Oh Our Students!

In many ways, our students are the same as students everywhere else. You have the super smart ones, the obnoxious ones, the slow but persistent ones, the cute ones, the mean ones, the shy ones, the energetic ones, and the dramatic/emotional ones. But our students at Chungdahm definitely have some characteristics that you won't find in classrooms back in states. There is a marked difference between the elementary kids we teach and our middle/high school students. Lets start with the elementary rascals first...
First off, Leslie and I are not referred to by our actual names. We are known simply as "teacher" or if they want to get fancy and are referring to us in the third person: "Ian-teacher" and "Leslie-teacher." Although a few of my slow students still think the upper-case "I" in my name is actually a lower-case "l" and call me "Lan-teacher."
Second, elementary kids here (both boys and girls) are fixated by death, computer games, and thievery and it seems as though all our classroom discussions somehow weave their way towards one of these topics.
Third, Korean children love to speak their mind and find no shame in saying what they think, without any intention of verbal harm or praise. I have been called: fat, bald, crazy, sexy, boring, not funny, poor, trans-gendered, ugly, handsome, and nearly everything in between. None of these are really meant respectfully or disrespectfully, but either as the crux of a good natured joke or simple objective observation.
Fourth, little Korean kids love the word "crazy" and will burst into laughter at nearly every mention of it, no matter the context. Korean students have a great sense of humor, especially when it comes to slap-stick type stuff, like me falling town and pretending to hurt myself, or talking and acting like a woman.
Fifth, a lot of kids love to give their teacher part of their snack at break time. For the first few weeks of class I foolishly accepted and ate the generous gifts, against the advice of Leslie and some of my more seasoned colleagues. However, after a garlic bread incident that nearly had me blowing chunks into the first row of students I learned to accept only packaged foods.
Lastly, most of our students are very well behaved and have a great attitude in class, especially considering that they are in some kind of school for at least 10 hours a day! They work very hard and are extremely smart, perhaps a little too smart. Some of my students don't play sports or exercise, and thus have no idea how to catch. I learned this lesson the hard way when I tossed a marker to a student that went straight through his outstretched hands and slammed into his face. Oops!

Now the middle/high school kids are a different breed. Some of them are either to cool for school, too tired from their intense schooling, or are too self-conscious to participate. However, others are very talkative and have a great sense of humor. They love simple things like fart jokes, but also more creative humor. Some also refer to us by our actual names.
The biggest challenge the older students face in our classes is having to interact with the opposite sex. In my classes, boys and girls will sit on opposite sides of the room and would rather go skydiving over the DMZ than suffer the unbearable agony of working with the other gender on a project. Many times I relent and let boys and girls work in unisex groups (Leslie is better than me with this), just to spare myself the hassle and utter despair that befalls the class when boys and girls are forced to interact. Sometimes they won't even say a word to each other. Leslie and I still aren't sure why this is, since most of the younger kids work perfectly well with the opposite sex.

Next week our students take what is called a 'Level-up Test", which basically determines if they can advance on the next of the 16 levels at our institute. We are hoping that our students do well. Wish us luck and we miss you all!