My favorite class for sure is my Newspaper class that I have Tuesdays and Thursdays. They are by far my most advanced kids. They have essays that they need to write every week (I will start grading them next week when they turn them in), and the whole point of the class is to get them to start looking at news and be able to form and argue their opinions. I've been having some fun with it as of late. Their first essay topic is going to be a movie review; as in, they have to pretend they're movie critics and point out both the positive and the negatives of the movie and give their final opinions. I gave them the option to do a compare/contrast essay on the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile (as Korean kids tend to like actually being challenged), but the majority of my kids wanted the movie. I warned them that due to this they were going to get a harder topic for next week. They accepted it.
I am meeting a two college friends and former marching band members tomorrow for lunch: Ani and Dan. I'm very excited to see some familiar faces. I am also planning a trip next weekend to meet another Northwestern grad, Jim, who is in southern South Korea. I've never met him before, but I found out about him through some alumni. We've been chatting for a bit, and he's the only friend I know who lives significantly enough away from Seoul to where I'd have to take a weekend trip to see him. I'm looking forward to this trip more than anything right now, not least because it means I get to leave Suji for an extended period of time.
I have also attached a video of my apartment. I posted it up on Facebook and it got quite a few surprised comments... just to warn you, it's basically a glorified dorm room. But considering that I'm still technically "newly graduated," and I lived in a single dorm room my senior year, this isn't that huge of a step for me. In fact, it's an improvement. The fact that I get my own bathroom, a kitchen, and an even bigger bed is a huge deal for me. And the furniture I got was just right. Other teachers weren't as lucky as me to have a nice table and a sofa.
The other crappy thing about my job is the comments that come from parents. They're parents, so naturally they're not exactly objective when it comes to their children, but I already got some feedback from my Korean supervisor who fields those calls, and it's kind of ridiculous:
"Zackary's mom called because she's concerned. It seemes Zackery thinks you're being too loud when you talk to him, and he doesn't know how to react because the previous teacher had a soft spoken voice." My reaction was , "Um, I'm the teacher to a bunch of kindergartners. Of course my voice is going to be loud. If it's not loud then they won't pay attention and do what I say. It's not like I'm screaming or yelling at him, it's that I'm projecting. Tough cookies, boy. Deal with it." And Zackary is a cute kid, but I don't care how their previous teachers taught them or what they did and what they got away with; I'm a different teacher, and they're in their second year of English, so it's time that they're treated like mini-adults. I don't let them get away with crap. For example, my kids tend to make this REALLY annoying sound when they're mad at each other, and I take away points for the entire class when they do so to show them that they need to use their words when they're frustrated or annoyed, not make a really annoying sound. The kids get points for doing well in something or other, and they get upset when they don't get enough, or get them taken away. Which brings me to parent complaint #2 of today:
"Ashley's mom called because Ashley was really upset that she only got 2 points in class the last few days, and Tony had eight, so she's saying that you're obviously favoring Tony and hate Ashley. Also, you don't hug her."
I didn't even know how to react to that because of how ludicrous it is. I said "Ashley doesn't get as many points because she talks a lot and doesn't pay attention, and when I call on her she many times doesn't know the answer." My supervisor did say the parents acknowledged that she doesn't pay attention. As for the hugging part, I didn't say this but Ashley's kind of an attention seeker, and I can tell. I don't give any one of my kids more attention. There is no favorite, and it is pretty clear. But the first few weeks are going to be hard because they're going to have to get used to the fact that they have someone strict, and I need to make sure I stay consistent with everything so that they can learn. I don't mean to scare anyone who wants to do this or make anyone feel like it's a crappy job: they really are good kids, and I look forward to the day when I can see clear improvement; but for now, it's just going to be the same thing day after day.
I'm definitely feeling better. It's been more than a week since I found out grandma died. I still think about it every day, especially at night when I pray. I've been having these crazy dreams every night... just weird dreams. Last night I dreamt that I went to the apartment she used to live in back in Arizona because I wanted to see how it looked now with new tenants. In my dream it was almost exactly the same, and the couple living in it was elderly. The funny thing is that before leaving for Korea I was seriously thinking of doing this. And I actually did go and knocked on the door... but no one was home at the time. I then decided to postpone it until I could get back to the States. I wish I had tried again...
Enjoy the pictures of my kindergartners and my apartment video.
Look at all that food! The top row are Irene, Alice, Ashley, Katie and Julie (plus yours truly), and on the bottom are Zackary, Alan, Sara, Alex and Tony.
They're singing a Beatles song they performed at festival (which was before I arrived) while they wait for the food to be set up
The birthday girl and me-AALA
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