Teaching with Grace

No, that is not a name of one of my students or a co-teacher, but in fact the old practice of having a little grace every once and awhile. Lately, I have been learning this more than ever. I recently returned from a hurried trip home and to Mexico for my best friends wedding. While it was an incredible, amazing time, I didn't really get the much needed rest vacations sometimes offer us. Instead, I came back--while missing my students--a little irritated that I had to be back at work.

The other day, I had a conversation with my students to try to figure out their "real", or western, age. I figured out that more than half of my Kindergarten students are only 4, and 80 percent of one of my elementary students are only 6. All this time, I was under the impression that they were 5 and 7. Not that its that big of a difference in the long run, but here is a video of a wee little 4 year old doing some reading. Be amazed.

Anyway, knowing how old they are and how hard they work every day, I am trying to have a little more patience and grace when they break the rules or just annoy me. I really do love the heck out of my kids, but there are those days that they just get under your skin. I just need to keep telling myself that they're just kids.

sick

So I've been pretty sick this week. I guess it comes with the territory. I have kids that love to pick there noses. Even though I yell at them when I catch them, the classroom is a breeding ground for germs. I've been taking it easy this weekend for the most part. Last night I went out with Alicia(a girl from San Ramon, CA) and a couple of her friends. Played some darts in an Irish Pub where a bunch of foreigners hang out.

Here are a couple of pictures of my school and kids.




The main playroom of our school. All the classrooms open to this room:




This is my classroom...its pretty small, but I like it that way:

Here are the little buggers. Can you find Harry Potter? His name is Peter, so I think I'll call him Harry Peter.



Can you tell who likes to pick her nose the most?(That's Zinna)

These are a couple of the girls I rode the bus with this week, Esther and Joann. Cute Best friends.



As promised, a picture of the outside of my apartment complex. The building on the right is mine. I'm one from the top, so that gives you an idea how high I am. Oh, and despite the appearance of a beautiful sunny day, it was in fact only 34 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1 degree Celsius.

Discipline

Disciplining is probably one of the most important part of the teacher's job. It is by far the most rewarding, but the least fun. I learned early on that discipline at the VERY beginning is crucial to the sanity and effectiveness of the classroom. I am getting better at this, especially having a year of experience last year(not very much, I know). Its definitely hard. Last week, for example, I bribed on of my classes with stickers if they all did well and didn't get in trouble. If they did get in trouble, I told them, they would not receive a cool American sticker at the end of class. Sure enough, two of the boys in my class started acting out, and I had to deny them a sticker at the end of class. It was so hard. I wanted nothing more than to make them happy and give them a sticker. But then they would know for the rest of the year that I might not mean what I say when I make a threat. The looks on their faces were heartbreaking too. I didn't like it. You would have thought I had killed their pet fish.

In another class I have, I have 5 quiet students. We had a great time yesterday for about 5 minutes when they attempted to teach me to count to 10 in Korean. We were all laughing at my pronunciation and they promised me a test on Friday. It was the first time I had really seen them excited and come out of their shells. They had been really well-behaved and done their work well. It was a great 10 minutes, but then I had lost them for the rest of the class period. Oops. I guess fun like that is best saved for the end of the week.

It's definitely weird to realize that I have influence over these children and that I can punish them. For such a long period in my life, I was in their position, doing my best and staying out of trouble, of course ;) Now, I feel as though I'm not old enough to be giving children instruction on the English language and reprimanding them for playing during class time. I don't know if I'll ever get used to this.