Meet the Students (Part 1)

When I originally thought of my emerging career as a foreign language instructor, I thought I would most enjoy working with older students, junior high and high school age. I had this naive notion that we would share rich and complex conversations that went beyond the necessary explanation of subject-verb agreement and the compulsory grammar lesson: ‘i before e, except after c.’ I was wrong. The older students have been too integrated into Korean cultural. They’re quiet, impersonal, and hate receiving individual attention. Getting them to use the English skills they’ve acquired is like pulling teeth. Well, not all of them, but about 90% of them. They are in academy because their parents say so and that’s that.

Surprisingly, the students I love teaching are the little kids, ages 8-13. They’re completely unencumbered. They like to sing, draw, skip and shout. They are silly and laugh and scream and are loads of fun to be around. We can break out in song any given moment, and they love to teach me naughty words in Korean like, fart (bangwee) or booger (codatchi) and laugh manically when I repeat my new found vocab skills during the most unlikely of times. The majority of my language Korean language skills have been taught by 10-year-old boys, hence the nature of vocabulary: shut-up ugly is shicarro, poo hair is unga melicula, underwear is soeoat etc. I know they’ve had me say swear words, which I dutifully repeat just to hear them laugh. After all, language needs to be fun, right? We have a jolly ol’ time!

Oh, I should mention, Koreans have a different aging process. When I first got here I would ask a student how old he/she was and he/she would say, ‘My Korean age is 12,’ which always left me curious. Later I learned that Koreans consider the birth of an infant to be 1 year old (I guess gestation counts) and so by our standards they are 1 year younger. I feel like I’m kinda getting the short end of the stick with this custom when I’m asked my Korean age. I’m not too keen on being prematurely closer to 30 than I already am, so I just say my American age. Screw that I say!

The first student I ever taught was Juan Unn, a scrappy little 8 year old. It was an individual lesson, and it was soon clear why he was my predecessor’s favorite student. He enjoys pokemon, spinning tops, and robots. One of the most endearing moments with him was when Juan wanted to show me the shirt he was wearing under his sweater, but made me promise not to laugh. Of course this spiked my curiosity. After multiple reassurances, he revealed the superman shirt he was so proud to be sporting. How cute is that?

I have a total of 18 classes, so I can’t summarize each class’s unique personality, but I do want to highlight a few of ‘em.

One of my favorite classes is ‘Snowflake’ with only 2 students, Joel and Nick. They’re a funny duo, 10 years old. I think they are my most advanced students in the sense that they think in English. I have older students who have a more extensive knowledge of English, but their application of the language isn’t as comprehensive. Anyway, Nick and Joel, they crack me up every day.

Nick is on the left, Joel is on the right.

I asked them what their fathers do (very few mothers have jobs) and Nick told me his dad is a manager and Joel said his was a chicken feather. Chicken feather? Uh, I think there’s been a break down in communication. But Joel, consummate joker, as well as an articulate little shit, was indeed correct, his father is a chicken feather. See, the word for chicken in Korean is ‘dak’ and the word for feather is ‘tore,’ so his father is a daktore, a.k.a. a doctor. He enjoys word play. Incidentily, he also enjoys changing the language option on my cell phone to Korean when I’m not looking. I told ya, he's a little shit.

‘Snowflake’ recently finished the book we’ve been working on for 4 months and wanted a pizza party, but I’m broke, so instead we had a ‘drawing party.’ Lame yes, but they’re 10 so... Nick makes these amazing comic books that I’m always impressed with, and I managed to trade my comic book for his so I could show you what a great artist he is.

The lessons with the little kids can be tedious, so I’m always appreciative of my older students and my ability to mix it up. I work with a series of books called, ‘What a World’ and each chapter relays some information that in unique to a particular region, like the history of the Great Wall of China, or how Inuit’s live etc. It’s great for me because I thrive on useless global trivia! If the class gets done with a lesson before our 55 minutes is up, we move on to ‘life lessons.’

What ‘life lessons’ you may ask? These life lessons of course...

From left to right, Katie, Julia and Isabelle.

The rules of cards, vocabulary associated with playing cards, appropriate card game etiquette and the like. After all, I consider myself to be a life-mentor, not just an English teacher!