I teach ghouls. Sue and Mini.
I'm teaching my little tiny ones how to wink. If I ever need a laugh all I have to do is ask them to practice. Sally (in black) is only 36 months old, and Emily (pink) isn't much older.
Biny, Emily, and Sally: 3/4 of my "Tiny Talk" class. Biny (pronounced "binny;" don't ask me how she got that name) is an absolute delight every day--she follows me everywhere and always helps me comfort her classmates when they're feeling sad. This day we were studying the "snack time" unit, and I'm glad I brought in real cookies, because they were getting tired of chewing on flashcards.
My favorite elementary class. Clockwise from top left: Lucienne, Mike, Sunny, Kitty; Clara, Jessica, Mike again, and then Julia under the desk. I know names aren't really important, but people are always asking me if I have to memorize their Korean names. No way--way too difficult. So they all get English names, which is often hilarious, because I have to wonder how some parents are okay with what their children want to be called. For example, at my school, there is a Donald Duck, Peter Pan, Universe, and Bicky, to name a few of the funnier ones. My friend has a student named "Terminator."
Kindergarten-C class. Most days, we just pretend we're animals and roam around the classroom growling. Either that, or the girls sit and stare as I attempt to wrestle Nicholas back into his seat. He enjoys punching things--often my crotch--and doing flying kicks off his table. The girls are incredibly sweet though. And if you haven't noticed by now, everyone in Korea, young and old, holds up the "peace sign" in pictures. Not sure why.
Though they might not look it (see video below), Wendy and Perry are the little prodigies of CBS. The books are way too easy for them, so it's often difficult to find things that will hold their attention. I'll ask Wendy to turn to page 34 in her book, and she'll say something like, "No, because actually, Ty, I think right now I would LOVE to make a 'get well' card for my sick rabbit." I can't really compete with that, so I figure the best I can do is keep them talking in class and practicing their conversation skills.
My biggest class. There are actually ten students, but David was too cool to join the photo. These little ones are a handful, but I've got them pretty well trained. I didn't realize until a few weeks in that there were twin girls in the class (they're second and fourth from the left kneeling in the group photo). But after they finally stood next to each other, one pointing at her bangs and the other at her hair in a headband, it all made sense: that the girls who always wore the same outfits and looked the same and whose names I kept messing up would be twins. Duh.
I don't even know who this little girl is. She's constantly by my side, clinging to my legs and hanging out with me in the office. Some days she sits cross-legged outside the classroom door, watching my class through the glass. I just assumed she was someone else's student. But the other day I found out she doesn't even go to the school, that she must just have a sibling who attends, and her mother just drops the both of them off, knowing this little girl will be cared for also. Fine with me--she helps me carry my supplies to class.
My office. I suppose I could have told them I was taking a picture. Oh well. Anyways, that's John, the other foreign teacher, on the left. My co-teacher, Sunny, is across from him. John and I (as white males) are utterly outnumbered by the 10-or-so Korean females that make up the rest of the CBS English Academy staff. So they like to talk about us in Korean and giggle as we try to guess what they're saying .
Now, videos:
Tiny Talk class. Watch for Popeye--I dare you not to laugh.
I'm constantly amazed at their social skills. Even though I'm supposed to encourage an "English-only" class atmosphere, I have to just stop and watch every now and then as they chatter on about who-knows-what. Emily (in the middle) isn't quite as skillful with words--to put it nicely--but she does add a good "mehhhhhhh" to the conversation.
Mini loves to sing, and will bust out ten-minute solos well after the rest of the class has lost interest in singing. Here she gives us an incredible rendition of the ABCs (during which Sue was kind enough to feed me some Jello), and if you listen closely you'll learn that "T-U-B-W-S" is followed by "I-M-P".
Like I said, Perry doesn't exactly appear like a genius, but he is, and he's the happiest little dude ever. A little trouble with running, but I think it's because his huge brain throws him off balance. Wendy reads a LOT of books and watches a LOT of movies at home, so she's able to express herself extremely well. I never know what kinds of creations she'll come up with during class. Here she is making--well, what else do you make out of paper other than shrimp biscuits, of course! Funny stuff.
ust have been mayhem.
back to the grind. My next vacation day is in May, so it's going to be almost four solid months of working 6 days a week. But it's alright;I still love teaching and (almost always) look forward to seeing my kids. Alrighty, check out my pictures and leave me some love! Tootles.
