At long last, I have managed to put together about the kids I teach. Teaching these kids has been quite an experience, especially as they come to me at various ages (about 8-17 years old) and at different levels of English proficiency. They are sweet, mean, kind, lazy, hard-working, and absolutely hilarious. The above photo is of Andy, Steven and Kevin, from one of my elementary classes. These are, of course, not their real names. They get to choose whichever English names they like for use at the academy. Remember your alter ego from Spanish class? It's the same basic idea. Some choose to be called by their Korean names, and that's okay, too.
Here is a shot of my desk. As you can see, I have a pretty decent setup, complete with white board, computer, wall calender, and desk caddy.
My favorite times teaching have been when the kids pop off with some random and hilarious question or comment. Here are a few examples:
Pointing to the hair on my forearm, Andy comments, "Teacher. Too much fuzz." This is because Koreans have virtually no "fuzz" on their arms. Mid-lecture I have felt a tiny hand patting my arm, only to find a perplexed kid looking at my "yellow fuzz". The hair on my head is, of course also "yellow" (blond).
Our topic one night was apartheid in South Africa, and we were talking about "race". I asked them what race I belong to, and they said "white". However, one particularly thoughtful kid interjected, "But Teacher, you are not white. You are pink." I asked what color he thought he was, to which he replied, "brown."
While discussing breakfast with the kids, I explained that each morning I eat a bowl of cereal (assuming that this would be a "typical" example of breakfast). The kids all burst out in laughter. I asked what they ate for breakfast, and they all gave the same matter-of-fact reply: Rice.
This is John. He was in one of my middle school classes last term. He was an all around good kid, and paid attention even though his class lasted until 10:30 at night. John and his friend, Brian both like American brands and used to always ask me questions like, "Teacher, do you wear Levi's?" and "Teacher, is 'The North Face' American brand?"
This is Robin, whom I photographed just as he was going in for another paw-full of funions. Robin is one of the naughtiest students I've had the pleasure of teaching so far. He is the master of manipulation. Before class begins you might enjoy a 5-minute long conversation with him about how sick he was over the weekend. He is better now, of course, he is happy to report. Only later do you realize that he did not complete any of his homework. "Oh, but Teacher, I was so sick!"
Bella is a total smarty-pants, a student who always answers correctly, always does her memorization, gets A's on tests, etc. She was in the same middle school class last term as Robin.
Crystal is an elementary school student, and is another example of a "model" student. Some of these kids are bewilderingly smart. I'm sure Crystal will grow up to be a brain surgeon or a physicist. Aside from her smarts, Crystal is also every bit as sweet as she looks in this picture.
Here is Crystal again, along with Sarah and also Emma (who is hiding behind Sarah). Sarah is hilarious. She loves music, and constantly asks me if I like this or that singer. I frequently have to tell other students to stop talking, but I have to tell Sarah to stop singing. Seriously. Emma is very little for her age and extremely cute. She was very quite at the beginning of the term, but came out of her shell a little toward the end.
Left-to-right, this is Emily, Julie and Helen. They are middle school students and all pretty good unless they start giggling about something. As you may notice, Emily and Julie are photographing me with their phones as I took their picture.
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