Moments of greatness...

Just this afternoon one of my wonderful students (quite possibly my favourite-I know I shouldn't have them but this girl is exceptional), came bursting into my classroom in quite some haste. 


She was also shouting "No Teacher, No!" Once she got close to my desk she began telling me "Teacher, I need you, Teacher I want you" I was very confused...


Next to follow was "Teacher you go Yungu (England) why Teacher, I need you here"...

Lisa dancing on sports day!

Her moment of panic made me chuckle. How will I ever leave?!


Her friends then tried to explain their homeroom Teacher had just told them the PE Teacher, My CoTeacher and myself would be leaving. This had left little Lisa in despair! 


I explained I would not leave until February 2012 when she was a 6th grade student and had turned into a little monster. All was well....for 2 minutes then she turned and said "Teacher just one more time?" with the saddest little face.


I may have to stay, at least until she has left this school, no all through her education, I shall just move from school to school with her. Simple!

Moments of Greatness....The boy behind the words (most of them)

This is Shinee, whose comical words regularly feature on my "Moments of greatness" posts and sent me this Christmas card:

To Corey Teacher, Merry Christmas!
I want a baby boy and Touch Phone.
I love baby boy and you.
Goodbye Teacher.
Shinee, Pak Byong Song

What a lil man! He acts out everything for me with the greatest of facial expressions imaginable and LOVES the word 'maybe'...

'Funny Face'

Korean Pose 

'Grandfather Frog!?'

"Teacher maybe you good"
"Teacher maybe you pretty"
"Teacher you pretty, no maybe, no"


I told him last week: "Shinee your hansome, maaaybe" to which he laughed and had a slight look of pride over the fact I understood his humour. 

Can't you just see what a cheeky lil chappy he is!

He has also told me "maybe I love you Teacher, maaaaybe", to which I mimed "Heartbroken".

Moments of greatness...

I have a student who has been learning English since the age of 2 and has a pretty deep voice for his age along with an American accent when talking English. I'm sure he has an English name, however I never wish to learn it because in mind he is just "Amerikid" (creative I know)...Any who today I got this gem from him:


Amerikid: "Teacher, I am a secret agent"


Teacher: "Really, why?"


Amerikid: "Because my mission... my man friend has girlfriend, but his girlfriend hit my boyfriend, so, I saved him."


Teacher: Chuckles* "Well good work and good luck on your next mission."

Moments of greatness....

Today whilst teaching third grade about Christmas in the UK I asked:


"How does Santa make so many presents?"


Student: "He doesn't teacher, just parents give them and say from Santa."


Thankfully the other students are not so smart and didn't understand such cruel, cruel words. However, when introducing the next slide of "The Elves help him", I felt foolish.

Another moment of glory

Ok, so I fear this blog may get taken over by me talking and talking about my students and the things they do that make me chuckle (at least my mum might still read it), however, I just can't help it! Also, most of these things really aren't funny unless you are there..but here I go anyway.


Today, during role play class (role play included a Sphinx that was asking tourists what day it was and if they were wrong he would blow them away making a noise "pheeeew") my students were particularly hilarious. As the dialogue was easy it meant they got to really think about acting, what joyous moments followed:


Smelly breath group: Decided the Sphinx had bad breath which killed them.


The group of death: Changed "pheeeew" for "You Die, oh my god!".


The mute rock: This group informed me prior to performance that one boy "no English", So I told them to pair him with another student. Before their performance, the boy, who is the size of a 5 year old (no joke) walks to the corner, crouches under the TV display and curls into a ball and the others begin to perform. I am lost, when they finish I ask my co-teacher "Why is he in the corner?" she shrugs and a team member informs me "teacher he is a rock"....bahahaha




Doesn't quite live up to my students telling me "Teacher he dong on chair" whilst acting this out, in response to me asking where a student was.


Dong=Poo in Korean and they weren't joking either! He really did dong on chair.

It was a close call...

Here's ShineeAfter some time of deliberation, my student 'Shinee' has decided:


"Teacher you are pretty"


Me: "Only maybe though Shinee?"


Shinee: "No, Teacher, you ARE pretty"


and a happy life I shall now lead.


I have to record this kid he is fantastic, last week he had me crying with laughter trying to imitate a 'grandfather frog', later in the class he was dancing frantically with a ball (we were playing 'pass the ball', basically 'pass the parcel') with his lil belly sticking out! He is truely great....


Next week stay tuned.


Click here for: The man himself

Moments of greatness...

So, this week two of my Co-Teachers had what can only be described as a huge BLAZING row. It was not pretty. This was my first experience of such things in Korea and damn, Korean women can be scary! The mood in school since Tuesday has been a little glum as my co-teacher pieces together his pride. 

In Korea, "Saving face" is very important, especially for men. Koreans wish to always present themselves as best as possible and place huge expectations upon themselves and others to achieve, therefore any sense of humiliation is perceived ten times worse than perhaps at home. South Korea has the highest rate of suicide in the world, especially amongst youngsters. It has been suggested to us whilst living here that the importance placed upon 'saving face' combined with the daily stresses may play a part in the reasoning behind such sad and shocking statistics.
New York Times: Global Suicide Rates.

Sorry for the doom and gloom there, thought I'd be a little informant!
However today, during my 20minute break between classes, second graders start knocking the door and once opened, handing me letters. Not just any letters, these letters were in beautiful envelopes, some bound with string, others with paper craft for decoration:



The magnificently decorated letters and art.








Paper craft- 'Hanbok'- Traditional Korean Clothes


 



The real deal (source)



'letter' just in case I weren't too sure.

 Inside these majestical envelopes were wonderful little letters....all in Korean! Of course.

However, my Co-Teacher helped me translate a few and the content was all pretty similar...
Traditions in Korea-
Kimchi: (fermented cabbage) 

• How to make it. 
• How to eat it. 
• Do you like it? 
• It's a little spicy.

Hanbok:

• Do you know it?
• Very beautiful.

....and many more Korean traditions.

There were also a few "Thank you's" (one for helping her make characters for Halloween), "You are kind teacher", "You are pretty teacher". Possibly some "I don't like English", "I don't like Corey Teacher" too, although I'm sure they were too kind to translate such things.

Most wonderful statement from a student this week:

"Teacher maybe you are pretty. Maybe. Teacher, maybe. Maaaaybe. Teacher M-A-Y-B-E"

Shinee Class 4:1.

...and yes he definitely did intend this to be witty, his cheeky lil face made that much clear.

Close second: "Teacher I like Hyeung Yeung teacher, you...NO...Yes sorry, sorry."

Class 5:5, My least favourite student - This week!

Great way to start your day at 8.50am. My response was "Thank you. You are very kind" . What can you say, really.