Except that I have to go to the dentist today, which I 100% do NOT want to do. But that's okay, I guess I'll just get through it.
My kids were so sweet yesterday. My Thursday kids are just great.. they see me twice a week, so I have a chance to actually have a relationship with them, so it's easier to control them, and it's easier to care about them.
My first class of the day is my E3 girls, who are the highest level that the school has to offer. They are going to high school in a month, and they are going to go away (;.;) but for now we have a lot of fun. I plan their classes, I teach all the material, and they are MY students. When they go, I want to give them something nice... so I need to find out when their last day is.
My second class on TR is my favorite class of little ones. They love to learn, and they're good at it. I know most of their Korean names, and they are amazingly well behaved. One student has this epic name like Hawk, and he has huge round glasses and a huge round face, that is so expressive and full of happiness. One of the little girls, who doesn't have an English name, made me a card for Christmas that is still on my desk mirror. Her English is excellent and she's just a bundle of love too. Then there's another boy (also no English name) who just has the best most excited face. He just looks like everything he sees is awesome and interesting. They are just the absolute greatest. One student in the class is kind of a problem because he refuses to do anything... but I think it's because he feels left out, since he was gone for a month and then when he came back, the class and I had bonded, you know? The Korean teacher says he's kind of slow. Who knows.
Anyway, this adorable class did a story yesterday that was when the evil guy and the good guy had a fight about good winning over evil... and they were so excited to act it out. It was just SO cute. 12 kinds of adorable, with them making their evil voices and acting like dying evil creatures, hahaha. They really enjoyed it. And the best part, was that on the folder, where it says "this is what you do", I actually marked an X over the Q/A portion, and then went to Sue Teacher and said "we didn't do this because they wanted to act" and she SMILED and said "oh okay!" instead of chewing me out for not doing the right thing. Happy Maggie!
In my last class of the day, I had five girls who were having uncontrollable giggle fits the moment they walked in. The entire class they were drawing pictures of me and then showing me "Teacher!! It is YOU!" These are the students that just love life, and when I'm with them, it makes me feel a lot better, because it seems like there IS some love in this place.
Anyway... I figured something out. I was wondering about 'mission' and 'charity' and what good I possibly could be doing here. For a long time, I'd felt like I'd been hired to make the children repeat useless crap to pass a useless test. But after everything, I'm realizing that the point is not to please the other coteachers. The point is to please the kids--and to feel fulfilled doing my job. In an undeveloped place, the mission can be clear, because it's obvious that you need to assist with food, water, clean this and that. I was thinking about how much love seemed to be in places that lacked development, and then it struck me that I always said that I didn't feel like there was much love here. So the mission is reversed, I suppose. My job here isn't to fit a mold, but to nurture the kids who can foster love--nurture the personalities that are creative and excitable and engaged, because I don't know who else will.
That's making me feel better at least. I don't have to cater to the coteachers, or be competent in the same way that they are. I can't. Nor do I have to "cover my ass" by teaching like a robot. And if they have a problem and fire me for it, so be it. Considering how they seem to fire people, it seems like I would just land myself in a better job anyway. ^^;
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Perhaps I gave you the impression that I dislike ALL my kids.
This isn't true. Yesterday I was just venting about the day ahead of me--Wednesdays beat me down, and this one definitely did. But Tuesdays and Thursdays--I like those kids a lot. I have one difficult class, but I know how to maintain it. It's my turf, I understand certain things.
Anyway, today I have a bunch of great kids. My favorite class is one where everybody gets really excited about role playing. They have so much fun getting up in front of class and acting out the story, which makes me really happy, because some of the other classes just get bored with it. There is one kid in this class who insists on saying "YES SIR CAPTAIN" every time I tell him to do anything. And when they need to, they work quietly, which is a blessing.
My two older classes on Tuesday and Thursday are fun too. Sometimes I can't control the last class, but it's because they fight all the time. And the one kid is bigger than me. The little kid provokes him, and then the big kid attacks him. So flat out, next time I'm just going to tell him that I'm not stopping the fight if the little kid says mean stuff. ^^; That's a terrible teacher move, but what am I supposed to do? My coworker was telling me, actually, that their little brothers are in our school too, and they are also friends, haha. Anyway I get the feeling that these two are the best of friends, and will be that way their whole lives. And that's something I like to see. That class is a lot of fun, when I can actually control them.
