Open Class #1

Tuesday May 21st.
Thoughts and prayers sent out to all in Oklahoma.
Today was a good day.
I had my first open class with France class. It turned out pretty well. One kid misbehaved, another spoke a lot of Korean, and Sally, whom normally is one of the best speakers, froze up and said almost nothing. On the plus side... None of them cried!!!
The reviews from the parents were all pretty good. Except for Sallys. I wish her mom could see her on a good day.
Tomorrow I have my open class with Denmark. I am pretty worried about this. I am doing nearly the same thing that Australia is doing. Australia is the normal paced class, and Denmark is the slow class. I do not get to practice with them in the morning either. I start the day with France and then go immediately to Denmark. So... I have my fingers crossed that the kids will do well.
The rest of the day went well. Nothing big nor exciting. We did the debate in 2 of my afternoon classes. The first class tied. They actually tied. I did not want that to happen. I promised to buy the winning team treats. Oh well. It was the best debate yet. They were talkative and did a good job with it. My Korea class. It was a struggle as it always is. I was talking with Rob. This class has gotten pushed through the system and that is why they are so miserable. They need to be split up and join classes that have people with similar abilities and speeds. This will not happen.  Ostensibly they tried one time, but the parents wanted the kids to stay together. Bad decision. The kids are at all different levels and they just do not care. If they were with people the same level as them, it could potentially get them to get more active. But thats not gonna happen.

It is amazing thinking of all of my students as so young. I pretty much work with Korean 7-13 year olds. They have so much in front of them. Who will they become, what will they like, what will they do, what will they look like, will they get married, will they die young, will the live to be 100, will they go to college, will they suffer, will they succeed...? It is so weird to think I was once that age, and my teachers must have wondered the same things about me. Children are so amazing. I love working with them. Yes it sometimes stresses me out a little, but jut that possibility that lays in each of them. Sometimes it is hard to remember that they are so young. I am not used to dealing with kids like I do not. Sometimes I catch myself trying to hold them up to the standards I hold other people I know up to. It is a really grounding (humbling) experience for me and puts to much more into perspective. I used to be so concerned with so many things. Politics, news.... the endless list. But being in another country and working with kids is completely changing my world views and what I think is important  I have friends that still post so many things on Facebook and the likes. But all of these things that seem so important to them... really in the grand scheme of things... just seems pointless. I think I may continue on with these thoughts in a later post...

After work Hudson, Rob, Sarah and I all went to the department store to buy thank you cards. A pack of 2 cards was 1000 and that is the cheapest we could find them. We then went to a store because Rob and Sarah wanted to buy some clothes. I actually bought a t-shirt (I wanted to see if they would fit me). It is pretty close to fitting me. So that made me happy. I now need to try to buy pants. If I can find a store that has my sizes (or close to) I will be happy. It would be good to be able to expand my wardrobe just a little.
We got back, all had a drink at the GS, and then headed back to our rooms. I am going to watch an episode of something on netflix, iron my shirt for tomorrow, and hopefully get to bed and do to sleep so I will be prepared for whatever happens in my Denmark open class tomorrow.