School Days

My students working on their penpal letters

The teacher's room, where all the teachers have their desks. That is my manager Lisa.

My desk. I proudly display more "desk flair" than anyone else in the office. That's a stack of English diaries waiting to be graded on the right. Note the artwork/photography of my precious nieces and nephews and some notes from students displayed prominently. That's a picture of my niece Violet as well. There's more artwork on the side of my desk.

There have been some interesting things happening at work lately...

First, I have started a penpal project between some of my Korean students and some American students from a co-op which my sister Mishael's family belongs to. My students are so enthusiastic about the project. They are thrilled about the idea of communicating with American students and the ideas about what to write just keep coming. It's a bit hard actually, because I see them coming up with so many topics and questions and things they want to say but their vocabularies are quite limited at this level and they get a bit frustrated. Which is where I come in of course, trying to help them figure out how to say what they want to say in a way the other students will understand. It takes a number of drafts and rewrites before the letters are suitable to send out but it's worth it for them to have such a hands-on, worthwhile experience. My goal is for both the American students and the Korean students to come away knowing at least a little bit more about each other's culture than they do now. If there is one lesson I've learned since moving here, it's that it's critical to realize that there are many different ways of doing things around the world and the one you are familiar with isn't necessarily the best.

The second new thing happening around the office is that I am, for the first time since I came here, teaching a Level 1 class. Level 1 basically means that it is a brand new class of very young students who do not know a word of English. I have taught all kinds of levels since I started this job but I have never taught a complete beginner class. My kids have always known the basics - their names, the alphabet, "hello", "thank you", "yes", "no". Most of these students are starting from scratch. When I found out I was being given this new class, I was really excited. It seemed like such an exciting challenge - like a blank slate! No previous teachers, no previous books, just them and me and me teaching them English. Teaching them to read and write! I don't know why, it just struck me as really special. 

So, as I tend to do when new exciting projects are before me, I got really into it. Fruit shaped name tags, funny games, creative discipline systems. There's something special about a class that is, in a way, all yours from the beginning. I want it to go well. The first day of class was a complete whirlwind. I taught them the alphabet and completely left out the letter "G". Suddenly I looked at the board and realized it was completely missing and we'd been practicing without it. I guess I was nervous. Poor kids. They probably understood 10% of what I said to them. I had to really get creative in how I communicated. I had been explaining basic greetings as in, "hello, how are you, I'm fine thank you, what's your name, my name is...." etc. So then it was time to see what they'd gained from this lesson. I walk up to the closest student, a tiny, wide-eyed, little boy who looked absolutely terrified that I might actually talk to him. I start to shake his hand.

"Hello", I say cheerfully.

....silence...... I think I can see him shaking. He looks around to his fellow classmates for help.

"Hello", I say again, smiling as big as my facial muscles will allow.

He looks very pale and doesn't appear to be breathing. The boy sitting next to him whispers something in his ear.

"hello" he whispers, barely audible.

"What's your name?" I ask slowly and deliberately.

A long pause. His eyes suddenly light up as he recites,
"I'm fine, thank you, and you?" 

Hmmm let's try this again.

"What's...your...NAME?"

He ponders and then says, 

"What's your name!"

Ok. New tactic. I point to myself.

"My...name...is...KAYLA" - I carefully enunciate. I point to him.

"What's...your...NAME?" I ask again.

He obediently points to himself.

"My name is Kayla!"

Ok. ok. This isn't working. Let's try something different.

"How are you today?" I ask.

"My name is Soo-Min."

Sigh... :)