More Photos Of My Students

This is Rose. She is a very shy girl, but a really nice student. Her English level is good and she tries very hard, but is very difficult to hear sometimes, as she speaks so quietly. I did get her to smile in the picture, but she usual is very straight faced in the class. She is not miserable, just very shy. One of the better students in this class.

The boy on the left is Jae. He is a special student because he speaks with a very posh English accent. He spent some time in Manchester and actually visited Liverpool. He speaks so differently from the other students, who have predominantly American or Canadian accents. Cool to hear him read and talk of course! His English is not that good considering he spent some time in the U.K. He is a little lazy though. That is probably why he is not doing better than he really should.

The boy leaning over the side of the chair is Jiu. He is a funny kid and always has a smile on his face. He speaks very well, but like Jae is a little lazy also. I don't blame any of the kids for being lazy in my class, as the Korean teachers give them test after test after test. They just get fed up after a while. They are only elementary students after all!!!!!

From left to right; Christopher who used to be Nicholas. On my attendance sheet they have him listed as Nicholas, but he told me the first day that his name is Nicholas. Behind him, Benjamin, who I always call Benjamin Franklin. He is a great kid and always happy in class. Next to him is Eunice. She is a great student and always tries hard in all the tests and quizzes and is a great student to teach. Nana is the girl in the orange. What a strange name! I told her that Nanna was a name for Grandma in England. She didn't like that too much, but still kept her name... haha. Next to her is Christine. She is a very sweet girl and has a lovely personality. She is a little quiet just like some other students, but a very good student. Behind her is Judy, who is covering her face. She spent some time in Canada, New Zealand and America. She speaks English very well, but her written stuff is a little rusty. She is a good student and has lots of personality. Next to her is Steve. He is quite a character. He talks with a little bit of a lisp, but is a genuine joker at times. He and Judy are always being told by me to be quiet, but they are not bad kids. They are both good students.

Lots of the students change their names when they get sick of their English name. None of the Korean teachers know them by their English names. When we want to communicate with them about how a student is doing, we have to give them the Korean name. My sheets have the English name and then I make all the students write their Korean name next to it. It helps me out too as I have 2 Jennys, 2 Alexes, 2 Andys, 2 Johns, 2 Julias and on and on. Some of them are in the same class too! I have to call them like John 1 and John 2. Can't call them by their surnames. That doesn't work in Korea.

Sally is on the left with red top on. She is one of my favourite students. Such a nice girl and always so sweet. She was huffing and puffing today in class and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that one of the girls in school had done something very bad and the teacher didn't know about it. She said that all the other students want to tell the teacher, but were not sure if they should or not. I just told her that if telling the teacher would change something for the better, then she should tell the teacher, but if not she should mind her own bee's wax. I think she understood and one of the other girls Eunice, who I mentioned earlier, said that she thought the same way that I did.

In Korea, people introduce themselves with their surname and then their first name or names. For example in Korean, I would be Campbell Paul James. It is difficult for the students to understand that, as they have been saying it that way for such a long time. I try to explain it to them and they do understand, but they still say their name in the same order in English as they do in Korean.

For example one of my students name is Unjin Park. She introduces herself as Park Unjin. Lots of their first names have two parts also, which in itself is difficult for English teachers to remember, hence all of the kids in our classes have English names. English teachers have a hell of a time trying to remember their Korean names and vice-versa for the Korean teachers trying to remember their English names.

One picture, or an attempted picture of the whole class. Half of the girls are hiding and the boys don't want to get anywhere near the girls. Finally, I got some of them to at least look at the camera.

Kate is on the left at the front and next to her Belle. Kate is a great student and Belle is the best in the class and also the youngest. Both of them have spent time overseas also. Belle spends every summer in America. Most of the students that go to Avalon are from quite wealthy families. Avalon is one of the most expensive private schools to go to compared to the other schools and has one of the best reputations for good students and the students being prepared for the special all English middle school called Chongshim. That is Avalon's main claim to fame.

Belle gets perfect on her tests and her essays are unbelievable. She totally thinks outside of the box, but hits her head against the wall during the class all the time!!!! We are always laughing about it, as she does it at least twice every class.

Belle is also a year younger than most of the kids in the class. She is in grade 4 and most of the other kids are in grade 5.

Behind Belle is Julie. She is a really tall girl and looks like she is about 15 or 16. Next to her is Marriane. I have a little story about Marianne.

I always like to sing songs with the kids names in them. So of course the song, "Hey Marianne, what's your name now, can anybody play?" was perfect for her. I used to sing it all the time when she would come up to have her homework checked. Another example is a girl called Rhonda. "Help me Rhonda, help help me Rhonda, help me Rhonda, yeh, get her out of my heart."

All the kids liked me singing or still do and usually it is not an issue. Every student has to come up to the front where I am standing and get their homework checked and then they sit down. I called Marianne up of course and started singing as usual. Usually the students will sing in harmony too, or try to sing along with me. This time Marianne started to cry!!!! I asked her what was wrong, but she just kept sobbing and wouldn't stop. One of the other students said, "Teacher, she doesn't like you singing a song with her name in it and feels really sad everytime you do it! "

So needless to say, I had to stop, but only with Marianne. She is a very sweet girl and always does all of her assigned work. She is a little shy, but she likes me much better now that I don't sing her name. Quite funny, really, but children are all different, so we have to accept each one for their unique personalities. Although I didn't mean any harm, I learned a valuable lesson that not all people can be treated the same way. I knew that before, but I try my best to improve myself as both a teacher and a human being everyday.

I hope I am not boring you too much with all my pics, but I figured I should post some pics of my kids, so that you can see what they look like, at least.

I will post some more later of my other classes. Remember, I have 4 classes of 1 hour and 15 minutes a day, twice a week. Then the other two days are 3 classes of 1 hour and 15 minutes and then Friday I have two classes of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remember also, I only have 5 minutes between three of the classes and one of the classes 10 minutes. The old mouth gets quite tired after 5 hours non-stop of talking, teaching, asking questions and the like.

I know that seems hard to believe for some of you that know me, but I get tired of talking too!!!!!!! Don't laugh too hard, I can hear you all the way over here in Asia....... hahahaahahahahahahahahah.