Deskwarming

I don't like it, but I don't have any choice. Deskwarming basically means coming in to school during the winter vacation to "plan" for the school year. In other words, watch videos on youtube for hours on end. I don't know how many I've watched today.

There are a few benefits to coming in during vacation.

1. I learn about the upcoming changes for the new school year. Because Seongdeok MS is new, we had one 1st graders last fall. Now, we'll have 1st and 2nd grade. Instead of 7 homeroom classse, there will be 10 for 2nd grade, and 11 for 1st grade. I sure hope the class sizes are smaller than 43 students! We are also hiring 18 new teachers, but I haven't met any of them yet.

2. For two days during vacation the kids come back (today and tomorrow). Can you imagine having to come back to school for two days in the middle of your summer vacation? I asked Hyunju what they do. She said that they will finish the textbook. I thought that was strange that they didn't finish it at the end of the year in December. Anyway, while I was on Facebook chat listening to German music videos this morning, 43 students came into the classroom, and I had a minor heart attack thinking that I was going to have to teach. Lucky for me, they were having techinical difficulties in their room and needed to use my computer to... get this... watch Transformers 2!! Boy, 43 15 year olds can get pretty loud during a movie like that! It was like the circus.

3. Sometimes you get to go home early. Like today, there are no afternoon classes, so Mr. Kim said, "I think you can go home to relax if you want. You can stay here to relax if you want though, too." I told him I might as well go home. I'd much rather relax there!