Anyway, I DO like some of my kids. I just dread Wednesdays. You got my residual fear and frustration yesterday. But there is another thing too.. I am realizing that I am the TEACHER. Which is really new to me. I like to hang out with kids--especially the older ones. I feel bad for making them do work that they find boring and irrelevant. Because I know how *I* would behave--I would ignore that teacher and roll my eyes and complete the work just to say "Look I am smarter than your stupid book." And I have students that do that. But I haven't figured out how to fix that yet. So really what it is, is that these bored students make me feel like a bad teacher. Because really, I don't CARE if they do their work or not, so long as they understand me when I talk to them. But they aren't paying tons of money to come here to hang out. Their parents want to see results, and that means paper book work. I want to see understanding, and that definitely does not come from the books. Anyway, I have a whole 11 more months to figure out how this works. And the perks of the situation are that I have a great boss, and I got PAID today, which is fan-freakin-tastic, because I haven't been paid anything since June 30.
Speaking of getting paid! Yesterday I had a bank-account-creating adventure! .. Well I guess it wasn't really an adventure. But I learned the word for bank (은행). Being able to read is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself before you come over here. If you can read, it's so much easier to teach yourself simple words. If you go to a place, you can remember what you get. If you can't understand how to pronounce something, you can write it. If you need to tell a taxi driver where to go, you can write it, instead of trying to get him to struggle through your accent.
OH! And speaking of Taxi drivers!! I had a LADY taxi driver yesterday! A Lady! I've never had a lady taxi driver! I just imagined that she was the queen of badass back at the taxi lair. She was just an older lady--not a grandmother yet, but her kids were grown up, probably my mom's age. She wore driving gloves and I bet she could sock some people pretty bad. I thought it was so cool. :D
And today is the last day of work before a FOUR DAY WEEKEND. Yes, PLEASE, folks. And even better... Stephanie is coming!! Woo!! I also met another religious studies major last night, which was great! He said he went to a temple stay that was actually an "international" temple, which means that there were American folks there, and so their English was impeccable--and they could explain the meaning of things. I am so excited to do that. .. Now I feel bad because I can't remember the guy's name. But I remember his face. It was nice, though. I met a lot of new folks last night. We went out to the other side of the city, where my coworker's sister lives. I recognized a few things from when I went to my Ghanaian friend's apartment (I think, but it was dark), so I think it was in that general direction. Older part of the city. More oomph on the streets. There are a lot of fun and interesting people over there, and I saw a lot of new faces. Including this guy from Brainerd! What? :D Another Minnesota face. People said that there were a lot of folks from Minneapolis here; haha, I said "You know, it is a bigger city than people give it credit for."
Had my first drink of Soju, but it was a little sip. Pretty.. yeah gross. But then again, from what people told me about Palm Wine, it can't be grosser than that. :D Cuz it's certainly not like drinking bacon.
Anyway, today I have a bunch of great kids. My favorite class is one where everybody gets really excited about role playing. They have so much fun getting up in front of class and acting out the story, which makes me really happy, because some of the other classes just get bored with it. There is one kid in this class who insists on saying "YES SIR CAPTAIN" every time I tell him to do anything. And when they need to, they work quietly, which is a blessing.
My two older classes on Tuesday and Thursday are fun too. Sometimes I can't control the last class, but it's because they fight all the time. And the one kid is bigger than me. The little kid provokes him, and then the big kid attacks him. So flat out, next time I'm just going to tell him that I'm not stopping the fight if the little kid says mean stuff. ^^; That's a terrible teacher move, but what am I supposed to do? My coworker was telling me, actually, that their little brothers are in our school too, and they are also friends, haha. Anyway I get the feeling that these two are the best of friends, and will be that way their whole lives. And that's something I like to see. That class is a lot of fun, when I can actually control them.
