Here they are: The Kiddies :)

Well, I’ve had a CRAZY few weeks! Since my last real post: the internet was lost and then regained a week and some later, I’ve been through exams, report cards and lesson plan making for the kids, I’ve created my portion of a unit test, corrected countless homework pages, made a multitude of paper caterpillars, flowers, bumble bees and trees, and have been had one of my fave afternoon classes canceled… and replaced with 7 new kindergarteners teaching the most intro of English courses availible. Oh, and I’ve lost two kids from my IK support class. But I’ll talk more about that later :) For now, here they are~ My Intensive Kindergarten ‘homeroom’:

(Left to right: Sue, Alan, Michelle, Me, Harry P. and Harry L. is the kid doing the peace sign :)

For our August fieldtrip we went to the Coex Aquarium in Seoul. I’m convinced that I didn’t even look at a single fish – with five kids to keep track of and the inconvienent truth that all Asian children look alike from behind, I prayed constantly I wouldn’t lose one of them in the mass that was *seven* kindergarten schools combined into one fish museum. Yes, it seemed to be national fieldtrip day… and it didn’t help that most of the schools seemed to have the white and blue uniforms in abundance. We made it out alive, with the kids enjoying themselves and the teachers trying not to panic.

These are the typical looks of Harry L. and Harry P. Their characters are accurately reflected in this shot. Harry L. is the serious, contemplative thinker of the group. He is going through the lovely “why?!” phase, and uses this favourite word at least 10034 times per class. Harry P. loves attention and spends his time trying to look cute. When he’s not looking cute and being brilliant he’s usually crying because someone wants him to share 2 of his 23 blocks. These boys weren’t getting along on this day, and it’s awesome that they calmed down enough for this picture… thank goodness for the girls:

Sue and Michelle. Just wonderful kids. Sue wants to be a doctor when she grows up and spends class time being the mother for everyone else. Getting the boys tissues when they cry (Harry P. and Harry L. are both still growing into their manhood), and patching up Alan after his latest collision with ____insert any object that’s sharp here____. Michelle wants to be an artist. She is a true perfectionist when it comes to arts and crafts, spending a record hour and twenty minutes making one paper bumblebee. Sue made three bees in less than half the time. They welcome me each day with smiles and “KATIE TEACHER!!!!” enthusiasm :) Looooove them.

The next shot was taken between “teeeaaachhhheeer. we’re hunnnnnngrrrryy / I doooonnn’t waaaannntt toooo waiiiiiiit” whines. As much as I sympathized with the little dudes, I found their looks of total dispair to be at least slightly amusing, and proceeded to photograph them. In all their anxiety, Harry L. at least managed to pull himself together enough to form his traditional “peace” sign. Classy.

And then there was Alan. He rarely complains. He’s a huge cuddler and is always asking for/giving hugs. In the midst of his classmates whining, he took the opportunity to poke me and say “teacher, picture.” What a good kid. This was his chosen pose:

Once I got them all fed and watered, the boys calmed down and my entire class was willing to offer me happy smiles :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well… except for Harry P. He was trying so hard not to grin it was great :)

Then, in the midst of all the complaining children, and exhausted teachers, you have moments where the kids just win your heart:

and there is no place in the world you would rather be than sitting next to them and smiling so much your cheeks hurt for hours afterwards :)

 

Next to my homeroom kids (who are called my ‘core’ class), there is another homeroom class (Anthony’s) who serves as my ‘support’ class. While I teach both my kids and Anthony’s kids Language arts five times a week, Anthony will teach his class and my class a combination of Math, Science and Social studies. Essentially, I see these kids quite a bit as well:

The tallest guy is obviously Anthony. He’s a great partner teacher :) The smiling boy next to him is Justin. He’s a brilliant, hyper kid. Then we have Draco. He was my star student, acing anything that was thrown at him in record time. Below Draco is Will. Will is insane. He’s fully capable of mass manipulation and he’s a true leader in every sense of the word. Luckily, Anthony and I seem to have gotten on his good side (another teacher alegedly got on his bad side and ended up quitting after a month due to stress). and in general he’s managable. Then we have Rachel sporting the stylish glasses and hair bow and Kelly. 

  For complicated reasons Justin and Draco ended up dropping out of GDA and heading off to another place. They will be missed!

The only good thing about their departure is that Will will now have two less hyper children to lead in his classroom domination. He also no longer has to compete for the girls attention. Recently he decided that he’s Rachel’s man though… he wrote all about this decision in his journal for me. Poor Kelly is losing her Draco. It’s a tragic world really.

Finally, in honor of my ‘co-blogger’ (that’s right Jen, you’re getting the half quotes – this is my challenge for you to actually make a post ;) we have her lovely class of 10 – that’s right, TEN – 5 year olds. If you count them, there appears to only be nine children in this picture. I can assure you there are 10. Asian kids are just amazingly brilliant at camouflage. Aren’t they happy looking? :) So cute though!

   
Well, that’s all for now! I hope I’ve satisfied the requests for pictures of the kids :) I wish everybody a wonderful last week of summer, and a happy “back to school” for all!

~Katie