when he talked about his experience with a foreign culture. He said that he had to live in the Philippines for awhile, as part of a study program for English. It was miserable and he was very sad, but he stuck it out because the program was so expensive, and in the end he did see an improvement in his English.
Oh, my boy. He felt so strongly about the topic that when he came to the front of the class, he refused to read out loud. I immediately knew that something was wrong, so I just read his composition quietly then thanked him for his work. Minhwe. I didn't notice him last year, but this year he comes by my office every day for questions, usually twice if not more. He's my kid, and all this time I didn't know how much stress he had suffered for English.
Played a new card game called "Swap" at the Lunchtime Games today. The boys loved it, and we had a great time. Hyunho wasn't there--Jeongmin told me he'd been kept out of school today as punishment for fighting. It wouldn't surprise me, considering the table-flipping and face-cut-by-glass incident. Hyunho, why do you do this.
Got to watch a Korean English class for the first time today--NG let me observe his class. It was awesome because now I finally know how these things work, but also gloomy because I can't do what he does. I can't deliver a fun lecture in all Korean, then ask the kids to name the words in English. The boys were quiet and not precisely attentive, but at least not nuts. A few sleepers, but nobody dared whip out the manhwa. Anyways, I took two pages of notes and it gave me a lot to think about.
---------------------------
Had no video capability in the English room, so I taught 4 classes just by using the book and board-marker games, but it went well.
I assigned my 3rd-graders to write about an experience with foreign culture. It was hilarious when I asked both classes, "Do you know any foreigners? Have you met a person from another country?" and they said no. Then I would open my eyes a little wider and ask, "Guys. Do you know someone from another country?" Still getting definite "no's" from the boys. They I would point to myself. And suddenly they'd all laugh, because they'd forgotten me.
It's actually really endearing because it illustrates how my older boys have really forgotten that I'm from another country. It warms the heart right down to the core, the fact that despite the language gap I don't register as an outsider at all. Hugs to all of you, 3rd-grade guys.
Minhwe shocked me when he talked about his experience with a foreign culture. He said that he had to live in the Philippines for awhile, as part of a study program for English. It was miserable and he was very sad, but he stuck it out because the program was so expensive, and in the end he did see an improvement in his English.
Oh, my boy. He felt so strongly about the topic that when he came to the front of the class, he refused to read out loud. I immediately knew that something was wrong, so I just read his composition quietly then thanked him for his work. Minhwe. I didn't notice him last year, but this year he comes by my office every day for questions, usually twice if not more. He's my kid, and all this time I didn't know how much stress he had suffered for English.
Played a new card game called "Swap" at the Lunchtime Games today. The boys loved it, and we had a great time. Hyunho wasn't there--Jeongmin told me he'd been kept out of school today as punishment for fighting. It wouldn't surprise me, considering the table-flipping and face-cut-by-glass incident. Hyunho, why do you do this.
Got to watch a Korean English class for the first time today--NG let me observe his class. It was awesome because now I finally know how these things work, but also gloomy because I can't do what he does. I can't deliver a fun lecture in all Korean, then ask the kids to name the words in English. The boys were quiet and not precisely attentive, but at least not nuts. A few sleepers, but nobody dared whip out the manhwa. Anyways, I took two pages of notes and it gave me a lot to think about.
---------------------------
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
5-21-14 Giwoong Commentary, Scary Movies With Wooseok, and Bye to Afterschool
11 AM: Ergh, I'm in fair spirits but the morning was kinda lame.
First 2nd-grade class went okay, if dull, but they looooved the quiz I put together for them. I cracked Chaeho UP with one of the questions. When I suggested that the female lead of the movie was "Optimus Prime's daughter," he nearly cried from the humor of it.
This is awesome, because very few of my kids know I'm funny. And last week Jonghoon died over one of my jokes as well, so the video quizzes are at least good for a few laughs.
H-Sol and I also had to have a talk with Giwoong about not talking badly about my body. The boys of 2-5, 2-6, specifically Giwoong, Hyunmin and Seonghoon, are extra interested in my dimensions. For the most part, it's a fascination/lack of understanding about the fact that American bodies are different from Korean ones. At home, I'm neither fat nor especially full-figured, but in Korea I'm bigger in all ways than most women I know.
