Knives and Blood and Drunkeness, oh my!!!

So, I’ve now completed a full week of work, but time to backtrack on some things that have gone on in that week and the weekend previous. On Friday, the day after my last blog I started off on a bad note! I kept on having to reset my clock because the cords were shaky and I kept disconnecting the power, to make a long story short I ended up missing the first class I was supposed to practice teaching . . . I got a phone call saying I was about an hour late.

It turned out to be not too big of a deal though, they were understanding and as the day progressed I observed 4 more classes. For one of them I got to practice teaching for half of it. It was kind of intimidating having the regular teacher there (Becky) because it was her class, you know? I didn't want to do things too much my own way and confuse the students or have her not approve, but I think it went fairly well. Knowing the students names would have helped considerably though. (Especially since culturally, pointing is considered rude). I was able to start out my classes with some name games on Monday, and that helped. By then I was getting kind of excited about getting into the teaching and bringing some of my own games and material to it. I'm having trouble remembering things I've done at camps and juniour churches over the years and also some of the things I used in Poland. If any readers have any thoughts or ideas that you think may be helpful - throw them my way. At the end of the day, instead of observing the last class on the schedule Lynn, (the director) pulled me into a room and closed the door. A small wave of nervousness washed over me wondering if I'd done something horribly wrong in one of the classes or offended someone in some way. It turned out though that one of the Korean teachers had to leave suddenly because his son was in an accident and she wanted me to take his class. She said it was a free-talking class, which meant I didn't need material and that I could just encourage discussion and questions with the students. Certainly a much better outcome than I had anticipated (minus the fact that something happened to Patrick's son - I don't know whether it was serious or not). So I wasn't at all nervous or intimidated and looking forward to actually being able to interact with some students. However, when I told Becky I wouldn't be observing her class because I was filling in for Patrick I got the crazy reaction! Both her and Martin (the other foreign teacher) started practically gasping and raising their voices in disbelief about the fact that Lynn was doing that to me for my first class and that they're one of the hardest classes to do , and when I said Lynn gave me no material but said to just go in and do it the panic and disbelief escalated! Becky ran to her desk and searched for some material, proclaiming I needed it and that after 5 minutes we'd just be sitting there staring blankly and silently. She couldn't find any though, and the time for class to start had passed so I went to it. It was all rather humourous! I was surprised at their reactions but I don't think it really phased me that much. Seeing as they’re a more advanced class I didn't think it would be impossible to find questions to ask and things to talk about for 40 minutes. It wasn't overly easy to get them to talk, there wasn't a whole lot of actual conversation (more just questions and answers) except with one student - Denny, haha, he was also the student who asked when I came in if I would just be teaching one class or if I was the new teacher. When I said just one class he was like ' oh good!' (with relief and kind of under his breath). He doesn't even know me! I don't know what promoted that kind of prejudice . . . it kind of amused me though. In talking to Becky afterwards she mentioned that he was one of the most brilliant students in the school and since it was supposed to be a period with the Korean teacher teaching grammar, writing, and reading I'll just assume that he was disappointed at not being able to have a class with more intense learning!

I was pleased that the class went as well as it did. Becky said the few times she taught it she couldn't get them to do anything and they just kept talking to each other in Korean and she eventually gave up about half way through and let them do what they wanted. One girl I could never hear and had to constantly get her to talk louder, and one boy was completely in his own world. I would have to say his name like 3 times before he'd respond. Usually the guy beside him would nudge him. The world he was in was probably a good one though, in looking at one of the causes of his distraction I discovered he's a really good artist. I was able to appreciate that art once I got him to stop writing on the desk and start using a piece of paper. Of course, after he was finished his masterpiece he decided to cut it out with an exacto knife, making scrapes in the table. (I probably should have mentioned that he had that to Lynn, I don't imagine it would be okay, but I forgot and as it's the last time I'll teach them probably I won’t worry about it. If he does it again and it's not acceptable I'm sure his regular teacher can handle it.)