Do I hear Teacher of the Year?

First, I am going to say……

Teaching is hard.

Teaching kids is really hard.

Teaching kids that don’t speak the same language as you is really really hard.

Teaching kids that may or may not need special education and also do not speak the same language as you is really fucking hard!

All this aside, I am generally stoked to take on this challenge. My first day of teaching had its challenges mixed with some high points and comical moments. Here are two highlights. 

I made the mistake of trying to incorporate activities with the children before assessing my ability to convey directions in English and their energy levels, and as it turns out I underestimated both.

I thought it would be fun to play a name game, so I could learn the children’s names.  I planned to facilitate a game that involved tossing, but my center only had a flat basketball, I thought we could make do.  During my first class, a 7-year-old girl, decided it would be hilarious if she full on hurled the ball at another boy’s face. Luckily, my basketball skills paid off and I interjected and basically stuffed her causing a very loud slapping noise and the ball to fall immediately to the ground. The kids were in awe that I moved so quickly and could even stop a basketball. They looked at me like I was superwoman and they were relatively well behaved for the remainder of class. So in a roundabout way my miscalculations paid off. Needless to say, I ditched the basketball during the second class.

In my next class, a notoriously “naughty” class, I had just got the kids out of their seats to do an activity and all hell was breaking loose. I decided to do something that would refocus them quickly, but play on their energy. I asked them to run in place with me and then freeze when I yelled stop! The kids were excited and following along. But the term “running in place” didn’t translate well, because one of the kids decided to run into my hand as I yelled, “STOP!”  Everyone stopped and stared as the boy dramatically grabbed his nose. I desperately proclaimed that I was sorry, thirty seconds passed and just when we thought we were in the clear, a drop of blood fell from his nose and hit the floor causing all hell to break loose. There really wasn’t any coming back from this point; I mean the teacher gave a student a bloody nose that is enough excitement for a whole day at this age, let alone a 40-minute class.  So I just did the best I could for the rest of the class and noted that I will have to be very creative and cautious with their lesson planning.

All my classes are with children that come from low-income families and would not have access to a native English speaker otherwise. Did I mention I have 8 classes? I definitely have my work cut out for me, but I am hopeful that as my Korean improves and their English improves we will improve together. Check back in soon, I am sure there will be plenty of stories to come!