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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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 Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 6:02 am Post subject: One of those moments that make teaching kids worth it |
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In a little informal, voluntary speaking class I hold with some of the early birds we played a modified version of Pictionary. I would give one kid a word, he had to draw it, and the other kids had to guess what he was drawing.
So this one kid, Nathan, I gave him the word "grandmother". He drew a woman's face with a serious Marilyn Quayle flip hairdo going on. The other kids, Sally and James, guessed woman, girl, mother. Nathan then chalked in a mustache under the woman's nose. Not missing a beat Sally shouted "GRANDMOTHER". |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 7:14 am Post subject: |
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| -when you pick up your paycheque. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 1:25 pm Post subject: |
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| When you've taught them to ask/say something and they remember it a few days later. |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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Ghosts....
Last edited by Demophobe on Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:10 am; edited 1 time in total |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Demophobe wrote: |
On weekends, I go to my sanctuary apartment in a smaller center to get away from it all. Every Sunday, a small group of kids between 7 and 10 years old come to my door and drag me out to play with them for a couple of hours. There is no English spoken; they don't want anything from me except to hang out, ask questions about Canada and play games. Sometimes I buy snacks and drinks, paints and paper or some such indoor activity for rainy days, and my house is full of nice, respectful, well-behaved, happy kids.
EDIT: whoops! Totally not to do with the topic...Oh well.....I guess what makes this worth it is that for once I don't have to teach them. I don't want to and they don't want me to. Heck, I don't even have to see them! However, getting to know some kids outside of a classroom environment makes me realize that my time here is all about them. Opening minds a bit perhaps? I know that this time with them WILL change how they are with foreigners now and in their adult lives. I guess that's a kind of teaching that can't happen otherwise. |
Well, in the greater analysis still pretty on topic. If you weren't teaching you wouldn't have those kinds of experiences. And you are teaching children in a way. I think part of our job is just to make whitey less scary to kids. It's okay to try and speak english. It's okay to make a mistake. Whitey isn't going to freak at you or treat you like you're a moron. |
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matthews_world
Joined: 15 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Demophobe wrote: |
| They don't want anything from me except to hang out, ask questions about Canada and play games. Sometimes I buy snacks and drinks, paints and paper or some such indoor activity for rainy days, and my house is full of nice, respectful, well-behaved, happy kids. |
Ah, methinks they come just for the snacks!
Get their parents permission and you could run a babysitting service on the side.
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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| matthews_world wrote: |
| Demophobe wrote: |
| They don't want anything from me except to hang out, ask questions about Canada and play games. Sometimes I buy snacks and drinks, paints and paper or some such indoor activity for rainy days, and my house is full of nice, respectful, well-behaved, happy kids. |
Ah, methinks they come just for the snacks!
Get their parents permission and you could run a babysitting service on the side.
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Yeah...some money I guess. I know you were kidding and that has crossed my mind. Doing that would, however, make me responsible for them for a set period for money, and have to answer to their parents (who I know, and don't want to be their employee)....I think that would ruin the whole thing for everyone involved.
This way I can ditch anytime as well...  |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 4:42 am Post subject: yes |
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When I have one of those moments, I will let you know.
Teaching kids here is a waste of time other than to earn money. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 4:48 am Post subject: Re: yes |
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| Ilsanman wrote: |
When I have one of those moments, I will let you know.
Teaching kids here is a waste of time other than to earn money. |
Sometimes you have to suck pleasure from life like marrow from the bones. |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 4:50 am Post subject: Re: yes |
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| Ilsanman wrote: |
When I have one of those moments, I will let you know.
Teaching kids here is a waste of time other than to earn money. |
"earn money"...haha.....with that attitude, I am sure you are "earning" your money.
You won't have one of those moments. Maybe it should read:
| Ilsanman wrote: |
When I have one of those moments, I will let you know.
Me "teaching" kids here is a waste of their time and money. |
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oldfort
Joined: 09 Oct 2003
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 5:43 am Post subject: |
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Last Friday, I and my 'advanced' class were going through the curric. as usual, and there was a reference to 'spooky stories'. So, I turned off the lights and we told each other spooky stories, and it was amazing to hear these kids tell these amazingly creepy tales more eloquently than they've ever spoken in class before (self-correcting many of their grammar slips, too, the angels!)
With the beginners, I'm thrilled when I notice Little Tommy cutting back on p-f reversals or whatever. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 6:15 am Post subject: |
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| oldfort wrote: |
Last Friday, I and my 'advanced' class were going through the curric. as usual, and there was a reference to 'spooky stories'. So, I turned off the lights and we told each other spooky stories, and it was amazing to hear these kids tell these amazingly creepy tales more eloquently than they've ever spoken in class before (self-correcting many of their grammar slips, too, the angels!)
With the beginners, I'm thrilled when I notice Little Tommy cutting back on p-f reversals or whatever. |
Ah you know for my middle schoolers I did a lesson on urban legends this week. We talked about legends. Most of my kids could only dredge up a "bloody mary"/"momento mori" (Yeogo goedam II) like legend about a haunted high school. Some student kills herself and students are supposed to hear her footsteps in the stairwells. Something like that. I did, however, have fun giving them a list of classic urban legend titles like "the chocking dog" "the mexican pet" "the dog under the bed" "the vanishing hitchhiker" etc and letting them pick which ones they wanted me to tell. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 8:34 am Post subject: yes |
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| The point I am trying to make is that, for a country who says they respect teachers so much, they sure don't practice what they preach. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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The thing is, working at a hagwon isn't considered real teaching. It's something for university students to do to earn a little cash for the weekend. The combination of that, and the fact that foreigners generally aren't respected in the same way that Koreans are means that teaching may not seem all it's cracked up to be.
A note to the hagwon teachers: you guys are making a huge difference-never doubt that. In my classes at the elementary school, it's very clear which kids go to hagwon and which don't. Aside from the obvious language skills, they seem far more comfortable and confident in my classroom, even if they are slightly bored. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 3:31 pm Post subject: Re: yes |
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| Ilsanman wrote: |
| The point I am trying to make is that, for a country who says they respect teachers so much, they sure don't practice what they preach. |
I think that's been lost in the last couple generations of kids. I know I have some kids who have some traditional respect for my position as teacher. But I could sure use a few more.
The woman who used to be the admin person at my school and had to deal with a lot of students noticed they lacked a lot of traditional manners. She felt they weren't learning traditional Korean values and manners since they're in school and hakwon so much. |
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