I woke up this morning dreading going to work and absolutely not in the mood to teach my kids, but the minute I walked in and saw my students laughing and playing, I had a smile on my face. I love looking at them and seeing their big smiles and giggling at me when I do something they seem to think is funny. I can’t help but love these kids. It’s weird for me to think that I have never really liked kids or ever wanted any of my own, and now I am here teaching these adorable Korean babies and love them so much. They are so full of energy and excitement; I can’t help but to be in a good mood when I am around them! Except when they are obnoxious and wont sit down, stop talking or listen to me! Aggg sometimes they make me so frustrated! But I cant yell at them or be mean, so I just have to take a breath and ask them nicely until they decide they want to listen to me. Sometimes I will take away stars on my Star Board - that usually shuts them up! I’ve only had to raise my voice once, but if I ever have to resort to shouting, I am super nice for the next few minutes, I don't want them to be afraid of me or think Bri Teacher is mean! Andy’s kids call him Angry Teacher, which I think is hilarious, but secretly would hate if I were called that. Lol
In my morning class, I have Kevin, Jessica, Sarah, and Sally. Jessica is my slower student, who aggravates me most often. Every time I ask her a question, she just tilts her head to the side and gives me a funny look, looks around and pretends she can’t hear me, or says “gecko”. She seems to think she is a frog, so she is constantly saying “gecko” instead of “yes” or “no”, hops to the board when I have her come write on the board, and slithers her tongue in and out of her mouth whenever I am sitting with her trying to help her with her worksheets. Its may sound cute to you, but trust me, it is freakin annoying! She makes me nuts whenever I am having the class work on an exercise worksheet or practice writing, and she just sits there playing with her dress or staring at God knows what. I feel like I spend most of class time trying to help her as she ignores me and the other students keep shouting, “Teacher finished, teacher I’m finished.” It’s been quite the challenge for me to find a balance between challenging Kevin, Sally, and Sarah and trying not to leave Jessica behind. I want her to succeed, and I know she is smart, but she just can’t concentrate on school or something??? Don't get me wrong though, I love all of my students, Jessica is just the one who pushes my patience the most. Kevin is absolutely my favorite student!!! I have mostly girls in my class, so I really enjoy having Kevin around. He is so adorable and loves for me to hold him to give him big hugs. He is always grabbing me and asks me questions to see if I am smarter than him. He claims that he is smarter than me, so he always asks, “What is 100+100+100+100+100+100+100?” and is shocked when I can tell him the answer. I love teasing him and messing up his hair. He is what gets me through the day; I swear I would take him home with me if I could. I just looove that little man! I already think about how sad I am going to be in a year when I have to leave him.
Today my kids and I were having a good time jumping around and singing nursery rhymes. I taught them the words to Baa Baa Black Sheep and played a bunch of youtube videos of the song. We always get into a circle, hold hands and jump around and complete to see who can shout it the loudest. It’s too cute, sometimes I wish I had a video camera in the room so I could look back on those moments in the future. I wish I had a video camera in the playroom too!! LCI has a playroom that has places for the kids to hide and climb, there is a slide and trampoline in there too. My 20 minutes in there with the kids are what I look forward to most all week. I love getting into trains and sliding down the slide with the kids and holding their hands to get them uncomfortably high on the trampoline haha. The kids are always scream and fighting for who gets to jump with me or slide with me next. I usually just let the girls play together and play with Kevin the whole time. I like to bring my camera with us so they can use it to take pictures of each other and me playing with them. I have some great pictures I will post soon!!
Hahahaha I just thought of something - today I saw one of my 6 year olds eat glue! I’ve never seen that before! Awww my days are so crazy sometimes. I read this somewhere and thought that it was SO TRUE: “My friend once told me that being an English teacher is like being a monkey. If you really think about it, he's right. Not only are we English teachers trying to make a difference by helping people speak our language, but we are entertainers for a 3 hour class; therapists as we hear about their problems in life; saints for the patience we have for their pronunciation and correcting the same mistakes we hear over and over; babysitters for a group of 5 to 15 children; fortune tellers when we can finish their sentences before they can because we know the mistake they're going to make and, finally, cheerleaders when we see that they're either making progress or not, and they just need a little encouragement to keep going.” This is pretty much my life in a nutshell.
Other than work, I spend every spare minute I have finishing up my TEFL certificate. I spend my breaks and hours each night after the gym working on it. It is such a pain in the ass. I really wish I finished it before I got here. I am definitely going to be celebrating when I finally finish it!!!! Its so hectic working all day, making time for the gym, and coming home to work on my TEFL and trying to keep up with my blog, skyping, emails, and staying in touch on facebook. I don't have time for all of it, so I guess this is my apology for my late responses and not staying in better touch. I'm hoping that my life slows down a bit and I will have more time to spend talking to my family and friends from home after I finally finish this damn TEFL certificate!!!
Whelp, that's all I have to say.
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