I quickly learned that much had changed since December. First of all, my desk had moved. Instead of being in my old office that had five people in total, I was transferred to the huge office down the hall, one with triple the number of people, as well as the new vice president. Which reminds me - the former vice principal who used to awkwardly greet me every morning with "Ohh Danielle Kim! Good morning. Did you have good dream?" retired and was replaced by more mild-mannered fella.
In addition, there were many new faces at school that I didn't recognize. In Korean public schools, teachers rotate to different schools every three or four years, which means that I had yet to meet over a quarter of the teachers at school and they, of course, had no idea that I was a foreigner. That, they would learn in due time. But most of all, I was eager to meet my 600+ new students!
For my first lesson, I started off with an introductory PowerPoint about myself and then reviewed classroom rules. After that, I gave each student a quarter sheet of paper and asked them to spend ten minutes, writing a self-introduction about themselves. For my lowest level classes, I provided some guidance and several example sentences. But by in large, my students had free rein to write whatever they wanted. Once they finished, I asked for volunteers to stand up and introduce themselves. That took a lot of persuading, but in every class, a few brave souls volunteered. For the rest of class, we played some conversational games to get the students talking and feeling comfortable with me and each other.
The primary purpose of this writing assignment was to gauge the English ability level of my new students. I got everything from "Sorry English difficult" to nearly flawless novellas. It was fun for me to read them after class and see what my students had to say. The open-ended nature of this activity lent itself to some interesting results. It was neat to see thematic patterns in their writing. I have collected some of the more memorable ones and will share them with you here.
Unlike my former students, whom I met in the middle of the school year, my new first graders are fresh out of middle school. Many students who attend my school live on the other side of town and are forced to commute long distances every day. Now separated from their childhood friends, these first graders arrive at my school, feeling alone and scared of what's to come. Several of them mentioned this fear in their self-introductions, with the ardent hope that they'll find new friends soon.
The transition from middle school to high school is a difficult one for all adolescents, especially, I would argue, Korean students. In middle school, children get out of school around 4-5pm and spend the rest of the day hanging out with friends or pursuing other hobbies. But with mandatory night studying until at least 10pm, high school students find themselves incredibly exhausted all the time and too busy to take part in non-academic related activities.
I found it funny that on the first day of class, students wrote really positive messages in their self-introductions; for example: "I am happy to be a Dunsan Girls' H.S. student." But by the third or fourth day of class, students were already jaded, as demonstrated by the reoccurring chorus of "I'm so tired," and "I want to go back to middle school."
For the first few weeks of the semester, my new first graders were shy and hesitant to participate in my class. Slowly, they began to test the water and become acclimated to their new environment. As time went on, they, too warmed up to me and began revealing their bright, bubbly personalities. My students are really smart and entertaining. There are several students who studied abroad in America, and many who have big dreams for the future.
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| I want to be a surgeon, because I want to help poor people who have diseases. |
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| I want to be a psychologist in the future because I like talking with psychopathic people and I want to help cure abused juveniles. |
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| I'll be a doctor and help others with free (healthcare?) Also I'll go to Africa and help patients. |
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| My dream job is politican or diplomat. I want to be an important person in our country. |
I also learned that some of my students are extremely cultured and worldly. I mean, how many teenagers out there idolize Keith Haring and enjoy visiting "respectable painters' exhibition(s)?" It's nice to know that my students have lives outside of school. I really enjoying learning about my students' hobbies and past-times.
My students are also very up-to-date on pop culture and music. I'm always impressed when they mention that they love some random indie rock band or spend their evenings watching reruns of Glee online. It helps remind me that they're real teenagers, after all - not just study machines.
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| Bonus points for referencing Ashton Kutcher's divorce! |
In my introduction, I mentioned that I'll be attending a Lady Gaga concert in late April. This little side-comment was met by gasps and squeals of disbelief. Interestingly, it seems that some of my students are also big fans of hers. One even wants to work in the "Haus of Gaga" in the future. Kindly notice and admire the proper spelling of "haus." This girl is legit!
Koreans often say that certain people look like animals. Being that none are as blatantly evident as Sarah Jessica Parker looking like a horse, I rarely see the resemblance. Nonetheless, I always think it is funny when students run up to me and say "Teachaaa, my friend. She look like shark." Usually students take on their spirit animals as nicknames. This semester, I am teaching a frog, goldfish mouse (?), and penguin. I wonder what animal they think I look like.
The next few photos are just a micellaneous assortment of other tidbits that didn't really fit into another category. They're quite amusing.
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| Girl Power! |
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| IU is the Taylor Swift of Korea. Apparently, this student really likes her. |
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| Obscure Sherlock Holmes reference. |
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| This one loves her name 혜리 (Hye-ri) because it's similar to Harry, as in Harry Potter. |
The following self-introductions are the absolutely hilarious. That's the beauty of open-ended assignments: you never know what you're going to get
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| I like pig and cow. They give their everything (to) people. I like to eat meat. Thank you. |
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| I am very short. Very sad. But in Korea saying "little pepper is more spicy." I like dancing too. But my dance is comic. |
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| This student decided to romanize actual Korean words in her self-intro. Next time, I guess I gotta give better guidance and specifically ask them to write IN English, using English words! |
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| Note to self: Never get on this student's bad side. |
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| This student is envious of her brother's head. She eats pizza, so she will be fat. |
And lastly, being a teacher is great for my self-confidence. My students are adorable and flatter me with compliments on a regular basis. If only, they felt that way about themselves. Every time they come up to me and say, "Teachaaa, you pretty." I always respond back, "Thank you. You're pretty, too." Then, they always admantly deny it, complaining about their "flaws" and how ugly they are. Maybe it's time for that confidence-building beauty lesson that I did last semester.
To be honest, the first two or three weeks of classes were kinda rough. The new students were really shy and seemed afraid of me. During that time, I found myself missing my beloved second-graders who are still so friendly and eager to talk to me. But it didn't take long for the new first-graders to catch on and realize that I wasn't scary. Now when I walk through the halls, I have two-thirds of the school, my former and current students, greeting me with high-pitched squeals of "Hiiiii Teachaaaa!" It can be a bit overwhelming when I'm just trying to quickly sneak to the bathroom. But I can't complain. I love what I do and wouldn't have it any other way.
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