Anyway, I DO like some of my kids. I just dread Wednesdays. You got my residual fear and frustration yesterday. But there is another thing too.. I am realizing that I am the TEACHER. Which is really new to me. I like to hang out with kids--especially the older ones. I feel bad for making them do work that they find boring and irrelevant. Because I know how *I* would behave--I would ignore that teacher and roll my eyes and complete the work just to say "Look I am smarter than your stupid book." And I have students that do that. But I haven't figured out how to fix that yet. So really what it is, is that these bored students make me feel like a bad teacher. Because really, I don't CARE if they do their work or not, so long as they understand me when I talk to them. But they aren't paying tons of money to come here to hang out. Their parents want to see results, and that means paper book work. I want to see understanding, and that definitely does not come from the books. Anyway, I have a whole 11 more months to figure out how this works. And the perks of the situation are that I have a great boss, and I got PAID today, which is fan-freakin-tastic, because I haven't been paid anything since June 30.
Speaking of getting paid! Yesterday I had a bank-account-creating adventure! .. Well I guess it wasn't really an adventure. But I learned the word for bank (은행). Being able to read is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself before you come over here. If you can read, it's so much easier to teach yourself simple words. If you go to a place, you can remember what you get. If you can't understand how to pronounce something, you can write it. If you need to tell a taxi driver where to go, you can write it, instead of trying to get him to struggle through your accent.
OH! And speaking of Taxi drivers!! I had a LADY taxi driver yesterday! A Lady! I've never had a lady taxi driver! I just imagined that she was the queen of badass back at the taxi lair. She was just an older lady--not a grandmother yet, but her kids were grown up, probably my mom's age. She wore driving gloves and I bet she could sock some people pretty bad. I thought it was so cool. :D
And today is the last day of work before a FOUR DAY WEEKEND. Yes, PLEASE, folks. And even better... Stephanie is coming!! Woo!! I also met another religious studies major last night, which was great! He said he went to a temple stay that was actually an "international" temple, which means that there were American folks there, and so their English was impeccable--and they could explain the meaning of things. I am so excited to do that. .. Now I feel bad because I can't remember the guy's name. But I remember his face. It was nice, though. I met a lot of new folks last night. We went out to the other side of the city, where my coworker's sister lives. I recognized a few things from when I went to my Ghanaian friend's apartment (I think, but it was dark), so I think it was in that general direction. Older part of the city. More oomph on the streets. There are a lot of fun and interesting people over there, and I saw a lot of new faces. Including this guy from Brainerd! What? :D Another Minnesota face. People said that there were a lot of folks from Minneapolis here; haha, I said "You know, it is a bigger city than people give it credit for."
Had my first drink of Soju, but it was a little sip. Pretty.. yeah gross. But then again, from what people told me about Palm Wine, it can't be grosser than that. :D Cuz it's certainly not like drinking bacon.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wow. Teacherdom is exhausting.
And kids can be relentless. I don't mean Korean kids, either, ALL kids. Any kids. I am so glad that it's Friday. Wednesday and Thursday are hard days. Haha, but I do have a habit of writing down the cutest things that the kids do. One of the kids--who looks kind of like a jolly, chubby train conductor, always says "Yes Sir Captain!" When I tell him to do anything. It is seriously the cutest thing.
It seems like almost everyone who comes here has sleeping problems. I think it has to do with all the alcohol. Korea is a HUGE drinking culture. The men stay out all night drinking with business partners--cementing relationships through drunken ridiculousness. When they are sober, these things are not talked about, but it is a ritual that routinely breaks the passive aggressive nature of the Korean culture. It's like a safety valve. (Except that women don't participate, so I don't know what their valve is supposed to be.) It seems like most Americans here have absorbed this tendency to drink until dead almost every night. It... well, isn't very appealing to me. There's partying, and then there's running away.
Anyway on Thursday I went to visit with the young woman that I met at GS25 on Sunday. She is really nice, and her English is quite good, so we have a lot of interesting conversations. She took me to a Thursday market, which had just appeared on the road near her apartment building. It's interesting--there are all these huge apartment buildings, cookie cutter the same, marching off into the distance--but in between them there are old women with vegetables, clothes for under 5 dollars, and all kids of weird stuff--Africa style. These markets seem to move around and appear with little respect to time. Or maybe I just haven't figured out the time yet.
On Wednesday I discovered a stationary shop with stickers, and so I might find a way to start a sticker point system... I don't know. I don't like the idea of bribing the kids, because I don't know if I will be fair about it. Plus I want them to earn their stickers, man. Bad kids are not about to get stickers.
