Don't Eat My Buchela! - Teaching

School Break = Teacher Break (2 comments)

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:14:00 -0700

School is out. Being a teacher, It means I also get a much needed break. Teaching can be rewarding but phew, the breaks are essential for on the job sanity! Next semester I will have a different set of students. In the Korean school system, the school year goes from March to December (with a five week summer break in the middle). So, I had to say good bye to the students I had known for a year as they moved forward. [More]

Survival of the Shy Girl (12 comments)

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:16:00 -0700

A cute little girl joined my younger English class a few weeks ago. As the days passed, I noticed that she is painfully shy. Sometimes she smiled and her entire face lit up. But most of the time, she sat at her desk with her head cast down. When I ask her questions, she takes a long time to answer. I am never sure whether or not she understood unless I wait long enough to give her a chance to compose herself to talk. Sometimes, there is a significant lag between my question and her answer. Over the last couple of weeks, I noted that when I wait for her answer students say things in Korean. From the tone of their voices I could only conclude they are not being nice. Over the course of a few days, it began happening even more frequently to the point where when I asked her a question, she became frightened. [More]

Talented Little People (7 comments)

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:38:00 -0700

Is it me or are kids these days more talented than we were at their age? May be I have forgotten what all we used to be able to do. But the art works in the picture astonish me. They were all done by 4th graders. And not only did they paint the pictures but they also made the frames from construction paper. I am impressed. Are you? Were you a talented little person? Tell the truth!

Author Unknown (5 comments)

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:56:00 -0700

This was on the chalk board when I came into my class on Friday. Some days, my students surprise me with simple acts of affection that absolutely warm my heart.

Back to the Grind (4 comments)

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 01:09:00 -0700

Today was the first day of class for the second semester of the year. The Korean school calender goes from January to January. I am back to teaching just two classes a day instead of three which is great. I love being a part time teacher. I come in at 8:30 and by 10:30 I am off to go home and reunite with my little Buchela! So, ok ok, I can't really call my job a grind! It looks like I have 12 students in one class and 19 students in the other. Out of the 19 students, six are new! 4 girls and 2 boys. All on the older side, fourth graders being the youngest and six graders being the oldest in one of my classes.

I don't know the new students yet but I can already see there is a bored teenage look about them. I expect the class with the 19 students is going to be a handful. I hope I have set the ground rules and demonstrated my seriousness about them pretty firmly today. I usually start out by being very strict and slowly give way as students find their place in the class and understand clearly what is and is not acceptable in my class. It is good to see my students from last semester. My older students (grade 4 to 6) gave me nice big hugs. The little ones (grade 1 to 2) were very shy and quiet but at the end of the session some of them came up to give me a quick hug. Sweet!