(12/14) Lesson 81: Christmas is not a family affair in Korea.
The journal topic for class today was "On Christmas Day I will __________." I probably should have done a little research beforehand because my students came up with absolutely nothing. At first I thought they just didn't understand the topic, so I told them about what I do for Christmas: we go downstairs early in the morning and sit around the fireplace, then we open our stocking presents and our presents under the tree. Later, other family members and close friends come over and we have a big dinner. Dorothy was captivated with my description (which was a little more detailed than the above); when I finished she raised her hand and said, "Miss Cally, your Christmas like movie!"
Ellie, my new teaching partner, was the one that clued me in on Korean Christmas. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Oh, maybe I'll go skiing with friends and watch a few movies." And she's Christian too, which confused me. It's just not quite the same here.
(12/18) Lesson 82: Hard work and practice pays off.
After practicing about an hour every day for almost two weeks, my students had a mostly flawless performance in the Maple Bear Christmas Concert. I've never found Christmas to be a stressful holiday, so this was a first - I thoroughly hated Christmas for almost a whole month because of Maple Bear. We were constantly prepping for the concert while still attempting to teach a normal class and making sure we had all of our progress reports completed (among other things). And I had no voice/was coughing constantly/should have taken several sick days during most of this process.
But my kids dealt with the situation quite well (Miss Cally is not always the most patient person when stressed and sick) and did an excellent job in the concert. They recited their letters to Santa and sang Must Be Santa, a song I fondly remembered from the Raffi cassette I always listened to growing up (now I don't ever want to hear it again). They loved "Must Be Santa" and often sang it even when we weren't practicing - their favorite part was "Who's got a big red cherry nose? Santa's got a big red cherry nose!" Rachel, from my afternoon class, always came up to me, tugged on my shirt, and started singing to show me how well she knew the words, even if I was in the middle of something - she's adorable.
Morning Kindergarten: John, Dorothy, Charles, Belle, Julia, Thomas, Sally, and Ethan just before reciting their "Dear Santa" letters.
"Dear Santa, I would like a hamster and a cell phone for Christmas. Thank you!"
The morning classes singing "Here Comes Santa Claus."
I told my students that if they did a good job, Santa will hear them and come down to watch the Christmas Concert. So here he is.
Maple Bear Yeongtong presents the magnificent Chris Baldwin as Santa Claus.
Afternoon Kindergarten: Zenia, Tobey, Rupy, James, Julie, Claire, Edward, Rachel, and Tony performing "Must Be Santa."
Afternoon classes singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."
Me, Julie, Claire, and Rachel - my adorable afternoon kindergarten girls.
The morning classes performing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."
As some of you may know, I was supposed to go to India for my Christmas break. But because I'm such a genius, I failed to thoroughly check to see if I needed a visa. Yeah... I spent Christmas in Korea this year. Won't make that mistake ever again.
Although you say you're not good with kids, it sounds to me as if your patience, hard work and inner sense of fun and play comes out with the kids. You've done such a great job, Cally! Those kids are adorable!
ReplyDelete