So on Wednesday I had one new class scheduled, an afterschool Kindergarten class for 4 students who are behind in English development. It's definitely different from every class I've had so far, there were only three there, they talked very little, and were very subdued. This class is definitely a new challenge in figuring out a way to get through to all of them. I have some students in my 6 year old class who are about their level of English speaking and writing capabilities, maybe one or two, but they are energetic, and I can at least get them to try and say the words. I have to figure out a way to get these kids going, I think I just need to go in there with a lot of energy, try and have them sing and dance, see if I can get the energy up like that.
But at least it's not like my Daisy Duck class, with half the students not paying attention, hitting each other, or running around constantly. I get one student to behave and two more stop paying attention or start hitting each other... There are good days and bad days, the days that I have more energy definitely tend to be the better days, and I'm thinking I'm going to have to get addicted to coffee in order to succeed at this teaching kids thing, which I'm already on my way to... hah.
After my new afterschool class I packed up my stuff, walked down the three stories from the teachers office to the front door, and was walking out the front door when a Korean man that works in the front secretary office walks up to me and says to me in pretty broken English that was mostly understandable that there was a scheduling conflict and my new 3rd grader class that was supposed to start the following Monday was actually today, and had already started. So I hustled back upstairs, grabbed what materials I thought I might need and headed in there to wing it with teaching this class. It went great though, the kids were nice enough, and even though it's the lowest level of classes our English program offers (means these kids have the worst English out of the elementary kids) they understood me just fine, and I was able to teach them some new vocabulary and read stories with them, play some games. It was a nice change of pace, not having to talk in very simple and direct dialect, and having my students listen whenever I said something. I didn't have the powerpoint presentation I was supposed to present to them handy, so I filled the extra time with games and a reading out loud team game. Which after my boss talked to me after the class seems like exactly what they want anyway, the foreign teachers in the elementary classes only meet with the students once a week, and they pretty much just want us to get the kids to get a lot of practice speaking English during that time, and hearing our accents.
Today (Friday) I drank an entire coffee drink from a mini mart, the little chilled ones they sell. I usually only drink half or have a few sips, because I don't want to drink lots of coffee and get addicted to it. But I've come to the conclusion that I need to. I had a whole one today and was hyped up all day, and had a lot of fun with all my classes. Daisy Duck was still a bit of a hassle with kids not listening and hitting and what not, but I had more fun than usual.
So in conclusion, bring on the coffee!
I have my first day of Korean class on saturday morning, and I have work right after it. Sports day it's called... we are getting all the kids and their parents together in a park and playing games and giving out gifts, doing some rehearsed dances that I've practiced both songs twice each day for the past week and a half... Besides that, I might run the mountain behind my apartments a few times, it's about a 40 minute jog if I take the short route and jog through town to my apartment, and it's got good scenery. Probably play some more poker if Josh and Darrell and one or two other guys are up for it. Give me a call if you want to chat! 916.265.0228
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