Korean women are usually somewhat short and squat, or tall and very narrowly built. Nobody is built like me, as a shopkeeper reminded me last week when I was looking for dresses that didn't have a straight-up-and-down fit---"American, line is different, everywhere". So I'm an anomaly for the kids, and when you pair a physical anomaly with their lack of sensitivity, plus hormones in overdrive, plus the fact that I recently started wearing dresses exclusively, and you get some weird comments.
Giwoong started by writing the word "chest" on his paper and I asked him if he knew what it meant. He gave me the Korean definition, then said to Minshik in English semi-loudly, "Yours is bigger." I said well yeah, I'm a woman. Giwoong insisted he was talking to Minshik, not me, but that didn't make a lot of sense because Minshik doesn't understand that level of English and he and Giwoong are the same size of child, too.
Then I got up in front of the class to explain the speaking activity and Giwoong said while looking at me, "Horse dari," with "dari" meaning legs. I stopped teaching and started a dialogue with Giwoong about how we don't say things like that. I wasn't angry at all, just intent on letting him know how to behave. H-Sol called him up at the end and he said he'd been talking about another kid's legs, just happening to look my way. Eh. It's possible, but given Giwoong's track record, I think I'm right.
Anyhow, I told H-Sol that Hyunmin (who stuffed a ball down his shirt 2 weeks ago, to imitate my silhouette) and Giwoong are usually the kids who are focused on inappropriate body commentary, so she had them both apologize to me. I smiled at them afterward--we're all okay. I'm seriously cool with my little guys--I just want them to be kinder to women in the future.
It helps that I run 4 miles every day and I know for a fact that I look nicer than I ever have. 20 pounds ago, I might have been torn apart by comments like Giwoong's, but now I'm just thinking, "Yep, compared to what you're used to, I'm huge, but these horse legs are amazing because they can run for an hour without stopping." Rather than lamenting the tiny, delicate Korean body I will never have, I should appreciate the decent-sized, healthy American body God gave me.
This is who I am. And it's quite a blessing. I have life and health and energy, and isn't that worth celebrating?
S-Teacher told me that the 2nd-grade A-boys who are with B-Teacher complain about it and want me to teach them. It was a big pick-me-up, actually, when I consider that my own kids would prolly rather have B-Teacher.
---------------------------
3:45 PM Whoa, lost an entire post...
Upshot is that Triple Class was good today.
-----------------------------------------------------
6 PM: So many things happened.
In the gap between one of my classes, Wooseok came into the office to talk. When he hung around, I knew he wanted company, so I had him pull up a chair and we listened to music while he surfed the Korean internet. Then he asked me what I liked, and I looked up that sad short zombie film about the dad saving his baby daughter at the expense of his own life.
I was shocked to look up and see Wooseok wiping tears. I think the short film is beautiful as an affirmation of fatherly love and family sacrifice, plus it's just a good empathy exercise. It's good for the boys to understand that other people have feelings and hurts. But some boys feel it harder than others, and Wooseok surprisingly is one of them. I side-hugged him and told him everything was going to be alright.
He responded by finding us a Korean ghost movie to watch--no gore, but it was really scary, and it made me jumpy while it didn't affect him at all. Throughout the movie, I asked him questions in Korean and he gave me answers, so it was language practice, too. It was amazing after seeing him so little this semester to have a whole afternoon with my boy.
I also found out that Wooseok's a Christian and that he goes to my church, which didn't really come as a surprise to me because I could have sworn I'd seen him before outside church, hiding behind a stone pillar so I wouldn't see him. We were having a religion discussion in the office and A-Class-Minsu is Buddhist, and so is my Changyo.
I had a random last-English-afterschool class, tacked on to my schedule just because it needed filling. We just watched a video and I had them all come up to me for "final words"--essentially a last blessing before I released them into the wild.
And it occurred to me that this is the first afterschool I've truly loved.
I loved individual kids within that first long purgatory of afterschool. I loved Byeonghyun, Seongmo, Jinseop, Seonwoo, Seonghak, Seongyeol. I had a fondness for Taehoon and Joon and Afterschool Jeongmin that faded a bit over time. I despised Jiwoong and Sanghwa at moments. I couldn't understand why Cardsharp-Minsu just wouldn't join the fold.
But as nasty as that class was, it gave me relationships with some of my favorite students ever. Even though he didn't mix with me much then and even outright declined my attempts to be nice to him, Seonwoo is my boy now and he visits me a minimum of four times every day. Four times. I wouldn't have Seonwoo without having had that horrific class.
