I might have mentioned that my 6 classes with the sixth graders before graduation got cut down to 3. Well, the 3 didn't even happen.
My first lesson with the 6th graders went fine. Mr. Song was late so I took the opportunity to tell the kids that we had a lot to do in a short amount of time so I needed them to work extra hard so we could get through the lessons in the book and have a class party the following Monday (which would be their 3rd and last class). The kids were excited and told me they wanted movies and games and cookies. I was planning on spending the weekend gathering some cheap party supplies so we could have an "English party" for the last class.
Mr. Song arrived and, while he did his usual lecture thing, we somehow managed to get through two lessons in one class period. Mostly because the kids were determined now to finish so they didn't encourage Mr. Song to talk too much. I think Mr. Song recognized the need to get through the lessons too so he let me talk more than usual.
On Friday, I had what I thought was my last class with the 3rd graders and they'd finished their textbook ages ago so I'd run out of ideas. So we watched Wall-E and I had them make little books using the English they'd learned. It was a really lame lesson and I felt bad for not having anything planned. I'd been more focused on the 6th graders. But then their teacher told me we'd have one more lesson on Monday. Aigo!
I had my 2nd-to-last lesson with the 6th graders that day too. We were 20 minutes into the lesson when Mr. Song turned to me and said, "Oh, by the way, THIS is the last lesson. My mistake". I froze up and my whole lesson quickly fell apart. Mr. Song turned to the 6th graders and explained in Korean that this was their last English lesson. Everyone became really quiet and I just stared awkwardly at the floor because I wasn't prepared to say goodbye to my favorite class. Then Junsu, the kid who likes to play teacher and joke around, piped up, "Teacher, I will remember you!" And I got a little choked up and thanked him. Then the other kids one by one started chiming in with "Thank you for teaching us." "English was very fun" "I will miss you" and other such things. I turned to Mr. Song and asked if we could take a picture as a class. The picture was a little awkward but the kids were surprisingly willing to take it (they usually refuse to take pictures). Then Mr. Song told them class was finished and led them out of the room and I didn't even get to really finish the lesson. So that's how my 6 classes turned into 1 1/2. But I guess we technically finished the textbook :/ minus a few review sections.
I was still really bummed though. The 6th grade class has really come a long way and I really bonded with the students. I had little gifts for the 6th graders for graduation that I had planned to give them during their last lesson on Monday but that obviously wasn't going to happen. So I had to find another way to get them to the kids without making it awkward.
There's a store in the shopping district of Chuncheon called "Artbox" that sells all sorts of silly little gift items and school/art supplies and I'm really addicted to wandering through there because the selection changes every week. But, everytime I go on the weekends, I run into a student. And it's usually when I'm buying glow-in-the-dark cat stickers or something weird. So, on Saturday, I was grabbing some pencils and tiny notebooks to go in the gifts for the 6th graders and I hear a gasp and turn around to find Seunghee, one of the 6th grade girls. She looked really startled to see me there and kept clutching her chest and saying "What are you doing here?" And I had to make something up while hiding the gifts behind my back. It was really awkward.
Sunday I went back to church for the first time since my vacation and got a warm reception. I forgot how friendly everyone in the ward is. I was a little late to sacrament meeting so I tried to quietly slip in and take a seat by the Sister Missionaries but then everyone I passed started shouting greetings at me so that plan failed. So I had to walk down the aisles bowing to and greeting each person I passed and shot an apologetic look at Brother Kim on the stand. I guess that's just how things work in a tiny ward, there's no such thing as discreet.
We had our usual meal after church and I ate with the Chinese couple. They love telling me all about Chinese culture and it's really fascinating. I had participated in their Gospel Principals class that day and the husband told me my English is perfect and asked if I practiced it at home. This was really confusing and I thought he was being sarcastic but then he explained that he'd been studying English linguistics a lot and my pronunciation was exact when I was reading from the lesson manual. I realized it was because I speak differently now around non-native speakers because I'm so used to teaching and having to be exact in my pronunciation. So I just told him it's because I'm a teacher and normally I don't speak that way. It was really flattering though because I can remember not too long ago when Mr. Song and the other teachers were constantly telling me to slow down and speak more clearly and I thought I'd never achieve "perfect English".
After church, I was standing in the hallway talking to a few members and two of the elders when Brother Kim came up with his 3-year old, Sunny, in her stroller. He handed me the stroller, made a pushing motion, and then disappeared. I was confused when he didn't come back and then Sunny started yelling demands so I started pushing her back and forth. I know I teach kids regularly but I'm still so awkward with them. At one point one of the Elders walked by and I told him "I have no idea what I'm doing" and he just laughed. One of the bishopric members walked by and pointed, asking me about it in Korean but I didn't know how to say "babysitting" so I just put my hand on her head and said in a serious tone, "My child". He got a kick out of that. I spent the next hour strolling Sunny wherever she told me and eventually, out of boredom, I started running her down the hall and making quick turns. The relief society ladies who were cleaning up in the kitchen got into it and started poking their heads out and chasing after the stroller. Sunny was screaming something that could have either been "Faster! Faster!" or "Help! This woman is kidnapping me!" But it was fun. Eventually Brother Kim reappeared and gave me a ride home. Sunny now calls me "Big Sister" and I've finally gained her sassy 3-year-old acceptance.
Oh, I guess we're losing 2 more Elders. I'm getting really nervous that Sister McCloskey is next. I hope that doesn't happen for a while. Darn transfers.
On Monday, I tried to make it up to my 3rd graders who'd had the really lame lesson on Friday by putting together a scavenger hunt for them using the vocabulary they'd learned.
I arrived at school really early that morning - before even the principal had gotten there - to set it up. The English room was so cold that my fingers were red and stiff trying to tape things in place and cut paper strips.
