Day 28: The End Of Me

My weeks are going by faster and faster these days...this whole week just seemed to fly by, and overall was a very good week. (albeit rather quiet, but still enjoyable!) My students have been great (for the most part) and the new curriculam is working out really well in the classrooms. Still, it's Friday, and I'm happy that the weekend is here!

I really do enjoy teaching all of my classes, with the exception of one...

I teach three blocks of kindergarten in the morning - a block of 5-year olds, a block of 6's, and a block of 7's (each block is a half hour long.) The kids are shy, adorable and sweet, and the lessons *VERY* simple (ABC's, 123's, colouring, matching objects, puzzles, cut and paste, that kind of stuff.) The mornings always whip by and then next thing I know it's lunch time. In the afternoons I teach elementary - a block of Grade 1's, a block of Grade 2's, a block of Grade 3/4's, and a block of Grade 4/5/6's (each block is about 45 minutes long.) The Grade 2-6's are older and have a much larger vocabulary, so it's fun with them cause you can actually interact with them and play games that are a little more complex. They're very well-behaved and are naturally inquisitive about me, about learning English, and about the world.

The Grade 1's, on the other hand, are a whole other ball game...they are the only class that I DO NOT enjoy teaching!!! They're at that lovely age where they've lost the shyness that keeps the kindergartens in line, but have yet to learn the respect for elders and teachers that the older kids are so good at following. They are loud, disruptive, and do not listen at all! They can never speak to me or each other, everything has to be SCREAMED, they love to throw things, they can't sit in their seat for longer than 2 minutes, and they fight with each other all the time. Hair-pulling, pinching, and the stealing of precious markers are all daily dramas. At this age they still know very little English, so speaking/yelling at them is very difficult because they don't understand much of what I say. This makes it *very easy* for them to tune me out... All of this would be 'handleable', except for the fact that only is this the only class of the day that I have to teach alone (no Korean teacher on hand to translate to help keep them in line), and this particular class is a FULL HOUR LONG. It's the longest hour of the day, by far!!!

I have to keep reminding myself during this hour, every single day, what my Auntie always told me - "patience is a virtue!" MY GOD DOES ONE NEED A LOT OF PATIENCE TO SURVIVE THIS HOUR!!! Most of the kids in this class are actually quite polite, intelligent, and well-behaved, but there's 2 or 3 that are not, and they seem to enjoy getting the other kids riled up. Two of them, especially, are extremely disruptive. One of them is very smart, but I swear he has A.D.D., and honestly has to SCREAM OUT AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS all of his answers. Even him I can handle...it's this one student in this class that is my biggest challenge. He is extremely rude, never has any interest in his schoolwork, likes to pick on other students (especially his female peers), and is *very defiant* of adult authority. I can honestly yell at him to stay in his seat (and I hate to raise my voice, but sometimes it's the only way the kids will pay attention) and he'll just look me right in the eye and laugh... Ohhhh.... Seriously, this kid is going to bring about the end of me. I try not to let him under my skin, but somedays he just knows exactly what buttons to push. Today was one of those days...! I had a splitting headache by the end of that class and tried very hard to not let it ruin the rest of my day, which normally I enjoy very much.

Some kind of solution has to come about with this one god-awful hour from hell because I can't last a whole year being alone with those Grade 1's. Honestly, if it was any other grade I'd be perfectly able and well-equipped to handle those students. The easiest solution would be to have a Korean teacher in the class with me, as the Grade 1's seem to respect them a lot more than they do me. Unforunately, that hour seems to be one of our busiest at the school - I'm pretty sure that all the other teachers are occupied with their own students, and because my boss Steven is so incredibly busy all the time, he's usually attending to some dire matter regarding running the school during that time. I'm not sure what else to suggest, but I definitely need to talk to my boss about this and work something out. Let's just say that I have a new, MASSIVE respect for my friends Henry and Jason back in Vancouver, both of whom are teachers who've had entire classrooms of 'difficult problem' children. I don't know how you guys survive!!!!

ANY SUGGESTIONS??? :-)

This weekend should be awesome and I can't wait! I got a hold of my friend Brad Harris, who is actually from my hometown, who is teaching here also in Korea. Him and I went to elementary and high school together, and I remember playing at his house as a child - his house was just two crescents over from mine. I haven't seen him in YEARS and I think it will be cool to hang out with someone that I knew from when I was a child/teenager. We hadn't had the chance to hang out prior to this weekend as we pretty much live on opposite corners of Seoul from each other. I'm going out to the area he lives in tomorrow AM to hang with him and some of his friends, and it'll probably take me at least two hours on the subway to get there, if not more. Regardless of this on-coming super-commute I'm looking forward to seeing Brad, meeting some new people, and doing something fun (we're debating between going hiking or visiting some museums or galleries or something.) Should be a great weekend!!!