If Everyday Could Be Like Today: A very successful morning.
Today could have gone horribly.
I woke up to my very last alarm at 8 o'clock. Despite the fact that the heater had been running all night, my bedroom was still chilly, and the rest of my house absolutely freezing. I layered up, with leggings and knee-high socks under my jeans and a long-sleeve shirt under my sweater, and made coffee. That's when my day became awesome.
Caffeine injection successfully administered, I pulled my hat over my ears, buttoned my coat, and was about to open the door when my Korean mom knocked. She was there to return my cheesecake pan, and walked me down to the car. At school, removing my boots did not, as it usually does, pull my socks half-way off of my feet.
In my preparation time before class, I decided to review prepositions and locations with my fifth graders. At a demonstration lesson in Samcheok several weeks ago, the kids played a battleship-like game with a diagram of a house and different household objects, guessing where the other player had placed Mother or Television. So I made a copy of this, cut out a bunch of object, place, and prepositional words, and brought my notes from Korean class with me. We didn't make it to the game, but my students were very successful in taking "pizza" "milk" and "behind" and turning them into a full sentence that gives the relative locations of the milk and pizza. I attribute a great deal of this lack of confusion to the fact that their teacher could successfully and accurately translate this sentence into more than one correct configuration. When your teacher is not confused, it is a lot easier for you to avoid confusion. Korean class is definitely paying off.
My only classes on Wednesdays are two periods of fifth graders, so after two rousing lessons of "where is the apple?" I cleaned off my desk, and began correcting and replying to letters I forced my third and fifth graders to write to me. One third grader wrote the following (I am attempting to preserve the general look and feel of her handwritten letter):
Dear kNoX Teacher,
I liKe APPle ㅋㅋ I doN't liKe PEAR
It iS cold PUton you rglovES
-Insil Choi
How cute is that? Despite the fact that it took me 10 minutes to decipher "PUTon you rgloves" as "Put on your gloves" (no matter how many times I remind them, my students are all in the habit of torturing gs by writing them above the line in a very curly fashion), I was very touched by her concern for the well-being of my fingers.
My other favorite letter is one I was shocked by, momentarily.
Dear Knox Teacher
How are you? Doyou like Pizza?
I like Pizza. Doyou don't Drug?
I bou't like Drug Doyou like Neal Teacher? I bou't like Neal Teacher. Doyou like snow? I like snow.
Good bye
Love
Yeonseo kim
Clearly I have spent too much time around illegal substances, because my coteacher had to ask "Isn't drugs same as medicine?" before I made the connection.
I've spent the last several hours writing back, except for lunch. Lunch was not stellar, but we had a rice and chicken porridge that tasted exactly like Chicken Pot Pie, but with rice and beans instead of peas. As I walked back to the office, some of the boys were playing Cat's Cradle with a length of pink yarn. Some girls stopped me at the playground to play "kai bai bo" - Rock, Paper, Scissors Korean style.
I have eleven more letters to read, a quiz to make for tomorrow, and a lesson for fourth grade to plan. I leave at 3:30 to walk to the bus station and attend Korean class. I have to use up the last of my bacon today before it goes off, and I bought another waffle maker - this one makes them in the shape of fish! Koreans put sweet bean paste in the middle of these waffles. I've been considering Nutella filling, or perhaps jam.
A busy Maz with nothing but language class to attend is a happy Maz indeed.
I woke up to my very last alarm at 8 o'clock. Despite the fact that the heater had been running all night, my bedroom was still chilly, and the rest of my house absolutely freezing. I layered up, with leggings and knee-high socks under my jeans and a long-sleeve shirt under my sweater, and made coffee. That's when my day became awesome.
Caffeine injection successfully administered, I pulled my hat over my ears, buttoned my coat, and was about to open the door when my Korean mom knocked. She was there to return my cheesecake pan, and walked me down to the car. At school, removing my boots did not, as it usually does, pull my socks half-way off of my feet.
In my preparation time before class, I decided to review prepositions and locations with my fifth graders. At a demonstration lesson in Samcheok several weeks ago, the kids played a battleship-like game with a diagram of a house and different household objects, guessing where the other player had placed Mother or Television. So I made a copy of this, cut out a bunch of object, place, and prepositional words, and brought my notes from Korean class with me. We didn't make it to the game, but my students were very successful in taking "pizza" "milk" and "behind" and turning them into a full sentence that gives the relative locations of the milk and pizza. I attribute a great deal of this lack of confusion to the fact that their teacher could successfully and accurately translate this sentence into more than one correct configuration. When your teacher is not confused, it is a lot easier for you to avoid confusion. Korean class is definitely paying off.
My only classes on Wednesdays are two periods of fifth graders, so after two rousing lessons of "where is the apple?" I cleaned off my desk, and began correcting and replying to letters I forced my third and fifth graders to write to me. One third grader wrote the following (I am attempting to preserve the general look and feel of her handwritten letter):
Dear kNoX Teacher,
I liKe APPle ㅋㅋ I doN't liKe PEAR
It iS cold PUton you rglovES
-Insil Choi
How cute is that? Despite the fact that it took me 10 minutes to decipher "PUTon you rgloves" as "Put on your gloves" (no matter how many times I remind them, my students are all in the habit of torturing gs by writing them above the line in a very curly fashion), I was very touched by her concern for the well-being of my fingers.
My other favorite letter is one I was shocked by, momentarily.
Dear Knox Teacher
How are you? Doyou like Pizza?
I like Pizza. Doyou don't Drug?
I bou't like Drug Doyou like Neal Teacher? I bou't like Neal Teacher. Doyou like snow? I like snow.
Good bye
Love
Yeonseo kim
Clearly I have spent too much time around illegal substances, because my coteacher had to ask "Isn't drugs same as medicine?" before I made the connection.
I've spent the last several hours writing back, except for lunch. Lunch was not stellar, but we had a rice and chicken porridge that tasted exactly like Chicken Pot Pie, but with rice and beans instead of peas. As I walked back to the office, some of the boys were playing Cat's Cradle with a length of pink yarn. Some girls stopped me at the playground to play "kai bai bo" - Rock, Paper, Scissors Korean style.
I have eleven more letters to read, a quiz to make for tomorrow, and a lesson for fourth grade to plan. I leave at 3:30 to walk to the bus station and attend Korean class. I have to use up the last of my bacon today before it goes off, and I bought another waffle maker - this one makes them in the shape of fish! Koreans put sweet bean paste in the middle of these waffles. I've been considering Nutella filling, or perhaps jam.
A busy Maz with nothing but language class to attend is a happy Maz indeed.