This week I’ve been teaching a couple of classes that were unabashedly, without any pretense whatsoever, made up with absolutely no objective other than giving me something to do. Quite frankly, I find the honesty refreshing. Nobody needs to pretend that it’s not bullshit, so ironically, the resulting experience has been surprisingly unbullshitty.
There are two classes at seventy minutes each, one for students and one for parents. The student class is pretty standard. Fifteen students signed up for the class. Ten Came on the first day. Four or five on each of the following days. The five who came today–all girls–are all students who I haven’t really noticed before, but who are just delightful to teach. It’s too bad they get lost amongt the talkers, the flirters, fighters, the sleepers, SMSers and the hair teasers.
Teaching the adults has taught me a lot about Korean culture. Last Sunday night as I was preparing for the first lesson, it occurred to me that they would be uncomfortable speaking English to each other, so I thought I’d try to head it off by giving them a little pep talk at the beginning of class. I explained how I know it feels weird to speak a non-native language to each other when you could just use Korean and it would be easier, but we’re here to practice English so let’s just try. They all said they understood. They all said they would try. And then they did every activity I gave them in Korean. What really blew my mind was they seemed to have no idea that they hadn’t done what I had asked them. (They were very controlled activities too, so it wasn’t a question of difficulty I don’t think.) I was about to get upset like I would with my school students, their kids in other words, but I caught myself and just found the whole thing humorous instead.
Really, they were exactly like my middle school students, just older. One woman who had a slightly higher lever than the others took it upon herself to translate everything I said into Korean. When we did a worksheet, the students who “got it” complete their papers and then let the other students copy their answers. During my first class, I asked the students to look in their purses and pockets to find items that would say something about themselves. While doing that, one woman found a packet of gum in her purse and passed it around the classroom…and then the popping started.
The second day of class only four of the adults came back. Yesterday some of them called and said they couldn’t come because it was high school graduation day. Today they just didn’t come at all. I’ve used almost my entire class time writing this blog entry. Even while writing this I began to get a bit miffed, but why bother? Again, I’m really fine with it. At least there are no pretenses. I have the next five days off for Lunar New Year, and if they decide to come to class next week, I’ve already got some photocopies all ready to go. If they decide they can’t be bothered, well, I’ve got to be at school anyway, so it doesn’t really change my life that much.
There are two classes at seventy minutes each, one for students and one for parents. The student class is pretty standard. Fifteen students signed up for the class. Ten Came on the first day. Four or five on each of the following days. The five who came today–all girls–are all students who I haven’t really noticed before, but who are just delightful to teach. It’s too bad they get lost amongt the talkers, the flirters, fighters, the sleepers, SMSers and the hair teasers.
Teaching the adults has taught me a lot about Korean culture. Last Sunday night as I was preparing for the first lesson, it occurred to me that they would be uncomfortable speaking English to each other, so I thought I’d try to head it off by giving them a little pep talk at the beginning of class. I explained how I know it feels weird to speak a non-native language to each other when you could just use Korean and it would be easier, but we’re here to practice English so let’s just try. They all said they understood. They all said they would try. And then they did every activity I gave them in Korean. What really blew my mind was they seemed to have no idea that they hadn’t done what I had asked them. (They were very controlled activities too, so it wasn’t a question of difficulty I don’t think.) I was about to get upset like I would with my school students, their kids in other words, but I caught myself and just found the whole thing humorous instead.
Really, they were exactly like my middle school students, just older. One woman who had a slightly higher lever than the others took it upon herself to translate everything I said into Korean. When we did a worksheet, the students who “got it” complete their papers and then let the other students copy their answers. During my first class, I asked the students to look in their purses and pockets to find items that would say something about themselves. While doing that, one woman found a packet of gum in her purse and passed it around the classroom…and then the popping started.
The second day of class only four of the adults came back. Yesterday some of them called and said they couldn’t come because it was high school graduation day. Today they just didn’t come at all. I’ve used almost my entire class time writing this blog entry. Even while writing this I began to get a bit miffed, but why bother? Again, I’m really fine with it. At least there are no pretenses. I have the next five days off for Lunar New Year, and if they decide to come to class next week, I’ve already got some photocopies all ready to go. If they decide they can’t be bothered, well, I’ve got to be at school anyway, so it doesn’t really change my life that much.
Back to your best , Bri. Your blog has been low key for a while but this was a good 'un. Classic humour of yours, too!