Classroom News

I am continuing to enjoy teaching here. For the most part my classes are good, with a few rough ones. It is definitely easier than when I first got here. It's not really easy work, for me. It's fairly demanding but I think it's really rewarding. I think it's a challenge to try to give each class 100% of your effort and attention all the time. Sometimes it's hard not to try less in a class where the kids just goof off and don't pay attention or never seem to understand anything no matter how many times you say it.

It gives me a whole new appreciation for teachers and, for that matter, parents. Having to repeat yourself over and over to children who are not listening to you is quite frustrating. Like explaining an assignment in detail and getting done and having one student who was doodling in their book instead of listening look up at you and say, "Teacher, what?" And it doesn't work to say, "I already explained it once and you weren't listening so I'm not explaining it again" because they see that as permission to go back to drawing.

Thankfully most of my kids try really hard and want to learn.
They also bring me gifts which is fun.

Here are some of the gifts I've received from students:
rice cakes
oranges (some whole, some half-eaten)
chocolate (it's usually unsweetened here)
sticks of gum (pumpkin flavored, rose flavored, ginseng flavored...),
pepero (a cookie stick, dipped in chocolate syrup),
Bungeo-ppang (a baked pancake-ish shell shaped like a fish which is filled with red-bean paste or kimchi)
various hard candies
cookies
drawings
pencils
erasers
tiny clay figurines
a winter hat

PS Rice cakes in Korea come in ALL shapes, sizes, and colors. They are generally bland, chewy and look like this: