the teaching starts today

So after two days of shadowing, it is finally our time to shine. We are now officially teachers - real teachers too, how crazy is that!

I have been told that I got lucky because I have recieved only two kids in my kindergarten class as opposed to the usual 7 monsters that most others have (I must admit the little monsters can be pretty cute sometimes). However I have been informed that my kids are "special." Meaning I have to teach them more than anyone else, and that their parents are very hands on, which is never a good thing for a teacher in Asia. One of the mothers speaks better english than the English Korean teacher who has them as well, so we are both terrified. I met them yesterday and they were scared of me thus inhibiting any sort of interaction between us for the entire class - looks like we got off onto a good foot.

Gilad and I are currently trying to figure out how to a) control the kids, considering they are wild. I have never seen anything like it in Canada, and I am not even sure that the other Asian countries share the same problem. I wonder what made Korea so lucky. We are also b) trying to figure out a way to keep these kids - who go to school longer than any adult works - interested. If I had to go to 2 or 3 private schools after a full day of public school I probably wouldn't want to acknowledge my teachers either. While the kids when they are younger are bouncing off the walls, the exact opposite effect seems to take place once they reach puberty. They totally retreat and attempt to become invisible.

Perhaps I am being a little pesimistic right now. Not all the kids are like this of course, some of them are actually very pleasant and completely adorable. However these are not the ones I am worried about and so they are, at present, not on my mind.

I am actually very excited to start teaching, just to see how I do.

Oh, and I am going to start Habkido classes very soon (a form of martial arts), so if teaching in Korea doesn't happen to be my thing, then maybe the martial arts will make it all worth it.

- Dawna