The buck...slows down significantly here.
As you can read from the post below, yeah, today is a national holiday, a fact of which I was vaguely aware, but didn't fully sink in until finding the school locked and deserted this afternoon.
So, I came back home (this little rectangle of sovereign American territory) to blog to yoo!
"I have often walked down this street before, but the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before."
"Everyone Loves" studio apartments
My children are very cute and I am concerned for their future. I wish I had some more candid photos of some of my classes. For that, we need an extra pair of hands.
My first class (1:10-1:50) is 1st and 2nd graders. --Really, too young to be in my class, and there are too many of them too boot (34-37?). It's more a battle of containing and directing their behavior towards something vaguely educational and organized. Even songs, chants, and games don't completely quell the chaos. Don't think it's worth My and my co-teacher's effort, really, unless perhaps you're talking about pay---in which case, we aren't being paid enough!
My second class (2:10-2:50) are 3-4th graders. They're all right. It's hard to think of activities for them sometimes, because they are neither here nor there. They're not babies who are enthusiastic about cute little actions songs like the 1-2 graders, yet, they aren't advanced enough to do the somewhat more interesting activities and subject matter of the 5th and 6th graders. I like them, though.
My third class (3:10-3:50) are the 5th and 6th graders. They're cool, because you can relate to them a little more. They can comprehend quite a bit of what they read--but with them you get all the adolescent insecurities, so they're really shy about speaking. Poor babies.
My fourth class (4:00ish--4:45) is my Youngo sarang bang class which means "English Love Room". Sounds kinda sexy. These are the best English students in the school--and their parents are proud of them and think they're hot stuff. Actually, few of them are as good at English as their parents seem to think, but it's a fun class of 13 or so students with whom I can do fun things with. This week, the theme was food, so I made some restaurant related dialogue skits for the kids to act out, complete with "menus" for the fake restaurant I dubbed "Chez Anglais".
So that is my usual day of teaching--, if you want to call it that. But I'm not even going to worry to hard about whether they know this or that. I have to keep in mind that I'm a sort of "Ambassador of English", or ambassador of America, or even an ambassador of African-Americans. I never had any aspirations to be a "teacher" in the professional sense of the word, and never will. The relationships and social interaction--the opportunities to speak with a naitive speaker, and have fun are the main things---which is actually perhaps the harder thing--me being woefully undersocialised and a private person by nature. ---Not to mention the language barrier.
Even when the kids act up or aren't cooperating, or a plan falls apart, or whatever, I find I can't stay upset about it for long. Often I find...after hours of anxious lesson-planning, that these precious plans have little bearing on what will really take place or how the week will go in general anyway.
So my kiddies (who I will probably never learn most of the names of) will hopefully be left with a positive impression of me and a good attitude about English. If we can say that at the end of the year, I'll be satisfied.
SUBISU
