Several months ago I received an email from the 5–2 homeroom teacher that student A was acting strangely and more violent than usual under suspicion of not having taken his medication. When he came to class later that day he was agitated, climbing on the desk, and willing to fight people. Since G has come along with her new system, I’ve noticed a huge improvement in student A. He greets me in the hall, is much calmer in class and to both of our great surprise, he even memorized the full script for the Willy Wonka role-play, which is something that most of the students did not do. G stopped…

I feel like I’m getting better at my job. I have a better handle on what the kids need and what they can handle. And fourth grade is responding better to my discipline style. I regaled guitar teacher with the blasphemous corn dog story and explained what an “alcohol jacket” was which surprised a laugh out of him. The subject teachers only heard the key phrase and asked him in Korean if he was wearing one. Hearing him having to explain it was a highlight of my day. He poked fun: “I think you like alcohol. You smiled when you told S about rice wine.” (Well, pot calling kettle black…

Since all of grade 6 went on a field trip to Jeju Island, S and I had a mostly empty day. One of the few students who didn’t go on the trip stayed in our class and for three hours we played a knock off version of monopoly in which you can still buy cities and build hotels but your playing pieces are spaceships. The game actually really helped me understand Korean currency which is on a system of 10,000 instead of 1000 (ten man won is 100,000). It was a nice reminder of the fun we can have and I’ve been too hard on S. We’re doing our best…

I had dinner with other foreign teachers in the area and it was such a relief to discuss our mutual challenges. Our original plan to eat at a local burger place was thwarted by its closing so we ate at a nearby pasta place where the owner revealed his English only after I stumbled through Korean. While waiting for them, I wandered around the complex. A woman with a limp told me that I looked like a supermodel (I was wearing a face mask and green trench coat). We chatted briefly and then a few minutes later as I wandered outside I heard a voice say “where are you going?”…

There was a moment of clarity in grade 4 when I realized exactly where I had gone wrong and what would need to be changed to make this class more successful. Earlier in the day I was talking about a game format with G and she said she doesn’t let her classes play that unless they know the rules. As I saw the fourth graders running around, only some speaking English and most just copying each other’s papers, I realized that the class management would really need to be overhauled for these kinds of activities to work. S gave stickers to the kids who finished first but I had half…

I’ve been feeling burned out the last several weeks due to illness and my new dust allergy diagnosis (China burns coal in the winter and Korea absorbs all the pollution). But today I feel restored! My internet has been down since Friday and S and the landlady don’t seem in a hurry to fix it but have promised to “call the company” (I have no idea who pays for the internet or even who the provider is): so I’ve been hanging out at a 24hr coffee shop since this evening. Today my outfit (red coat, THE hat, plaid scarf) was met with mixed criticism: Guitar teacher: you look like Santa…

My outfit was a hit from sixth grade to teachers to the office staff. S told me to put my hat back on before class and then addressed the class saying “doesn’t she look like she’s from another country today?“ To which students started shouting yes! Russia! Germany! France! At lunch the subject teachers and G also mirrored this enthusiasm. I’m surprised that my hat was the talk of the town and not my eight dollar Karl Lagerfeld coat that I found at community thrift store in Orlando. G said I should wear the hat in Monday for the fifth graders but I really think she wants me to wear…

G made 3-2 apologize for misbehaving on Tuesday when she stepped out of the room. They all voluntarily stayed after class to clean up. Cute. I ran into some grade 6 girls on my way back to my desk. Heejoo was wearing a hand warmer on her head. “Teacher! I am very sexy” she said as she modeled in her oversized hoodie and makeshift hat. This week has been tough (sick, weather changes, extra rowdy students, navigating within a different culture) but I’m looking forward to teaching comparatives to grade 6 tomorrow. I made some notes in addition to the ones in the book regarding th pronunciation but scrapped them—…

A day of small wins. Thank goodness. Grade four did very well and participated more in my lesson: 1. listen first, tell me what you hear 2. Repeat key phrases 3. Team 1 versus Team 2 stand and say. Competition is one way to galvanize participation. They’re also more interested in this lesson about money than any previous topic…. I quizzed them about exchange rates and global currency symbols. For the £ I gave them the hint 미국의 부모님 America’s parent and one student got it (some said “France!”). In the afternoon I took a TOPIK (test of proficiency in Korean) practice test. I’m cleared for an easy level 1…

I found out that 4-2 is very good in G’s ethics class which came as a shock to me. They are by far my…. rowdiest English class. I want to ask G for advice, but I don’t know how it will reflect on others or what she’ll pass along to the other teachers. 3-2 acted out when G left. She came back and deducted their class point. I asked her if other schools are like this, and she said it’s this area that needs this level of discipline (discipline as in: constantly watching, giving rewards and taking them away, gamifiying everything so students are motivated). I work at what is…