I have a kid in one of my classes who is difficult to deal with. I am pretty certain that he has a form of Asperger's. My first day with him, he was terrible. He almost threw a desk at another girl. But the girls were teasing him. And they keep teasing him. And I have NO idea how to explain to them that teasing this kid is going to set him off. I've not had problems with him again these next two times, but boy howdy... I have been walking on thin ice. I need to make friends with him, so that he trusts me enough to TELL me when he is angry, instead of flipping out. But I don't know how to get the other girls to stop saying nasty things to him in Korean. And the sad thing is that he's just an adorable kid--and he is a genius. I can have conversations in English with him that I can't have with kids in my highest classes. AND he is younger than everyone in the class. Sigh. Maybe it's not Asperger's... maybe he's just acting out from a crazy family. Maybe he needs the attention. I don't know. But for now, I need to get him to trust me, so that I won't have to walk on thin ice all the time.
Anyway, I am happy that I have made some friends. I met the other two coworkers at my school, and they are nice and interesting people. It's nice to have some boys to hang out with. It seems like everyone I meet is female. And it's not even an interest thing--it's just an "I need balance" thing.
It seems like almost everyone who comes here has sleeping problems. I think it has to do with all the alcohol. Korea is a HUGE drinking culture. The men stay out all night drinking with business partners--cementing relationships through drunken ridiculousness. When they are sober, these things are not talked about, but it is a ritual that routinely breaks the passive aggressive nature of the Korean culture. It's like a safety valve. (Except that women don't participate, so I don't know what their valve is supposed to be.) It seems like most Americans here have absorbed this tendency to drink until dead almost every night. It... well, isn't very appealing to me. There's partying, and then there's running away.
Anyway on Thursday I went to visit with the young woman that I met at GS25 on Sunday. She is really nice, and her English is quite good, so we have a lot of interesting conversations. She took me to a Thursday market, which had just appeared on the road near her apartment building. It's interesting--there are all these huge apartment buildings, cookie cutter the same, marching off into the distance--but in between them there are old women with vegetables, clothes for under 5 dollars, and all kids of weird stuff--Africa style. These markets seem to move around and appear with little respect to time. Or maybe I just haven't figured out the time yet.
On Wednesday I discovered a stationary shop with stickers, and so I might find a way to start a sticker point system... I don't know. I don't like the idea of bribing the kids, because I don't know if I will be fair about it. Plus I want them to earn their stickers, man. Bad kids are not about to get stickers.
I have a kid in one of my classes who is difficult to deal with. I am pretty certain that he has a form of Asperger's. My first day with him, he was terrible. He almost threw a desk at another girl. But the girls were teasing him. And they keep teasing him. And I have NO idea how to explain to them that teasing this kid is going to set him off. I've not had problems with him again these next two times, but boy howdy... I have been walking on thin ice. I need to make friends with him, so that he trusts me enough to TELL me when he is angry, instead of flipping out. But I don't know how to get the other girls to stop saying nasty things to him in Korean. And the sad thing is that he's just an adorable kid--and he is a genius. I can have conversations in English with him that I can't have with kids in my highest classes. AND he is younger than everyone in the class. Sigh. Maybe it's not Asperger's... maybe he's just acting out from a crazy family. Maybe he needs the attention. I don't know. But for now, I need to get him to trust me, so that I won't have to walk on thin ice all the time.
Anyway, I am happy that I have made some friends. I met the other two coworkers at my school, and they are nice and interesting people. It's nice to have some boys to hang out with. It seems like everyone I meet is female. And it's not even an interest thing--it's just an "I need balance" thing.
Monday, September 14, 2009
My kids were so cute yesterday!
Haha, yesterday my last class is like the biggest hoot. I love my last classes. They are quick enough with English that I can really have conversations with them, and hooo boy, yesterday they were SO talkative. We barely got ANYTHING done. I'm sure now that their regular teacher is gonna be mad, lol, but she's a cool lady so I hope she'll understand.
The two girls in the back decided that they were married--and then tried to explain to me that they had married their friends (girls), because they were just the best of best of friends. THEN, the one boy in the class, who has a fever of god knows what, and is hopped up on cough medicine, is like "Teeeeachaaaa--you marry?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Not yet. I'm too young."
"How old?"
