Lessons 93 and 94

(2/24) Lesson 93: A little lesson from a few of my kindergarten students.

Today was the senior kindergarten graduation - each student said a little something about themselves, sang "This Little Light of Mine" and Aladdin's "A Whole New World" (abridged, of course), then were swarmed by their parents with large bouquets of glitter-bedazzled flowers. I was so proud of my students, especially those that came to Maple Bear after I started teaching - that way I was able to see their progress from the beginning. Now please excuse me while I have my sappy moment.

Dorothy - When I first started teaching her, she was the odd girl out - Belle and Sally were BFFs and the only other girls in the class (until Julia joined). I unofficially appointed Dorothy to be my little helper around the classroom - meanwhile, I was trying to deal with Belle and Sally's shenanigans. By the end of the semester, Dorothy was the only one of my morning kindergartners that said "good morning" to me without prompting when I walked into the classroom and would randomly start chatting with me just for fun. She frequently gave me hugs, which I loved and appreciated. She soon stopped caring (as much) about what Belle and Sally said and she was visibly happier in class.

Sally - Though she could be a little fresh at times, she's incredibly smart (for her age) and often surprised me with her humor and command/knowledge of English. Besides teaching me how racist she's capable of being, she also taught me that 7-year-olds can be witty too.

Julia - She is a master of the "just smile and nod your head - they'll never know you're clueless" trick. She's a very sweet girl, but it was very hard to keep her focused because I never knew when she was just goofing off or really didn't understand what was going on. So thanks to her I learned how to ask, "Do you understand?" in Korean.

Charles - I've already posted so many things about Charles that it's almost pointless to write it all here. Of all of my students (besides Dorothy) I will miss teaching Charles the most (despite how difficult he could be to teach sometimes). His spontaneous, ridiculous Harpo Marx antics cheered me up during some of the most frustrating days. He also is responsible for helping me to lighten up a bit - my teaching personality is not exactly suited for kindergarten, but Charles helped me to tap into my inner-child silliness and bring it out in my teaching.

Ethan - Very smart, very stubborn. I found Tara's method of dealing with Ethan's stubbornness to be a little harsh at first, but I learned that certain methods work better for certain students. Ethan needed someone to be stern with him when he got into these moods - it was a power thing for him. He refused to do his journal at least once a week, so I followed Tara's example and left him at a table by himself until he finished it - the other students couldn't talk to him and he couldn't have playtime until he finished his journal. And it worked. And the few times it didn't work, I told him that if he didn't do his work, he'd have to deal with Miss Tara "and she's not going to be as nice about this as I am being." That always did the trick. (Note: I'm not advocating threatening one's students. But it works sometimes.)

Thomas - The biggest lesson he taught me was patience. During his first week at Maple Bear, he stole all of the yellow blocks and my Baby Beluga stencil, and saved all of his (and the other students') empty milk cartons in his back pack. He had an obsession with dragonflies and the color yellow. He was very good at picking fuzz out of the carpet and the only time he would be responsive during class-time was when I would mention dragonflies, snails, or the color yellow. He was "the weird kid" and it took a long time (and a lot of coaxing from me and Ellie) to get the other kids to include him. He exhibited pretty much every symptom of Asperger's that I am aware of, but unfortunately writing a letter home about this concern would be incredibly offensive to his parents, because everyone knows that autism, mental illness and learning disabilities don't exist in Korea.

Rachel - She's smart, clever, and has a great sense of humor. (She was Charles' love interest/girlfriend after all!) She couldn't pronounce p, f, v, b and th to save her life, but she always did great work in class and, like Dorothy, loved to strike up conversations with me and practice her English. While some students hate going to school, others (even at a young age) recognize its importance and take advantage of the opportunity.

James - My baby, my darling... his parents even gave me the honor of bestowing an English name on him! He came to Maple Bear barely knowing any English and by the time he graduated, his English still wasn't so good. But his comprehension drastically improved and he tried so hard no matter what. He never gave up when he didn't understand or did something incorrectly. And the most impressive thing was that he always tried to speak in full sentences - something my best students didn't always do.


I'll miss them.




(3/2) Lesson 94: I've got my work cut out for me. Time to start at square one. The semester started today. Now I've got a new batch of students. In my morning class, all of them (except for Lio) have never been to any sort of school before, half of them have no siblings, all of them (except 2) don't understand a single word of English, and all of them (except Julia) are boys. Nine boys and one girl. And one is named "Dragon."


In my afternoon class, most of them have been to school before, a third don't understand a single thing I say, and 12 out of 15 of them are girls. Help me.