Byeonghyun is a kid I'd probably entrust my life to, and I got him through that class. And nowadays I'm quite cool with Jiwoong and very friendly with Sanghwa--the unbearable awfulness of certain events does not last forever. I had not lost the respect of those kids for all time and eternity.
Also, it was on a totally defeated fall-afterschool day when I had leftover popcorn that I connected with Wooseok--he was a C-level kid that always bopped into our class and I decided to feed him as well.
Winter afterschool with last year's first graders was nearly a wash. But! It gave me Chaeho and Seonghyun, two kids I really appreciate to this day. Plus, grumpy Taehyun and I are finally connecting.
But oh, my spring afterschool. These kids. These kids were on a whole other level. I'm glad I didn't have a chance to prepare a special final day, complete with fanfare because I probably would have cried. Instead, I got to say some sweet words to all of them.
And they returned them. Minsang said he was glad to have met me. Daehyun said that I had a beautiful smile and good figure, and I kinda wish he'd stopped at "smile," but he said it so sweetly and guilelessly, I didn't bother to correct him for it. I ordered Huyunseo to say something nice as we were parting, and he grinned and said "Nice!" which technically fulfilled the requirement.
I walked home with my afterschool boy Changho, and we stopped at a convenience store to buy him a snack. At the store, we were greeted by 5 of my nicest 3rd-graders plus Chaeson, one of the beautifullest little girls from the Saturday program. She squealed and hugged me and we chatted as I walked around with Changho, picking a snack. She wanted to know when I taught her Saturday class next. She says everyone is waiting for me to come back, which makes me so happy.
A good day, it has been.
This is what I feel like:
------------------------------------
First 2nd-grade class went okay, if dull, but they looooved the quiz I put together for them. I cracked Chaeho UP with one of the questions. When I suggested that the female lead of the movie was "Optimus Prime's daughter," he nearly cried from the humor of it.
This is awesome, because very few of my kids know I'm funny. And last week Jonghoon died over one of my jokes as well, so the video quizzes are at least good for a few laughs.
H-Sol and I also had to have a talk with Giwoong about not talking badly about my body. The boys of 2-5, 2-6, specifically Giwoong, Hyunmin and Seonghoon, are extra interested in my dimensions. For the most part, it's a fascination/lack of understanding about the fact that American bodies are different from Korean ones. At home, I'm neither fat nor especially full-figured, but in Korea I'm bigger in all ways than most women I know.
Korean women are usually somewhat short and squat, or tall and very narrowly built. Nobody is built like me, as a shopkeeper reminded me last week when I was looking for dresses that didn't have a straight-up-and-down fit---"American, line is different, everywhere". So I'm an anomaly for the kids, and when you pair a physical anomaly with their lack of sensitivity, plus hormones in overdrive, plus the fact that I recently started wearing dresses exclusively, and you get some weird comments.
Giwoong started by writing the word "chest" on his paper and I asked him if he knew what it meant. He gave me the Korean definition, then said to Minshik in English semi-loudly, "Yours is bigger." I said well yeah, I'm a woman. Giwoong insisted he was talking to Minshik, not me, but that didn't make a lot of sense because Minshik doesn't understand that level of English and he and Giwoong are the same size of child, too.
Then I got up in front of the class to explain the speaking activity and Giwoong said while looking at me, "Horse dari," with "dari" meaning legs. I stopped teaching and started a dialogue with Giwoong about how we don't say things like that. I wasn't angry at all, just intent on letting him know how to behave. H-Sol called him up at the end and he said he'd been talking about another kid's legs, just happening to look my way. Eh. It's possible, but given Giwoong's track record, I think I'm right.
Anyhow, I told H-Sol that Hyunmin (who stuffed a ball down his shirt 2 weeks ago, to imitate my silhouette) and Giwoong are usually the kids who are focused on inappropriate body commentary, so she had them both apologize to me. I smiled at them afterward--we're all okay. I'm seriously cool with my little guys--I just want them to be kinder to women in the future.
It helps that I run 4 miles every day and I know for a fact that I look nicer than I ever have. 20 pounds ago, I might have been torn apart by comments like Giwoong's, but now I'm just thinking, "Yep, compared to what you're used to, I'm huge, but these horse legs are amazing because they can run for an hour without stopping." Rather than lamenting the tiny, delicate Korean body I will never have, I should appreciate the decent-sized, healthy American body God gave me.
