Teacher! Teacher!

So what did I do today? Well folks let me tell you, I was actually somewhat useful today... what a change.

First though I met a new friend for lunch. She is also from Canada and only about 20 minutes away from me via subway. I have come to realize that meeting anyone within walking distance to me just isn't going to happen. She was great though, really nice and it got me out of the house before 2:00 (teaching time) so that alone was productive.

I got to school at 2:05 and of course, sat around until 2:20 wondering what I was supposed to do. My boss finally came and told me that I would have to teach a class because one of the Korean teachers was sick. But then he changed his mind and decided that the other foreign teacher who speaks Korean would cover for her and I would go upstairs and teach the "Free Talking" classes. He seemed really worried and hesitant for me to do these classes but I was kind of looking forward to be doing something. Following the other teacher around for three days was putting me to sleep.

I'm not sure if I mentioned Frank at all. Frank is a foreign teacher that comes to the school Monday and Thursdays (he has another part time gig somewhere else). This was his last week though, hence me coming in. Frank saved my life by giving me some "Bingo" cards as he called it. Basically they were paper with halloween pictures on them that I cut in to squares and used them to play a matching game. The first class that I had... well let's put it this way.....

..yup, that was my first class. Not one kid showed up. Awesome. I was only supposed to have two but still... And then I didn't know if they were just going to be late so I sat there for the entire 50 minutes. Turns out those two decided to come to my second class for some reason, so my second class had a ton of students in it.

I was worried that the kids wouldn't talk to me at all and only speak Korean...turns out that wasn't a problem. The second class I had was awesome. They have a ton of energy and I will definitely need to have plans going in to the class but I was able to waste the first one letting them ask me questions and then playing the matching game.

My third class was probably the worst, mainly because of two students. It was a bit more of a struggle getting them to ask me questions, and since I hadn't planned on teaching I wasn't really prepared. We started playing the matching game after 20 minutes. After two rounds of matching and prying apart fighting boys, we moved on to a pictionary type game using halloween words... it was way to easy. I spent most of my time trying to get a boy to stop sleeping curled up in the corner and another one from strangling another boy... for real.. this was my class.

The fourth class was older and can speak decent English but most of them wouldn't. One boy hates me and I have no idea why, he refuses to talk to me or speak in English and has a huge attitude. Whatever, I hate him too. I'll probably through him out the window by the end of November anyways. One girl in the class loves me and monopolizes the conversation. I feel bad and try to let the others talk but she's always yelling "TEACHER! TEACHER!" and hitting me to get my attention.

My last class ended at 7:20 and I thought that I was done for the day. My boss pulled me aside and told me that they got great feedback from the kids and that I was really well liked by the students that I taught. He was very happy and couldn't stop smiling. I didn't dare tell him it was because we played games for over half of the time.

Then I stood around trying to get an answer if I could leave and suddenly I have to teach another class. Yup. Apparently the reward for being a good teacher is having to teach more. Since the one Korean teacher didn't come in I was asked to teach three 15 year old boys for 50 minutes. What? I knew that they wouldn't be interested in the matching game.. what the heck was I going to do! Thankfully they were 15 minutes late. But coming up with 35 minutes of topics was hard. We covered everything from family, music, sports, school, food, the military, jobs... and more. It was ridiculous. I was lucky and the one boy talked most of the time, or at least tried... the other two though? Not so much. I actually set my watch fast and left class almost five minutes early. My boss apologized but I don't know if he really meant it, I think one of the other teachers made him because she was so embarrassed that he sprung it on me like that. It was hard and I really hope that I don't have to teach too many older students.

Finally when I was done I was rewarded with some sort of pancake with hot gooey cinnamon syrup inside. It was delicious. Apparently they are the equivalent to 50 cents here but I can't get any in my area, which may be good because I probably would eat them all. So delicious.

Not sure what tomorrow holds, there is no Free Talking classes on Fridays so I'm not sure if I will follow Sheryl around again or what...I worry that she'll make me do the talking. I do fine when it's me alone with the students but I hate feeling judged by a peer. Plus the kids act totally different with more than one of us there. I wish that I could read the kids journal entries tomorrow and see what wonderful things they write about me.

Lastly, on my way home I had another encounter with the men and their silver barrel... Today it was "HI! HI!..... Veeeeeery beautiful" .. Whether it's kids or old men... I'll take the compliments where I can get 'em.