What the fack?!

Last week I took a break from writing, partly because I had nothing to share and also because lately, I have not been feeling like myself. I have been feeling very melancholic, tired and disinterested in socialising or doing things I once enjoyed. Perhaps, it is the change in season, who knows but ke I am going to put in more effort to try and pick myself up again and get back to my normal self.

Anyway, now that that is out of the way let’s get right into it. Those that have me on their WhatsApp will probably know the stories I’m about to share but I will tell them anyway.

First of all, I just want to send a huge shout out to all the teachers out there- Teachers, SHOUT OUT! Wow! Guys, kids are a lot hey. Like one is already a lot, now imagine 500?! I teach about 500 kids a week and by the end of the week, all I want to see is my bed. Bana ba lapisa hleng (Kids are tiring) but they also so cute- Korean kids are so cute they got my ovaries doing vosho!

Work, work, work, work, work, work...

Anyway, so on Mondays I teach 6th graders, who are really cool. Their level of English is pretty good so I can have some conversations with them and that makes the classes a lot more interesting.

On Tuesdays, I teach 3rd graders. They are so cute and super energetic. They really participate fully and by the time I’m done with all my classes, I usually pass out at my desk, hahaha.

On Wednesdays, it’s the 4th graders. They are sweet. Well, most of them. There are these two boys in the one class who make class unpleasant but generally, it’s good. 

Thursdays are my most hectic days because I have the 5th graders. Now, apparently adolescent stage is hitting kids at an earlier age nowadays and it clearly has my fifth graders on lock. These kids are doing the most, hahaha! Wow!

And then Fridays I have a class of each grade, except the third graders. Fridays are normally chilled days which is cool because – Oh Nkos’yam yerri another Friday, yerri another weekend!

Spell check and grammar

Anyway, so this past Thursday during one of the classes, that has a group of naughty boys, we were playing a game (As we normally do). The game is called Sleeping Lions and basically, the kids have to put their heads down and only look up when I tell them to. They will each see a word or fragment of a sentence and then, later on, they must work as a team to figure out the sentence and write it down on a small board.

This game is played in teams, so the three naughty boys were in a team together. We had let them sit together at the back of the class because that way they are less disruptive to the rest of the class. Anyway, they were not really paying attention to the lesson but they wanted to play the game, which I thought was great. 

So we are playing the game and in the first round, everything is going well. Second round comes and the naughty boys decide not to put their heads down. So I tell them to put their heads down and basically, I’m ignored. Ohk cool shap, I leave it. The game continues and I award the scores to the teams that got the answer correct. Jiki jiki the naughty boys start complaining that I didn’t give them points. I tell the co-teacher that their heads were not down, therefore, they forfeit the points. Ahh, the complaining continues and mina I continue the game. 

The next round comes and they are still whining and they don’t participate. Instead, one of the naughty boys writes me a message on his board and puts it up so I could see. He had written: WHAT THE FACK. I read it and while I’m trying to make sense of it, his friend shouts from the back “What the fuck!” hahaha!

So, let me tell you, these boys found me on a good day. I took one look at it and I laughed-internally- then continued to facilitate the game. 

Eventually, when the game was over the young boy brings the board to the front, still with the words written. I called him aside and called another student (whose English is better) to help translate. I took the board and looked at the naughty boy, then I turned to the translator and said: Tell your friend that if he wants to swear, he must learn how to spell! Hahhhahaha!

The translator translates and the naughty boy looks surprised and a little embarrassed. I then went on to say “That’s not how you spell fuck…you need to learn how to spell, friend.” He then walks away and tries to fight with the translator, hahaha. Ai, kids! Anyway, a couple of classes later, he and his friends came to apologise and the next day I received a box of Peperos (Chocolate sticks) from them.

I rate, if you want to come at me, you better come CORRECT! Outchea swearing but you can’t even spell, mxm!

The walkout...

Come to think of it, I have had more than one run-in with that group of boys. Two weeks ago, I walked out of the classroom because of their bad behaviour. We had been watching a clip from the textbook and there was a black girl on the screen. The group had decided that it was funny and they began to laugh uncontrollably. I stopped the clip to ask what was funny and was met with blank stares and shut mouths. 

I stayed asking the question and refused to move until I got an answer. They eventually told the co-teacher that they were laughing because the girl was different. I then went on to interrogate why that would be something to laugh about. At that point, I was pissed. Not just because of the situation but because of their noisiness before and that of the previous class. That day they had caught me on my worst day.

I had earlier lost my cool when I went off at this one disruptive student, so in an effort not to lose my shit again, I decided it was best for me to leave. And since the class was coming to an end, I walked out and took a walk around the field to calm down. On my walk, the naughty boys together with the co-teacher came to apologise. I then used the first couple of minutes of my remaining classes teaching them about how it’s not okay to discriminate against someone because they are different.

Ag, sies tog, sooo cute!

Anyway, those are just some of my crazy days. Most days are pretty normal and filled with questions about my hair and earrings. And other days are just so special. I genuinely feel like I have the best kids a native teacher could have, honestly. I enjoy the fact that they have so much personality and most of them are naughty but they take the consequences of their actions- which is really amazing. All my kids have really made my stay here in Korea, so meaningful and worthwhile. 

Yes, I probably will never teach again after this, hahaha, but I love my students so much. And though some drive me crazy, I literally forget all about that when I see their cute little faces.