"23" (Korean age is +1, plus I feel awkward that I'm so young. I really am one of the youngest here.)
"Ooooh... Teachaaa--you marry my Uncle."
"..WHAT?"
"Nooo! He good man! He handsome!"
Hahaha, no matter where I go, I can't escape marriage to other people's relatives. Putain! Then the girls started laughing so hard, and they were like "TEACHAAA! YOU BLUSHING!" I wanted to say, 'Of course I am! In America a teacher would get sued for such talk!' haha. But I didn't. I just rolled my eyes at them and moved on, haha. But they were SO CUTE.
And then they looked at my other classes, and my seating charts, and they said... pointed to the class before and said "You like this class?" "Yes." "Ahhh... you like this class," And then pointed to their class. "You LOVE this class!"
And it's true, haha. Silly middle schoolers. Wtf. You marry my uncle. Lol. I told him not to come to school sick like that again. It's weird how they are so scared of swine flu, and then send their kids to school with a fever. Like medicine will make it not contagious. If I get swine flu from that kid and then get kicked out of the country, I will be MAD. But maybe his uncle can marry me and I will be safe from swine-flu-deportation, haha.
Anyways I still need to get my medical check... I should ask my boss about that today. Last night I had dinner at a Korean place with the other two teachers from the second location. They are a good couple of guys--a lot of fun. They live right near me and they are open and fun. I clicked with them pretty well, I think. The food was good--ricey stew with tasty spicy kimchi and all the delicious Korean side dishes. I'm in love with those yellow pickled radishes. Or maybe they're not radishes? I dunno, they're sweet and sour. I loooove them. Anyway the food was good, it was only 4,000 won--less than 4 bucks. Delicious!
In my free time I've been writing a lot. It's quite nice. I have returned to one of the stories that I worked on a lot in the first couple years of college, and the end of high school. I've finally gotten the beginning squared away, and now I'm working on the mid introductory scenes... hard work, but rewarding when you finally get it. And I'm reading a lot of Dune. Woo.
The two girls in the back decided that they were married--and then tried to explain to me that they had married their friends (girls), because they were just the best of best of friends. THEN, the one boy in the class, who has a fever of god knows what, and is hopped up on cough medicine, is like "Teeeeachaaaa--you marry?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Not yet. I'm too young."
"How old?"
"23" (Korean age is +1, plus I feel awkward that I'm so young. I really am one of the youngest here.)
"Ooooh... Teachaaa--you marry my Uncle."
"..WHAT?"
"Nooo! He good man! He handsome!"
Hahaha, no matter where I go, I can't escape marriage to other people's relatives. Putain! Then the girls started laughing so hard, and they were like "TEACHAAA! YOU BLUSHING!" I wanted to say, 'Of course I am! In America a teacher would get sued for such talk!' haha. But I didn't. I just rolled my eyes at them and moved on, haha. But they were SO CUTE.
And then they looked at my other classes, and my seating charts, and they said... pointed to the class before and said "You like this class?" "Yes." "Ahhh... you like this class," And then pointed to their class. "You LOVE this class!"
And it's true, haha. Silly middle schoolers. Wtf. You marry my uncle. Lol. I told him not to come to school sick like that again. It's weird how they are so scared of swine flu, and then send their kids to school with a fever. Like medicine will make it not contagious. If I get swine flu from that kid and then get kicked out of the country, I will be MAD. But maybe his uncle can marry me and I will be safe from swine-flu-deportation, haha.
Anyways I still need to get my medical check... I should ask my boss about that today. Last night I had dinner at a Korean place with the other two teachers from the second location. They are a good couple of guys--a lot of fun. They live right near me and they are open and fun. I clicked with them pretty well, I think. The food was good--ricey stew with tasty spicy kimchi and all the delicious Korean side dishes. I'm in love with those yellow pickled radishes. Or maybe they're not radishes? I dunno, they're sweet and sour. I loooove them. Anyway the food was good, it was only 4,000 won--less than 4 bucks. Delicious!
In my free time I've been writing a lot. It's quite nice. I have returned to one of the stories that I worked on a lot in the first couple years of college, and the end of high school. I've finally gotten the beginning squared away, and now I'm working on the mid introductory scenes... hard work, but rewarding when you finally get it. And I'm reading a lot of Dune. Woo.
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