I finally popped my new teacher cherry!
Yes I made my first kid cry! Hurray! This little girl is always pratting around in my lessons, so after threatening her a few times over a couple of days with having to sit at the front next to Teacher, I did it, and moved her to the front, where she sat, head down, and started sobbing . . . then proper uncontrollable weeping, as if her whole world had just fallen apart. It was heart-breaking! (She's 7) Well kind of, but I think I proved my point. She's been good ever since, so I'm counting it as a win. Boom! In your face little girl!
I've also nailed my 'teacher voice' and have almost perfected my 'teacher look.' By which I don't mean my cardigans (which is a good look), but my disapproving look that I give kids who are messing around. Its pretty good, but needs more practice.
I also got handed my first tooth recently! There’s no bins in the classrooms, and the little kids freak out for some reason if they have a tiny scrap of paper or something, so they’re constantly handing you trash. So this kid was like “Teacher! Teacher!!” And handed me this little thing, and I looked at it, and was like “Hmmmm . . . this doesn’t look like a little piece of paper?” Then I noticed his mouth was bleeding, and there was a gap in his smile, where previously there had not been a gap. Fun times!
I also prove to be a source of constant hilarity for the Korean teachers. I go into their kindergarten classes to do reading time with the little kids, and I sit down on their little chairs and read a story to them. 'Little' being the key word there. This chair that I have to sit on is maybe 6 inches off the floor. And I'm 6'3". It is a long way down. And with my largely non-functioning knees, I don't exactly ease myself gracefully down into the chair. I basically check that its somewhere beneath me, a tiny dot in the distance from way up here, then just fall down, hoping that I'll land on the chair. The Korean Teacher keeps laughing, and saying "Sorry Teacher, tomorrow, big chair." And then the next day comes, and there's a tiny little chair waiting for me again. And she laughs again. Thanks for playing 'Lets Laugh at the Foreign Giant!'
But the kids are generally super cute, one of them beckoned me down to her level the other day, and whispered "Teacher, I love you." And made a little heart shape with her hands. She's 5 and just adorable! I've also taken over a more advanced class, who have to keep a journal once a week. One of the kids wrote in her journal "I like David Teacher. He is honest and tall and handsome." Well, I'll take two out of three there right?!
So you might be wondering about how I teach, so here’s a sample lesson plan;
- Say ‘Hello’ in a variety of funny voices, while pulling funny faces (5 mins)
- Ask class ‘How are you?’ To which they reply ‘Happy’ or if they’re particularly smart, ‘Amazing’ or ‘Awesome.’ Then act out my ‘happy face,’ ‘sad face,’ ‘angry face,’ and ‘sleepy face.’ (5 mins)
- Sing songs. I quite like ‘7 days’ (Not the Craig David version, just a list of the days of the week), ‘January to December’ (Again, just a list of the months), and ‘Counting to 30’
I am yet to introduce any Bon Jovi. (10 mins)
- Read story (5 mins)
- Do a little dance (3 mins)
- Sing ‘Goodbye song’ (2 mins)
The End. Consider yourself well learned!
Thats a 30 minute lesson, I do that about ten times a day. I'm half entertainer, half educator. I'm an edutainer! And a damn good one . . . .
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