The kids loved it though so it was worth it. Their teacher and I spent the whole lesson standing to the side and laughing at the 3rd graders' antics as they tore apart the English room.
That was my last official class so I've been desk warming ever since. It's making me crazy with boredom just sitting around in my little office but I've managed to study a lot of Korean and read some books. There was the incident with my heater exploding into flames, which added some excitement and made for a running joke around the school. Sometimes I think the other teachers only pay attention to me when it comes to mocking my pain :/ Otherwise, I'm like the school ghost who just drifts in during lunch and then disappears to her office for the rest of the day.
I started taking yoga. I'd met Ella, the yoga instructor, my first week in Chuncheon but hadn't gotten around to signing up for yoga until just now. It was only 6 months of procrastinating. Ella still remembered me surprisingly, she even noticed I got a haircut. Good memory. Ella's a Russian-Mongolian who speaks 5 languages not including her very limited English. And her yoga classes are way more hardcore than I expected for a beginner class. She only speaks Korean during class so I end up watching the other students a lot to figure out what's going on. And she constantly circles the room fixing everyone's form by grabbing them and bending them into the proper position. It's extremely painful and sometimes awkward. I noticed one of the girls start crying everytime Ella approached her. She's a really good teacher, though, and easy to follow. Just intense. One of the middle-aged women in the class immediately became my rival for some reason and likes to slam doors in my face and scoot away from me during class. I think she's a xenophobe. There's also an older man in the class who's constantly groaning and then falls asleep and snores during corpse pose. His English is really good. And a Hungarian guy comes in on Fridays so I have one person to talk to. Luckily, he struggles just as much as I do or we couldn't be friends. The classes are hard and I feel like the most imbalanced and inflexible person in there but it feels good to be exercising regularly. The only problem is that my work schedule means I can only attend yoga in the evenings and that means I sometimes can't sleep those nights because I'm too wired afterwards. I've gotta figure that one out. It was supposed to help with sleeping.
Anyway, there was a rumor going around that Mr. Song was leaving but I didn't believe it until I texted him about helping me with something and he told me he's changing schools. So I'm co-teacherless. That's really gonna suck. And from what I've heard they haven't found anyone else willing to take the co-teacher position. I'm a little worried but I've been able to communicate enough with the administrative staff and Sunyoung that I think I should be fine unless something really complicated comes up. I also found out Hana - the 5th grade teacher - is leaving too. She's my age and speaks decent English so we usually hang out on teacher trips so that was pretty depressing to find out.
On Thursday, I realized I hadn't given the 6th graders their gifts and they'd be graduating the next day. I texted Mr. Song to ask if there was time today and it turned out he wasn't even at the school. Apparently, the 6th graders had been left to their own devices all day and I guess that's normal when a teacher doesn't show up? I went out in the hall and spotted one of the 6th graders delivering milk and asked if his class was upstairs in their room. He said they all were so I grabbed the gifts and headed upstairs.
I was nervous for some reason. It felt awkward now since English class is over and I was just walking in with gifts. But once I stepped into the classroom and found the kids milling about, they all looked excited and hurried to their desks, giving me their full attention. Junsu joked "Oh, hello, strange person, I am Junsu! Nice to meet you." And it broke the tension I'd been feeling.Then the kids excitedly told me they have no teacher today. I chatted with the kids for a minute. I explained to them that I'd brought gifts to congratulate them on graduating and because they'd done such a good job in English class. I told them I hope they'll like middle-school and keep studying hard and that I would miss them. I'd hand-written each of their names on their gifts in calligraphy - which I kind of regretted because I could barely read the fancy font. This was also the ultimate test as I handed out each gift individually. I've learned all their names by now but there are two boys who I always get mixed up. But, thankfully, I nailed it and the kids started tearing into the little packages. I'd given them some sweets, tiny notebooks, color-changing pens, pencils, and a little note I'd typed up and printed. The kids immediately started reading the note out loud together as if we were in English class and trying to decipher what it said. It was really funny. I helped them understand the note and asked if they were excited about graduation the next day. They said yes but they were a little sad. Junsu said "Teacher, I have something for YOU!" And handed me a fancy little giftwrapped rice ball. I thanked him, said goodbye, and left the classroom feeling a lot better about the whole thing.
At lunch, I sat with the Vice Principal the three sixth grade girls. Cute little Seunghee was carrying the gift around with her and showed it to the Vice Principal. I was a little embarrassed but glad she liked it so much. She saw that her calligraphy name was missing and seemed devastated but then found it on the ground by the lunch line. Seunghyeok, my autistic student, brought me a cup of water and said "Miss Teacher is good teacher" and then grinned and scurried off. I'm really going to miss him.
The next day was graduation and it was really cute. The younger students had made videos for the 6th graders saying they'll miss them and wishing them good luck in middle-school. There were lots of "Big Brother" and "Big Sister" and "I love you" thrown around. Then a few of the 5th graders performed on stage. It was like a miniature version of the school festival. Then the whole school sang some songs together and the 6th graders were given various awards. Seunghee got a huge stack since she's involved in EVERYTHING. And Seunghyeok, the autistic boy, got his award and started fist pumping and waving the award in the air like he'd won the olympics. He was really exuberant through the whole thing and had everyone laughing, it was cute.
Anyway, since then it's just been same-old desk-warming and running errands. We have a long weekend this week because of Chinese New Year so I'm gonna go skiing and maybe do some Spring cleaning. The rest of February's gonna be real boring so I don't think there will be much to report on. I am keeping busy with yoga, book club, and possibly becoming the new ward pianist though so I think that'll help with the desk-warming blues.
Hope everything's going well for you guys! Love ya!
-Whit
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