This is who I am. And it's quite a blessing. I have life and health and energy, and isn't that worth celebrating?
S-Teacher told me that the 2nd-grade A-boys who are with B-Teacher complain about it and want me to teach them. It was a big pick-me-up, actually, when I consider that my own kids would prolly rather have B-Teacher.
---------------------------
3:45 PM Whoa, lost an entire post...
Upshot is that Triple Class was good today.
-----------------------------------------------------
6 PM: So many things happened.
In the gap between one of my classes, Wooseok came into the office to talk. When he hung around, I knew he wanted company, so I had him pull up a chair and we listened to music while he surfed the Korean internet. Then he asked me what I liked, and I looked up that sad short zombie film about the dad saving his baby daughter at the expense of his own life.
I was shocked to look up and see Wooseok wiping tears. I think the short film is beautiful as an affirmation of fatherly love and family sacrifice, plus it's just a good empathy exercise. It's good for the boys to understand that other people have feelings and hurts. But some boys feel it harder than others, and Wooseok surprisingly is one of them. I side-hugged him and told him everything was going to be alright.
He responded by finding us a Korean ghost movie to watch--no gore, but it was really scary, and it made me jumpy while it didn't affect him at all. Throughout the movie, I asked him questions in Korean and he gave me answers, so it was language practice, too. It was amazing after seeing him so little this semester to have a whole afternoon with my boy.
I also found out that Wooseok's a Christian and that he goes to my church, which didn't really come as a surprise to me because I could have sworn I'd seen him before outside church, hiding behind a stone pillar so I wouldn't see him. We were having a religion discussion in the office and A-Class-Minsu is Buddhist, and so is my Changyo.
I had a random last-English-afterschool class, tacked on to my schedule just because it needed filling. We just watched a video and I had them all come up to me for "final words"--essentially a last blessing before I released them into the wild.
And it occurred to me that this is the first afterschool I've truly loved.
I loved individual kids within that first long purgatory of afterschool. I loved Byeonghyun, Seongmo, Jinseop, Seonwoo, Seonghak, Seongyeol. I had a fondness for Taehoon and Joon and Afterschool Jeongmin that faded a bit over time. I despised Jiwoong and Sanghwa at moments. I couldn't understand why Cardsharp-Minsu just wouldn't join the fold.
But as nasty as that class was, it gave me relationships with some of my favorite students ever. Even though he didn't mix with me much then and even outright declined my attempts to be nice to him, Seonwoo is my boy now and he visits me a minimum of four times every day. Four times. I wouldn't have Seonwoo without having had that horrific class.
Byeonghyun is a kid I'd probably entrust my life to, and I got him through that class. And nowadays I'm quite cool with Jiwoong and very friendly with Sanghwa--the unbearable awfulness of certain events does not last forever. I had not lost the respect of those kids for all time and eternity.
Also, it was on a totally defeated fall-afterschool day when I had leftover popcorn that I connected with Wooseok--he was a C-level kid that always bopped into our class and I decided to feed him as well.
Winter afterschool with last year's first graders was nearly a wash. But! It gave me Chaeho and Seonghyun, two kids I really appreciate to this day. Plus, grumpy Taehyun and I are finally connecting.
But oh, my spring afterschool. These kids. These kids were on a whole other level. I'm glad I didn't have a chance to prepare a special final day, complete with fanfare because I probably would have cried. Instead, I got to say some sweet words to all of them.
And they returned them. Minsang said he was glad to have met me. Daehyun said that I had a beautiful smile and good figure, and I kinda wish he'd stopped at "smile," but he said it so sweetly and guilelessly, I didn't bother to correct him for it. I ordered Huyunseo to say something nice as we were parting, and he grinned and said "Nice!" which technically fulfilled the requirement.
I walked home with my afterschool boy Changho, and we stopped at a convenience store to buy him a snack. At the store, we were greeted by 5 of my nicest 3rd-graders plus Chaeson, one of the beautifullest little girls from the Saturday program. She squealed and hugged me and we chatted as I walked around with Changho, picking a snack. She wanted to know when I taught her Saturday class next. She says everyone is waiting for me to come back, which makes me so happy.
A good day, it has been.
This is what I feel like:
Yes, I've come here to receive the...
'Aww Yissss
------------------------------------
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