Day 161: Kids Are Kids

In the last five months of teaching I've had the opportunity to get a really detailed look into what Korean kids are like, and be able to compare them to Canadian kids.  There are a tremendous amount of cultural differences between the two groups of kids, and I've had to adjust my teaching style/approach to learning because of this.  I could make an eighty-page list on all the differences - some being quite subtle, some incredibly profound - between Korean and Canadian children but I won't get into that now.  Today was a day when it was really proven to me that at the end of the day, kids are still just kids, and often aren't all that different, really.

Today was the dreaded Test Day for all my older kids, and just like Canadian kids, they HATE this day and get so stressed out about it!  The pressure to do well in school is a thousand-fold for Korean kids than what it is for Canadian kids, but it was interesting to see them try and cram for it just like kids back home would do.  The same jitters, the same sweaty palms, the same moaning to the teacher as soon as I handed out the exam booklets.  Korean kids learn in a lot of different ways from Western kids (example: memorization of facts vs. understanding of concepts) but when it comes to disliking tests, they're all the same.

The other example that made me laugh out loud actually occurred just before exam time began.  About 15 minutes before the afternoon classes started today, the power went off on our floor.  The school was plunged into relative darkness and the temperature began climbing immediately without the powers of air conditioning to keep us cool.  Apparently this was caused by an over-usage of power by our school, but it was how the kids reacted to it that made me smile.  As soon as the lights went off they all became excited over the fact that maybe their exams would be cancelled (this would be a student's dream come true, to have their exam cancelled just 15 minutes before test time because of a power failure!) and started to get very excited.  Then they all began running around the school hallways, 'oooohhhhhing' as they pretended to be ghosts!  They made the same silly haunted house sounds that we all used to make as kids in school when the power went off!  This is one cultural icon that I honestly didn't think would transpire over here but sure enough, when it comes to power outages and haunted houses, kids will be kids! 

The power inevitably did come back on in time for all the classes to write their exams, and it was such a slack day for me.  Basically all I did was baby-sit my kids as they wrote their exams, and it was such a nice way to end my week and begin my vacation!  After the tests I said goodbye to all my students and even though our break is only a week long it seems like it'll be a long time before I see them again.  I'm looking forward to the break anyway and plan on enjoying my mini holiday here in Korea!