New School Year

So, I've decided to suck it up and start blogging for real instead of letting my sister throw up wordy e-mails to my family. I don't know how long it'll last because blogging is really tedious for me but here goes.

The new school year started recently with a lot of Hweshiks (teacher dinners). Hweshiks are fine – the food’s always amazing and free, which I can’t complain about. But, as the only foreign teacher, it means sitting in silence while everyone chatters in Korean and I’m nursing some serious leg cramps. Hweshiks are always held at local restaurants where we sit on the floor in the traditional style. Korean culture is very social so eating out is all about sharing food and eating in huge groups. Back in the states, people might not be so keen on spending extra time off the clock with all their coworkers but here it’s a normal part of being a teacher so it wouldn’t look good if I ever bowed out.

For instance, yesterday, my main school was having a hweshik and even though I was teaching at one of my travel schools that day, I had to catch a bus to Cheonjeon to attend the dinner. I caught the Korean mega-cold and was feverish, sleep-deprived, and all-around miserable sat through the two-hour dinner anyway since calling in sick to things is looked down on as well. Luckily, I didn’t feel like socializing so the lack of English didn’t bug me too much.  And the food was amazing, even if I could barely taste it.

Three of the younger female teachers have become a sort of "Mean Girls" group, which seems strange to me since most teachers try to get along with everyone. I don't know if it's directed at me or if I'm reading too much into it. But they seem pretty tight-knit and aren't as open towards me as the other teachers. I've even had times where they've asked me not to sit with them, which was a little weird.... 

Anyway, this school year has come with a lot of changes. I have a new co-teacher who is the polar opposite of my previous one plus a bunch of other new teachers to get used to. The kids have also all moved up a grade so that’s something to get used to.  Some of my cute 3^rd graders who are now 4^th graders are abandoning their pigtails for more grown-up looks, which makes me a little sad.

There was a bit of an adjustment period while I got used to new teaching styles and the dynamic of each of my classes. But, as always, the kids are so fun to work with. Even with their limited language, we somehow manage to laugh and have fun in and out of class. 

First off, my new 1^st graders are adorable. Last year, I hated teaching 1^st grade but this batch is angelic and easily trained.  We have so much fun in that class singing and playing games. They repeat almost everything I say (which is good and bad).  And their favorite English phrase is “Ah lub you!” Here they are writing little love notes on the board:

This one says "I love you, Teacher" and, in Konglish, "Ah lub yu". 

It wasn’t until after I took these pictures that I saw how many of them had grabbed permanent markers.  Hours of scrubbing… but gosh I love them.

Last year I had a 1-2 grade afterschool class that was out of control. It left kind of a bad taste in my mouth as far as afterschool classes, but I'm trying some new things this time around that will hopefully make some improvement. Here's last year's class running amok before class started while I hid in my office having an anxiety attack: 

And one of the rare times where they behaved:

We had our moments last year.

My 2^nd grade class this year is a nightmare. They were in last years mixed class so have kind of established that they don't care for the class in general. Not a single boy in that class will pay attention to a thing I say or do. Even when I speak Korean to them, they mostly ignore me. I eventually got the Vice Principal and their homeroom teacher involved so they’re a little more manageable but still such a challenge. Some of the girls are really sweet though and do what they can to get their classmates’ act together.  I think we'll get there eventually, I just have to figure out what activities they like. So far I haven't been very successful. One of the girls has sort of deemed herself my assistant and will attempt to translate what I say (not that she knows a word of English) and even stays after class every day to help me clean the room. She’s a sweetheart. It almost makes up for her not-so-good classmates. 

This was her little contribution to the board a few weeks ago while we were cleaning up. She's cute.

I have a deaf student in one of my classes that spent most of last year trolling me by putting caterpillars in my hair or jumping out at me from dark classrooms. I always carry around peppermint Ice Breakers to suck on between classes and apparently they’re too powerful for Korean kids (I’ve seen these kids dip jalapeños in chili pepper sauce but they can’t handle peppermint??) I’d given one to Junsu before when he’d begged and he’d writhed on the floor like I’d poisoned him. So, one class period, he asked for Ice Breakers to share with his classmates so I gave him one for each of them thinking “Aw, that’s sweet”. A few seconds later the kids were all in tears and clamping their hands over their mouths. I had to stop class for 5 minutes so they could all book it to the drinking fountain. The troll strikes again. Now I know not to share my mints. One girl tried to put on a brave face while tears ran down her cheeks saying “It’s not spicy. I like it.”

My bus buddy, Sarang, is in that same class and she’s so cute and innocent but sometimes says the most disturbing things. One time a girl was asking me how to say “swear words” in English but I couldn’t understand the Korean translation until Sarang started shouting “Teacher, F*@$% you! F*@$% you!”.  On the one hand, I understood they meant “swear word” but on the other I had to give Sarang a lecture. Just recently we were learning the dialogue:  “What did you say” “I said ____”. With the example “It’s a kilt” “What did you say?” “I said kilt”. When I tried to repeat the dialogue with the kids, I turned to Sarang and asked “What did you say?” And she got this dark look and in a gravelly tone said “I said kill.”

