Kailie Teacher

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My palms were sweating and I was racking my brain for how I was going to fill 40 minute class periods all day. I had no idea what I was doing. I had some cd's of childen's music that my friend Laura had given me, so I was very grateful for those! I also had workbooks for each class. But, with no idea what exactly I was doing, I knew I would have to think on my feet. 11am came far too soon and it was time for my first class...seven 4 year olds! They came flying into the room and excitedly took their seats. I introduced myself as Kailie Teacher, as they do here in Korea, then proceeded to name them. Twins John and Julie had already been named by their father, but the rest were fair game. I named them Jack, Oliver, Robin, Ricky, and Patrick. I wrote each of their names on their nametags, then we all practiced saying, "My name is..." for a while. Next, we sang a few songs and chaotically colored in our workbooks. As mild as this all sounds, it was not. This was all with the constant call of, "Teacher!! Teacher!" and by the end I was slightly stressed out. By the time that 40 minutes was up, I had eight 3 year olds and one 2 year old standing outside my door, waiting to come in. These are my youngest students and I sometimes have a Korean teacher in the room with me, which is so helpful as they do not speak any English at all! They are insanely cute and this class started out the same way, with naming. I named them Cameron, Mary, Vicki, Lindsay, Tom, Brian, Sally, Ben and the 2 year old Oscar.

Now there were some intentions behind these names. Cameron for my brother of course, who asked me to find the biggest trouble maker kid I could and name him Cameron. Unfortunately, little Korean Cameron turned out to be the smartest in my class and one of my favorites...sorry Cameron. Mary, my smartest girl in class, is adorable and I named her for my Nana. Next I had little Vicki...we were starting with Vicki and I was eventually going to add a Mae onto it, so she would be Vicki Mae, because we all know I could not have gotten away with naming a little Korean child Fahimeh (say Vicki Mae a few times out loud and you'll get it). Lindsay was for Linz and little Oscar was just so adorable that I couldn't not name him something hilarious and fabulous like Oscar. And it fit him so well!! So, Lindsay lasted about 5 minutes, before the schools president came in, said her name was too difficult and changed it to Amy. There is no way Cameron would've stuck, except that the child is brilliant and could say his name right away. Somehow Vicki made it through, even though she was saying Bicki. They actually had names such as Harold and Gunther before she changed those too...I tried. Another thing that has happened over the following weeks is that at least one child every few days comes in with a new name. Either their parent changes it or they change it themselves, so Vicki eventually changed to Risa (a Korean teacher wrote her name) and she was Risa for about a week, before someone noticed and changed her name to Lisa.

My youngest class is my easiest, believe it or not. They are so well behaved and do their work, haphazardly, yes, but with such conviction that there is no way I could mind. They made me a bit nervous though, because they all stared at me so intently and the pressure just mounted and mounted, til I popped in a CD and we all started jumping around like crazy and all was well again. After these two classes I had a much needed lunch break. I was overwhelmed by my first two classes and felt like a pretty crappy teacher. But at the same time, I could tell that this was a job I could do well, now that I was beginning to understand the flow of the classroom. Before I knew it, it was time for my third kindergarten class of the day. These kids are a bit older, reaching ages of 4 and 5, and are in their second year of learning English. It definitely helps a lot when they can at least understand the basics. These kids already had English names, so we jumped right into the learning and though I was still awkward playing the role of teacher, the class was exponentially better. I have five students in this class, Brian, Sam, Eva, Ryn and Lucy. I assumed Ryn was at some point intended to be Lynn, but never quite got there, so I was entertained by that. Brian has extremely good English and can even use full sentences. He's also a little schmoozer. If I have to reprimand him, he will get a really sad face and say, "I'm sorry teacher. Teacher! You're beautiful." It's pretty clever and hilarious! Ryn is a little bully and before long she changed her name to Annalise and convinced Lucy to change her name to Sally. So, there they are. 40 mins later it was time for another break.

From 2p-3p all the teachers have an hour midday break to prepare for afternoon classes. I checked out the afternoon classes books in attempt to prepare. My first two afternoon classes are 6 year olds. Two in the first class, Byron and Katie, and one in the second class, Jack. These kids have been learning English for a few years and can have basic conversations, so we were able to kill the time with some games of hangman, which was such a lifesaver!! My third class however is a class of three 8 year old girls, who are just beginning to learn English. One of the girls, Christina, understood me asking if they had English names after about 5 mins of them staring at me blankly. So she pointed to herself and said Christina, but the others were clueless, so I wrote some simple names on the board and they chose Liz and Sally. We opened our books and read the story, then did a page in the workbook, but we still had a lot of time to kill. Hangman did not go over well and I froze up. By the end of that 40 min class, I felt awful. They'd just been staring at me and I had no idea what to do with them, because of their lack of English and my lack of teaching knowledge/experience. It was super awkward!! But, I think it had to happen, to reactivate my creativity, and not one day since that first day has been nearly as awkward, so that is good.

After my three afternoon classes, I have a long break until my last class of the day. My last class is a one on one class with a 13 year old girl named Jisu. She is super chill and has great comprehension skills. She has been slow to open up to me, as she is a bit shy, but she is getting more and more comfortable everyday and we laugh a lot in class. I teach her vocabulary and she takes listening tests on the vocab, so teaching-wise, it's super easy. I have fun making up elaborate examples to explain the meanings of words to her and she is usually entertained by it. She's very relaxed and smart and never gives me trouble, so she is a great way to end my work day.

I survived the first day!

Tim and I left that evening and had a lot to talk about!! The first day seemed long and felt a bit rough, but it was a Thursday, which was a nice way to start. One more day, then the weekend to reflect on this new side of me...'Kailie Teacher.'

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Photos

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Teachers Lounge

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My desk is on the left and Laney's is on the right.

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Cathy and Tim's desks

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My first class of 4 year olds! From Left around to Right: Julie, John, Oliver, Jack, Ricky, Patrick, and Robin

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My 3 year olds! Two of them must've been in the bathroom...they all have to go every class! From Left around to Right: Ben, Sally, Brian, Mary, Cameron, Lisa, and Amy

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My 4/5 year olds! Left to Right: Eva, Annalise, Brian and Sam

Comments

[Char Bahrke]

Thanks
Thanks for sharing your life Kailie, I really enjoy reading your blogs. I feel like I am reading a book and I can't wait for the next chapter. Char

[Jess]

so proud!
Hi sweet sister...sorry it has taken me this long to read your blogs. I have been bogged down by the grad school stuff and Cameron's journals. I LOVE reading your experiences and hearing what an awesome teacher you are! I really am so proud of you for doing what you're doing. You will always cherish the time you spent there with those kids, and they will remember you forever. You light up every room you walk into. Those kids are so lucky to have you as their Kailie Teacher! Love you so much!! xo