Kids Do the Darnedest Things

So this is going to be a short post. I just had a few things that happened in class over the past couple of days that I couldn't help sharing with you. Every day, I realize more and more that kids are the same no matter where you go.

Jack: This little boy is about 5 years old and literally about 3 feet tall. When I first started, he was a bit of a hellion, always trying to get my attention on him by hitting someone, including me, and resorting to anything from kicking me to pulling my hair to biting me. One of the other teachers was having the same problem with him and punished him for it and since then, he's been a model student. He lights up when I give him stickers and he's been trying to keep teacher happy ever since the day that he got in trouble. But that's not the story. The story is actually something that plays out pretty much the same no matter what country you teach in.

When I need to go photocopy workbook pages for my kids, I always tell the class to be quiet 'and if I can hear you down the hall in the copy room, you'll all be in trouble!'. Now, as soon as I close the door on the classroom, I can hear them getting out of their chairs to go visit with their friends for the ten seconds I'm gone. The best part is coming back into the room and seeing them all scrambling to get back in place before I see what they've been doing. Jack's class has even resorted to having a designated scout to warn the class when I'm coming back. Now, I know this, and it's become a bit of a game for me to sneak back down the hall and open the door before the kids see me coming. On Tuesday, as I threw open the door, I see kids flying all over the room to get back in their seats. Jack had to run from the front of the room all the way around the table to get back to his chair and, just as I closed the door on entering, he threw himself at the chair. And missed. His little head disappeared beneath the table and, when I looked under to see if he was ok, his two little hands slammed down on the table and he re-appeared...with the loudest, hardest laugh I've ever heard.

Peter: Peter is a little older than Jack, but tends to get in trouble quite a bit too. He's in a class with three other kids and he gets a little behind sometimes. Since the class is so small, the kids treat each other like siblings and it makes for some really funny antics. I have a game I play with the kids whenever they need to get a different book out to continue with the lesson. I tell them which book they need and start counting down from 5. Usually, two of Peter's classmates can deftly swing into their bags, pull out their books and be on the right page within the five seconds, but somehow Peter's book always gets stuck. I'll be at 2 and Peter will start asking me questions: "How are you, teacher?" "Teacher, you're so pretty!" "Teacher, how is your day today?" He thinks it'll distract me from counting.

David: By far, the kid who tries the HARDEST out of all of my classes. David is 11 and made the mistake of not listening to me during my first week of classes and hasn't strayed since. He gets bullied a lot from one of the other kids in the class and today was no exception. I had a talk with all of the kids about what bullying can do and how much it hurts the person being bullied. That, of course, set a bit of a dark tone over the class, so after the kids finished their reading I decided to have a free conversation with them. It turned into a conversation about two of Korea's most popular music groups: The Wondergirls, who sing "Nobody" -- an incredibly catchy and annoying tune, and Bang Bang, who seem to be a pop-rap group that throws random English lyrics into their songs. When I asked the boys what their favorite song was, David asked if he could sing me a bit of one of Bang Bang's songs. I figured, 'hey, why not?' and let him have a go. Well, it turned into a full-on music spectacle: all eight of my 11 year old boys stood up with him and sang the chorus, including the dance moves. Oh yes, they knew the entire song word for word and when they didn't, David filled in the holes. He felt better by the end of class, that's for sure.

I'm sure that there will be more funny stories about my kids before the year is through. I've only been here for a month and already I feel like all of my kids are my own. They're so great! I'm lucky that I ended up with such a great school.