Last Week of School

Christmas Lessons:

It's finally the last week of the school year! I can't believe I've been here for 4 full months, and have been doing exactly what I love doing. The little first graders are still just as immature as they were at the beginning of the semester, it seems hard to believe they will be in second grade come March, and that new first graders will be arriving!

The students have finished their final exams and I've been taking it easy with them the past few weeks. They are ready for a break, and I've just been doing fun things with them, like scategories and Christmas songs. Some of the songs we've sung this week are Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Santa's coming to town. Kids have requested Feliz Navidad, they seem to know most of the words, which I found suprising. I had Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas is you playing before class started on Tuesday at Seongdeok, and about 20 of the boys in class 4 were crowded around my podium and TV. Even though the video was blurry, they were so excited to see her dancing. They kept saying things like "Teacher, my girlfriend!" and "Teacher, my mother!" It got them really excited for class I think!

The Good Classes:

Class 2 at Seongdeok is my favorite class there. Huynju is also a homeroom teacher, and she has been very busy with them all year. I've gotten to know a lot of the students on a more personal level because many were in my after school class earlier in the year, and every day about 10 boys come to clean the EOZ classroom for me. They enjoy talking to me and watching YouTube videos, specifically Happy Tree Friends, and Kpop music videos. Some of the boys have even helped me study Korean. Overall, they are sweethearts, though they can still be rambunctious.

At school on Tuesday, the teachers were having a pretty intesnse conversation. When this happens, I just sit there silently, eating my rice, and making up conversations about what they could be talking about. The weather, Iris (a popular drama show), weekend plans etc. Huynju turned to me out of the blue and asked, "Do you find Jindo attractive?" Jindo is in class two, and is 14 years old. I was so suprised! I was like, "Well, I think he'll be pretty good looking when he gets to high school, yes, why?" Apparently, the teachers there all think Jindo is very cute (his nickname that the teachers call him by is "handsome Jindo" when translated to English). He was in my afterschool classes, and is one of the few students whose name I actually know. They said he's the cutest boy in school, and all the little girls have crushes on him, but he is kind of a player and is still single. He's sterotypically good looking, in the Korean way- tall, skinny, and a small head. He's also sporting the standard Korean shag haircut. I just found that whole conversation to be a little bizarre.

Another student in class two, Jindo's sidekick, and who was in my afterschool class was recently elected school president. He's a smart kid and must be pretty deserving of the nomination. Class two had a pizza party to celebrate, and I was lucky enough to take part in that. Because there is no need for me to really ever leave the EOZ, when I ventured down to class two, the kids thought it was like seeing a fish out of water and was swarmed to me instantly.

And the not so good classes:

Not all of my classes can be as good as class two. Class 5 is by far the worst class in the school, and I can't imagine being that poor homeroom teacher. He is so burned out, you can tell just by looking at him. All the subject teachers have struggled with class 5 year long. There are about 6 boys who really get the class riled up, and I always see those six boys standing ouside their classroom with their hands raised high in the air or in the teachers lounge receiving a beating with the standard bamboo stick. Anyway, last week in class 5, I'd had enough of it. I made the 9 loudest boys come up to the front of class and do pushups. 31 to be exact, that was the number between 1-50 the class had decided on. The rest of the class counted outloud together as their classmates did the girliest pushups I'd ever seen. I walked around between them and pushed on their backs to get them to do down farther. Because they couldn't do more than 8 in a row, it took a while to get to 31.

This week, all 9 boys came into the EOZ between class with a written appology. This looked like a pretty official report to me- name, date, location, who, teacher, offense, and goals for the future. In the bottom, there was a place for me to sign. 7 were written in Korean, and 2 were in English. I quickly read over the ones in English, my favorite part said, "I was being loud and I made the teacher go crazy!" I explained to all of them very sternly that when I saw them next, we would be singing Christmas carols, and I expected them to be on their best behavior.

Fastforward to this week's lessons. I always prepare for the worst before class 5. I literally have to mentally prepare myself. However, they did what I was not expecting in class. The boys sat in the front row, right in front of me. When it came time to quiet down, they were the first to stop talking. It was the quietest class I'd ever taught. That would be ideal if we were going over a new topic, but not the best situation for singing upbeat, jazzy Christmas songs. Getting them to sing was like pulling teeth. I think I scared them a little too much last week, and they were terrified to doing anything to make me mad! Since singing didn't go over as planned, I had them each write all the lyrics to Santa Claus is Coming to Town, as well as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I handed these into the homeroom teacher after class, and I think he was pretty impressed that they were all able to focus. Not exactly the fun, end of the school year lesson I'd hoped for, but at least I didn't lose my voice yelling and nobody did pushups.

Whatever happend to a relaxing end of the school year?

Today at Suwan, and schools nationwide, we have testing. There are 5 tests today, including subjects like Korean, Math, Science, Social Studies, and English. The kids were worried about it last week, and it's been pretty quiet around here today. Mihey is in charge of the tests, so I'm alone in my office (and freezing!). I remember when I was young, I was always excited for the end of the school year and I can't imagine having to take a high-pressure test two days before school gets out!

Out with 2009, in with 2010
It's been a whirlwind of activity since arriving 4 months ago, and if 2010 brings half as much fun as 2009 did, it's going to be an excellent year. Merry Christmas, and I'll see you again in 2010!