Teaching - Do I like it?

Hell, yeah! I know many of you will think I'm crazy now, but I can't help it. I'm having a lot of fun. And yes, I know I've only been doing it for two months, and I have plenty of time to become jaded...but so far so good. I'm not sure if it makes it harder or easier that many of my classes don't understand me - but everyone shows up everyday so I think that's a good sign.

Just to give you an idea of what my day is like...I teach lots of classes at different levels from phonics to basic phrases to conversation. The phonics level classes I teach are mainly done with pictured flash cards. The kids are mostly kindergarteners and first graders.

me: (hold up a picture of an ostrich) OST - RICH.

kids: OSTRICH!!!

me: (hold up a picture of a panda) PAN - DA.

kids: PANDA!!!

If they weren't so cute and little I think my headaches would be worse. ;)

The conversation classes are fun since I can interact with the kids and some of them even get my jokes. We're discussing a Beyonce and Shakira song in one them - I'm learning more about American pop music in Korea than I ever did in the U.S.

A big plus is that I get to play a lot of games during the day. I'm getting to be a pro at Uno and Scrabble. I think some Go Fish and Old Maid cards would be a hit. Maybe I'll look for some to buy on the internet. (hint-hint)

I've also been able to use some of the strategies I remember my sister Jaime talking about. She collected a bunch of Dr. Seuss books when she first became a teacher. I'm having a class read Fox in Socks. I didn't realize how long his books were. We've been working on it for a month and we only finished the first page yesterday. Of course I only see the class once a week and I'm not using a book, just pages I printed off the internet but still...we have three more pages to go. I think this is going to be a year long project. They seem to like it though. If we make it through I'll probably spring for the real book as a congratulations.


All in all - I'm having a blast. The kids make me smile and laugh all the time. Of course they also make me want to wring their necks once in a while but that passes quickly. I also love the feeling I get when I see a kid learning something that I've taught them. In one class yesterday, every student get over a 90% on a vocabulary quiz. I was so proud of them. I know that's incredibly dorky but as I said at the beginning of this post - I just can't help it.