I started teaching at ECC 8 months ago today. I have seen so much, but it is so hard to quantify what I have seen and experienced, other than it is one heck of an amazing ride. Its amazing to think there are only 4 months left till I have been teaching for a year.
Today was a pretty good day. I woke up feeling good. France class was pretty well behaved. Ian in my Australia class almost cried, but as he was welling up, I told him if he started to cry, I would send him to Korea class. He stopped almost crying and did his work. Denmark had a good class. I still wish I did not have lunch with the kids. It is tough to keep my energy up in Denmark class after having lunch with them. It would be tough. The no breaks in the morning really drains me at the end of the kindy day. I get a break first thing during the afternoon classes... but no break with kindys.... aye aye aye.
We have open class coming up this month. In 2 weeks. Its a jip. We are expected to prepare for this and give the parents a good show, and still finish our classwork that is on a strict schedule. I understand the parents want to see their kids in class. But kids do not act normal with parents there. Bad kids are good, good kids are bad, kids that talk are silent, kids that are silent are either silent or very vocal about things they should not be vocal about. This time, I have 3 open classes. Only a lot more stress. Thankfully Denmark and Australia are the same subject matter, so it will be easier to prepare. The bad thing... the subject matter is Washington DC. Just what every Korean kid cares about. Last month we did Cinderella. That would have been perfect. Kids love Cinderella and really paid attention.
My England class was pretty good. They still speak a lot of Korean... Too much. I'm not sure if the last teacher was that strict on the English Only. I am trying to get them there.
My 3rd graders were good. Roy causes some little problems, but it was really mostly only tossing an eraser. The eraser was a small angry bird bird. He was just trying to play. Some of the kids blow what he does out of proportion... because it is Roy, not because of what he does. They know they can complain about him and they will get attention. His antics can be a little annoying. They are antics that everyone pulls in that class... they just do it with their friends, which Roy is not. Barbie sat at the table next to him. It was great. She is one of the second graders in the class, but she handled him like a pro. I was super impressed. She was so much more mature than most of the rest of the class is.
At night, I went to Ipark mall again to watch the DotA2 tournament with Rob and Karen. It is interesting. I am starting to understand it a little more, so it is a bit more interesting. The tournament games are watched worldwide, and Rob and I made it to the feed quite a few times. Us being white really helped. I tried a panorama of the stadium... it did not work out too well.
Got home around midnight.
Tuesday November 5th
Remember Remember the 5th of November....
Today was a pretty decent day. It was Julies birthday in France class. Pretty shocking. That means this whole year she has only been 5 western age. She has always been one of the most mature and brightest students, yest she is one of the youngest.
Australia and Denmark were both okay. Christina talked to me about Soo. Her mom is worried about her, because Soo can't understand me. This came as a shock to me. She always participates in class and gives answers. She does her work when she is not distracted. The only thing I see her having a problem with is math. Part of the problem is I think Soo wants attention. Also, she always brings stuff to class to play with. Even when I have her put it in her backpack, she sneaks it out to play with it. Today she had a pen thats ink can only be seen with a special light.... so was doodling over everything. She always had new little toys, erasers, pencil cases... Today, she said she didnt know the answers to what we were doing. I was on the other side of the classroom. As soon as I got over to her and knelt down.... she answered them. Aye aye aye.
I got not much accomplished during my break. the first bit I went outside and got some fresh air. The second part, I was more or less a baby sitter to one of the 6year olds. She waits at ECC to get picked up. Normally she runs around the teachers room... unless one of us take her. So she climed in my lap. I read her a story, and just made funny faces and what not. I wanted to work on my Korean... She is adorable and has a wonderful smile and laugh. Her English level is not high, but she is still fun to talk to.
My 4th graders were good. One of the boys is kind of difficult... he likes to act up and be distracting. The girls are all pretty good. Most of them try pretty hard. Its a good class. The class dynamic is a little interesting....I would love to move some of the kids around (there is another class that is pretty much the same level) and I would love to get some of them in. I believe a class can get stale.... they are stale (they need some shock). That being said, the debate they gave last week was phenomenal. The best I have seen. They are not stagnant educationally, but socially.
Hagwon was okay tonight. We got 2 new people. Our class size is not 10. A little big in my book. I though 8 was too many. I am getting a reputation in class. Not a bad one... but almost the same one I had in a lot of my college classes. I am a lazy hard worker with a good attitude and always good for a laugh. Only difference is that in most of my college classes, I was upper tier (not grade wise, but knowledge of the subject), here I am in the lower rung of the class. Even so, I am pretty good at breaking up the monotony of the class, ask questions that others are afraid to ask... and provide unintentional comic relief when I just get a look of utter confusion on my face (since almost everyone in the class is not a true beginner like myself, they know these things, and I am just learning it for the first time).
After hagwon, Yufei, Scott and I went to Mammoth and ate a lot of meat (it is the all you can eat meat place for 12 bucks).
Got home, and did pretty much nothing at home. Tomorrow is Wednesday... wow.
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