End of Term

So, it’s the end of our fall term!  We start the new term on Monday and we’ve gotten our new schedules.  I’m teaching a much wider range of students this term.  I’ll be teaching Listening classes for some of the D-level kids, which is the beginner level and some of the younger kids.  Then I have reading classes with two J-levels, which is the intermediate level and they can range from 3^rd to 6^th graders.  I taught some J-level classes this term, so that should be nice.  Then I’ll be teaching writing to some of the G-level kids, which is a little daunting.   On the plus side, I’ll have some of the students I had for reading this term in my writing class, which is nice.  On Wednesdays we’ll be doing work for the school’s presentation festival.  Basically the kids read a book and then we talk about it in class and help them write a presentation.  First they’ll present to our branch and then they’ll present to the parents and bosses at an assembly.  I have the D-level kids for that and they’re reading a book about George Washington.  I’m so excited!  It will be exhausting, but I think I’m going to try and do a play with them.  For my other presentation classes I’m teaching J-level and they’ll be reading about the Shackleton’s failed expedition to Antarctica on the Endurance.

I’m definitely excited and nervous about the new term!  We’ve been prepping for it for several weeks, so this doesn’t quite feel real.  I almost feel like this past term has just been a trial run and now it’s time to get down to business.  We’ll see how it goes!

On Wednesday after work our managers from middle school and elementary treated all the teachers to Korean barbeque.  It was such a great night.  I ended up sitting with some of the Korean teachers from elementary.  Normally they are so serious and stressed, but we had a great time!  We were joking around and drinking soju.  It was so nice.  Then, apparently this is a Korean tradition, one of the managers and the head Korean teacher from middle school got up and sang some Korean song.  Then EVERYone had to have a go.  I sang a nice little version of Jingle Bells with some of the other foreign teachers.  It was nice and silly.  I’m really glad because it helped me get to know our Korean teachers a lot better.  And the food was delicious…

For a bit of humor…

I really do love most of my kids, even my naughty ones who ask me where teacher Josh is every class.  They were especially crazy this last week but I can’t blame them.  All teachers have students say funny things, but the humor increases significantly when they are speaking their second language.  Anyway here are some of the gems I’ve heard from them:

Regular occurrences:

“Teacher, teacher!  He opened middle finger at me!”

“Teacher, he is bad speaking in Korean!”

“Teacher, what is shit?”

“Teacher, is hell bad word?”

“Teacher, how did you see?”

“Teacher, you have boyfriend?”

“Teacher, you and teacher Josh married?”

Special gems:

Me- (walking over to a student who’s been drawing cartoons through my entire class)  Alright Jack, what have you been drawing?

Jack-  This is teacher…this is airplane…then, (flying noises) BOOM!  And this is teacher, and this is monster….GAHHH!

Me-  Jack, why do you want me to die???

Jack- Hahahha.

In a similar vein…

Me- Sung-min, what’s that?

Sung-min- This is teacher, this man bringing flowers.  Then he dies (frantically scratching out man with flowers).

Luigi (yes, we have kids named Luigi, as in Mario and Luigi)- Teacher, teacher, bathroom!

Me- After this exercise Luigi.

Luigi- BUT TEAAAACHER!  Yellow water will be everywhere!!

Me- So, (insert name) what did you do this weekend?

Student- I go to church.

Me-  Really?  All weekend?

Student- I don’t know.

Tom- Teacher, what is d-i-c-k???

Leah- Teacher, I think Tom knows…

Tom- Teacher, is d-i-c-k johnson??

Me- I’ll tell you when you’re older Tom.

In my last class of the term, with my naughty 6^th graders who don’t care about anything because they are moving up to middle school, I tried to do my fun lesson but that only lasted about 25 minutes.  Then it degenerated into a paper ball fight with all the boys.  I managed to intercept all their ammo and, mostly for myself, cried “Teacher wins!”  But honestly, it was a win because one of the kids actually gave the ball to me so I could collect it and then they explained some of the jokes they were making in Korean to me.  And for obnoxious sixth graders, that’s practically I love you.  I’m going to miss those angsty pre-teens.