Summer Break at a hogwan

It's summer break here at my hogwan. A one week sabbatical from the sounds of laughing kids, crying kids, screaming kids-- all to remind me that I am a teacher. There is no stinky, hot and humid basement to prep my lessons in and certainly no director to watch over us teachers who are consistently late for their classes. He said anyone with three tardies to any class would be dismissed. That has and will never happen. As much as we are indebted to the owner and school, they are also our slaves. They need us much more, however. We have the power, I think.

Yanne posed me the question: Do I miss my kids? I told her that I miss a few of them. The ones who make me laugh; who are fun, cute and cuddly. The others, no. Do I miss my EAS3 (ages 10-12) class of five? Nope. They can barely spell the word "blue" or "black." They are less smart and attentive than my kindergarten (ages 8-10) class of ten! Most of my EAS 3 are lazy and stupid.

My job as a teacher is to inspire, to create lessons that teach them to feel and be less inhibited in speaking and learning English. Where they can experiment with words and sounds. Hasn't happened. They are uninspired, un-focused and loud and obnoxious.

In that class a girl named Ji-Yun is picked on by SunJu and Lilly. They make her cry. They don't want Ji-Yun to sit with them. There are only three girls and the two boys in that EAS class. The boys don't want to sit with Ji-Yun either, which is understandable since they are boys and Ji-Yun is a girl. That little twit SunJu is totally mean towards Ji-Yun in the way that girls are mean to each other. It's really ugly. I feel bad for Ji-Yun. She is quirky and they are conventional and too cool for her. I've had the associate director come up and give the mean girls a little pep talk. I don't like the two mean girls. The boys are okay. But they detract from the class with their antics.

A while back I wrote about one of my students named Amy who was hit by her mother for not performing well in English class. Well, that Amy in my IEP3 class is still performing great but is a bratty and obnoxious kid who I don't like anymore. Maybe this is the result of her abuse or she is becoming a teenager or both or neither.

I worked really hard in that class and the kids are still bored. We've planted tomatoes, cared for them, used the Internet to learn about soil and tomatoes. We've read a play, done poetry, written silly things like "Dung is a good food to eat." I'm struggling with them. Maybe I am a terrible teacher or maybe they are so busy and feel forced to take English classes to appease their over worked parents. I feel frustrated with them.

My favorite class is my advance IKPA, kindergartners who are cute and fun and enjoy the learning process but do get bored. Most of them I like. We have fun with English, as in my other classes, but they seem to enjoy it and have fun. I like all of them but a few I missed this week.

There's Euro (her English name), a very funny girl who makes me laugh when she pretends she is mad at me and "scolds" me in Korean. I don't know what she is saying to me but the other kids are rolling on the floor in laughter. She may grow up to be a comedienne one day. She's a sweat heart who needs help with everything though. She can do the work but she decides not to. I sometimes need to stand or sit next to her to have her write faster and complete her work. She likes to raise her hand and answer questions. Recently, she decided it would be more fun if she raised her foot instead. Now, the other kids are copying her. In fact, they have fake phone conversations with their feet. They pretend their feet are telephones and raise it up to their ears to talk. (Phone rings...)"Yo-bo-say-o?"

Then there's Emma who finds everything I plan too easy and too slow especially when we play Simon Says. She is a very smart kid who has a real facility for languages. She's fun to teach and loves when I read to her. She gives me parts to read in the book and she will read the other parts aloud. Very cute and fun.

Dennis is like the super genius in that class. He gets everything. He is an ESL sponge. He's cute and fun and loves to draw. The class is too easy for him though. He will be ready in a few months for the next level and I look forward to helping him get there. He sits next to Ronnie James Dio, the dumb kid I wrote about who dropped two months ago and is now back, asthma and all. Dio is actually really bright so I don't know if he had a brain IQ spurt or he is maturing in age. I feel bad for him because he breathes really heavily. Maybe this interfered with his learning process. He is kinda gross. For example, he will sneeze and snot will be like two green daggers hanging from his nose. Disgusting. After a while he'll ask if he can get a tissue. Dio!

Then there's Sunny (her English name). She is a special kid who is so intuitive and insightful it may verge on being psychic. She is a joy to teach and has a wonderful sense of humor. She has said things to me in English that have been weirdly psychic. One day I was feeling down and she was talking to me in Korean and English asking me questions about how I feel. It was great. She has a big heart. She's in my lunch class twice a week and I had her and the other kids talk to Yanne on the phone. Sunny was asking if Yanne is my friend or girl friend and wanted to know how serious we are! Cute!

I have a few more days off before going back to work. I've been sight seeing, relaxing and playing Palmer style basketball. I am having fun and looking forward to next week, my last working week at the hogwan.