Every once in a while, a bunch of kids arrives at English Village so special, so unique, that they will never be forgotten. A day spent with these awe-inspiring students leads even the most dedicated teacher home to cry quietly in his apartment and call "Mummy!" in his sleep. Teachers dropping like flies - sickness, exhaustion, sudden calls from home that mean they cannot come to work that day... Such is the life we have led this week with the amazing, the jaw-dropping, the fantastic Suju Middle School.
Starting on Monday with the Survival English lesson - where I discovered my class didn't know how to ask somebody's name. A cheery "how's it going?" met with 26 blank faces - but the more formal "How are you?" still only raised a mediocre "I am fine" from about 5 students. I don't have an issue with low students - if their attitude is right, I can adjust lessons and language to suit them.
On Tuesday, my first student was dragged kicking and screaming "But it's not fair!" (in Korean, naturally) to the Head Teacher's office for some Korean-style discipline (writing letters for an hour while sitting in the most uncomfortable position at the teacher's disposal) for talking repeatedly in class and ignoring his teacher. By the end of the day, my class was the class teachers were groaning about when they saw their name on the schedule to teach them.
On Wednesday three students sexually harassed one of my friends, touching themselves and calling her over. I lost all 3 to the Head Teachers for the rest of that day, and most of the next one. Teaching another class Science, I refused to allow two groups to take part in the experiment after their appalling behaviour, and was harassed for ten minutes by outraged girls who couldn't understand that their parents' payment to EV didn't guarantee them luxurious treatment, but perhaps should be a reason for working hard to justify the sacrifice made in their low-income homes.
On Thursday I arrived in my class - on my own, my co-teacher being 'sick' - to find 5 girls sobbing uncontrollably in the bathroom and refusing to be in the same classroom as the boys, who had commented on their periods and called a slightly chubby girl a fat pig. The Korean counsellor talked to them in Korean for my entire lesson, discovering that the girls had retaliated in equal fashion. They spent the evening writing apology letters instead of watching a movie.
On Friday my Korean co-teacher lectured them in Korean for 30 minutes - and an angry tirade in Korean scares even me, so harsh a language is it - while I stood over two boys standing against the wall outside with their hands above their heads. We refused to give prizes to the kids with the most stickers and instead chose 3 students who we felt had at least tried (and were probably being bullied for it). Taking the boys to the Concert Hall for closing ceremony, I had to call over a head teacher to shout at a boy (the main protagonist of the week) for swearing at me in both Korean and English.
Closing Ceremony finally began, and the MC - one of my coteachers - congratulated the school on being the most incredible school in our 3-year history, noting that he could see many of the teachers actually had tears in their eyes. The pleasure that can be taken in taking the piss out of people without them understanding a word is hard to quantify.
There were more than tears in my eyes as I saw the kids off that afternoon, and the staff gathering for the meeting were clearly overjoyed! Next week another school is coming from the same place - I'm giving it one day before I decide whether or not to call in sick for the other four.
On Tuesday, my first student was dragged kicking and screaming "But it's not fair!" (in Korean, naturally) to the Head Teacher's office for some Korean-style discipline (writing letters for an hour while sitting in the most uncomfortable position at the teacher's disposal) for talking repeatedly in class and ignoring his teacher. By the end of the day, my class was the class teachers were groaning about when they saw their name on the schedule to teach them.
On Wednesday three students sexually harassed one of my friends, touching themselves and calling her over. I lost all 3 to the Head Teachers for the rest of that day, and most of the next one. Teaching another class Science, I refused to allow two groups to take part in the experiment after their appalling behaviour, and was harassed for ten minutes by outraged girls who couldn't understand that their parents' payment to EV didn't guarantee them luxurious treatment, but perhaps should be a reason for working hard to justify the sacrifice made in their low-income homes.
On Thursday I arrived in my class - on my own, my co-teacher being 'sick' - to find 5 girls sobbing uncontrollably in the bathroom and refusing to be in the same classroom as the boys, who had commented on their periods and called a slightly chubby girl a fat pig. The Korean counsellor talked to them in Korean for my entire lesson, discovering that the girls had retaliated in equal fashion. They spent the evening writing apology letters instead of watching a movie.
On Friday my Korean co-teacher lectured them in Korean for 30 minutes - and an angry tirade in Korean scares even me, so harsh a language is it - while I stood over two boys standing against the wall outside with their hands above their heads. We refused to give prizes to the kids with the most stickers and instead chose 3 students who we felt had at least tried (and were probably being bullied for it). Taking the boys to the Concert Hall for closing ceremony, I had to call over a head teacher to shout at a boy (the main protagonist of the week) for swearing at me in both Korean and English.
Closing Ceremony finally began, and the MC - one of my coteachers - congratulated the school on being the most incredible school in our 3-year history, noting that he could see many of the teachers actually had tears in their eyes. The pleasure that can be taken in taking the piss out of people without them understanding a word is hard to quantify.
There were more than tears in my eyes as I saw the kids off that afternoon, and the staff gathering for the meeting were clearly overjoyed! Next week another school is coming from the same place - I'm giving it one day before I decide whether or not to call in sick for the other four.
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