The students are really protective of their handicapped classmates and it's sweet watching them work together. Junsu's school just got a sign language specialist to come in to teach him Korean sign language and all his classmates decided to join so they can communicate with him. A few kids from other grades have joined as well. I also have a mute girl who either can't talk or is too shy to talk but she'll only ever mouth the words when it's her turn to say the dialogue during English class. Her entire class has taken to speaking for her all-together whenever it's her turn. I have a down-syndrome boy in sixth grade who doesn't understand English at all and I always worry because his classmates are extremely competitive during games. But his team was so patient with him last time. We were doing a speed game where they had to read sentences as a team and, even though it slowed them down, his teammates made sure to whisper the sentence in his ear so he could repeat the sounds as best he could. I had expected them to want me to pass him. Even though their team didn't get many points, they all high-fived him and cheered after each round. It was cute. Eventually he even picked up on the dialogue a little and read one of the sentences on his own, shocking the entire class. I think he'd memorized what the sentence looked like but it was still amazing.

My fifth graders love learning slang terms. Their current favorite is “hangry”, which is now their only answer to “How are you?” It’s a step up from the usual. For some reason my kids are perfectly candid when I talk to them outside of class. But guaranteed if I ask them “How are you?” they turn into little robots and answer “I. am. Fine. Thanks. And. You?”  Every. Single. Time. I’ve taken to asking them “Why? Why are you fine?” One of my students, Daehan, was caught off guard by this and now he always rambles  things like “Uuuuuhhh. Sun is shining. My face. Very good. I am happy.” And my student Seungri in 4^th grade will say, “I’m very very very very very VERY…. fine.” Well, it’s progress.

Me and Mr. Hwang have a sort of good cop/bad cop teaching style going where he handles discipline and drills the kid and I just act like a happy ditzy clown. Sometimes we switch so that he’s keeping it light and I can lecture. We joke around with the kids saying Mr. Hwang is always angry so that he’s become kind of a charicature for lessons. Today, my clock broke so Mr. Hwang took it down from the wall. When he wasn’t there, my 5^th graders came in and asked what happened to the clock so I told them Mr. Hwang got angry and tore it down and smashed it. They seemed satisfied with that answer so we continued class. Then when Mr. Hwang walked in near the end of class, the little snitches told him what I said. It turned out pretty funny and somehow everyone decided I was the one who broke the clock.

The sixth graders also caught me nodding off during class while they were working in their textbooks and told Mr. Hwang "Oh, teacher very tired!" Korean kids are such tattle-tales. 

The kids haven’t lost any of their enthusiasm when it comes to greeting me during lunch time and following me around the halls. I thought the novelty of having a foreigner in their midst would eventually wear off but I still feel like  a celebrity at school. I’m trying not to let it get to my head. The other day I was walking past the second graders and they all started shouting “Hello Hee-tu-ni teacher!” after me and I waved at as many as I could. When I joined Mr. Hwang, he asked who was yelling and I said “2^nd grade” and he said “But, you HATE 2^nd grade.” And I just coyly answered, “I just hate teaching them.”

Overall, I feel like my teaching’s really improved. I’m less nervous and have learned to slow down and speak clearly. I also don’t have to spend nearly as much time planning lessons now that I have a stockpile of resources to turn to if I ever have spare time. Mr. Hwang likes to give a lot of feedback after lessons to help me get better. Some days I appreciate it more than others.

I think I've reached that point where things have kind of clicked for me. My Korean's finally improving and I'm using a lot more in everyday things. It's still really low-level but I'm getting more confident in my speaking. The 6th graders have taken to quizzing me during class and teaching me new words since Mr. Hwang told them I'm trying to learn. It makes for some pretty funny exchanges and I think I can empathize more with the kids being a language student myself. I'm doing a language-exchange now with a guy who lives nearby and his wife will talk to me in Korean so I get a lot of practice speaking. They have me over for dinner every once in a while and it's kind of like they've adopted me into their family. They have two young sons who like to learn English and the wife has offered to show me around Chuncheon whenever I get bored. I tried stingray for the first time when I last went to their house and it was not my favorite.

I also take yoga classes and feel like a clumsy oaf compared to all the flexible little Korean girls and ajumas in the class but it feels good to exercise more. Everytime my form is bad, the instructor, who's Russian, yells at me in English so everyone knows exactly who the screw-up is. Downside to being the only foreigner in class.

 I've adjusted to Korean life pretty well though. I can get around the city easily and hardly notice people staring at me anymore. Either people are used to seeing me around or I just don't care anymore. But either way, it's pretty nice and I can't imagine being anywhere else.