So here are some of my students. They are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders (the equivilent of 6th, 7th and 8th graders in the US) at the Yuseong Sports Middle School where I teach on Fridays. 90% of the reason they are here is so that they can practice their sport. The kids stay in dorms and are allowed to leave 2 weekends per month. I try to tailor my lessons at this school to the fantasy I have of them all going to the Olympics in the future and getting interviewed in English. In this dream the kids will be faced with new and strange things like American breakfast options, holidays and taxi drivers. At the very least I want to teach them not to say the phrase I used to hear them say all the time: "HelloHowAreYouNiceToMeetYouILoveYou" to English speakers.
These kids are different from my other students at Yuseong Middle School, as you will eventually see when I post something about them on here. The Sports Kids (as I now call them) get up before 6:00 am so they can practice sports before classes start. They are sometimes so tired that they sleep during my class. I can tolerate sleeping much more easily than I can tolerate someone being loud and preventing another student from learning.
At this school I try to compel the Sports Kids to want to be awake during my class. I can attempt to force them to pay attention through yelling or shaking them into consciousness but it is so much easier to just make a fun lesson where kids can be kids and they can express themselves and hopefully speak some English and learn something new too. Sometimes I will play Jeopardy with them, sometimes it is Scattegories or Pictionary. No matter what, they are divided into teams and they get ultra-competitive.
I have students who run track or do field events, wrestle, do Taekwon do, judo, weightlift, box, swim and do gymnastics. The gymnasts are especially adorable since they are incredibly tiny and despite being confident doing flips on the balance beam are terrified to speak in more than a whisper during class. They will, however, repeatedly punch the massive wrestlers who clearly weigh 3 times as much as the gymnasts squarely in the chest, just so they can borrow a pencil.
I have heard stories of nuns in the US using a ruler to discipline students by "rapping their knuckles". In Korea, no such improvisation is necessary. Next to the stickers, folders and other teacher supplies you can by a teaching stick. This is a real thing. Notice the comfort grip and hole for hanging when not in use. I know what you must be thinking:"How big is this?" Scroll down.
This is one of my coteachers. She is very sweet and would not allow me to photograph her using the stick on an actual student. She was quite candid in other pictures, though.
Notice the sheer terror in this students eyes. Notice that she is holding the stick upside down. I have never seen a student actually get hit with one of these sticks. They are constructed so that they are incredibly loud when hit on a desk. Its bark is far worse than its bite.
I decided to make a short video of some of the kids talking during the lesson. I do a warm-up exercise with them where I ask them their name, sport and plans for the weekend. Some of the students do really well...and some are still working on it. Due to technical limitations, my voice is really loud and the students are quiet. So let's just call this a rough draft and I will post a more polished version in the future of students doing something more impressive and/or hilarious.
Oh, and if sounds like I am shouting at the students, I sort of am. My "teacher voice" has to be loud enough to be heard over the rest of the loud, active classroom. (Also I am holding the camera too close to myself.)
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