I GUESS IT’S NOT GOOD TO TAKE A NAP IN CLASS

I went to sleep rather late last night. 5AM to be exact so I didn’t really get a lot of sleep. I dragged myself into school today for camp on time. There were a wide selection of levels of kids in the class, which is unfortunate. I had some of the really bad learners and some of the really good ones, and most in the middle. I had to separate some of the poor students from the start because they were talking to each other, and I had to threaten to take away two cell phones.

I made everyone tell me what they did on the weekend. There will be no escape from them talking in English, regardless of how bad they are. If they’re silent, I just wait them out. And when I get tired of waiting, I ask questions. Eventually a few words in English come out, and that’s a start.

After that I read to them from the first chapter of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. I told them to make a note of the words they didn’t understand, and then they could ask me questions. There were more questions than I thought there would be. When my best student asked what “wall” meant, I knew this wouldn’t be a picnic.

Of course, the useless ones don’t ask questions. I got a couple of questions from some of the weak students which was a step in the right direction. The best students ask the most questions and all I can hope for is the others are listening. I realize I hope for too much.

After that it was time to watch “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. It took forever to get the DVD to work because I was told it would work in a classroom from a computer hooked to a TV. Nope. Bad information but what else is new. I was very annoyed but I had the idea that the next day I’d bring in my DVD player and we’d do it then. The vice principal saw us going back to class and asked Min Kyung (who was trying to get the DVD work like she said it would), what the problem was. He said we should go to auditorium and they had a set-up where we could watch it. I’m glad someone there knows what to do.

The film starts. I play it in English with English subtitles and hope they get something out of it. Most of the kids are watching it, and a few are talking so I ask them to be quiet. They talk occasionally but I really can’t be bothered to keep telling them to shut up. The movie is good but I’m tired and slouching in my seat at the back. I fell asleep. The next thing I know, Min Kyung is waking me up and saying the vice principal came in and saw me sleeping and that isn’t good. I agree. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep. That was wrong of me. However, I don’t know why the man didn’t wake me up instead of sending his lackey to do it. And she mentioned it about five times that I shouldn’t fall asleep. Maybe she thinks I’m hard of hearing.

We didn’t get to watch the whole movie because of the problems getting the DVD to work so we’ll finish it tomorrow. Min Kyung asks me if I brought my lunch. Huh? Like I’m staying at school after camp. I don’t think so. I said, “No. I’m going home”. She reminds me I have the city camp to do this afternoon. Great. I need to be reminded every day. After all, I’m just the idiot foreigner.

Min Kyung asks if I’ve done lesson plans for the English camp. “No”, I say. She says I have to do them and to write what materials I’m using in the classes. She’s hung up on this materials thing. She says I should turn in my materials and I take a necktie out of my bag (I was going to use it as a blindfold for a game) and I said that I’m not giving the school my tie. It’s getting to the point where if she were to say to me, “Nice weather we’re having”, it would annoy me.

I’m at home and Mankee (the English speaking science teacher) calls me to remind me I have camp. I like the man but I said to him, “who told you to call me?” He said no one did, he was doing it on his own. So, I thanked him for his thoughtfulness. Then ½ hour later the city camp calls and asks if I’m coming. What is with everyone? I have a job, why wouldn’t I go. It’s almost like they are going out of their way to annoy me.

I went to the wrong school for the camp. The directions they gave me were useless. The school I went to couldn’t tell me how to get to the school I wanted. I called the man from the camp who called me and told him I was lost and where I was. He couldn’t explain to me how to get to the right school. He sent another teacher to come and get me. I followed him to the school and it was so easy to go to. Of course, if someone would have just told me the way, I wouldn’t have had a problem.

I had 2 classes with a co-teacher and we played a game in each class. It wasn’t work. It was quite easy but I was so envious. These kids are the best in the city. What a difference between what I have and these kids. There was one of my students in one of the two classes I had. I would die for classes like this.

I get a knock on my door at 9PM tonight. It’s one of the security people with something for me to sign. It seems like twice a week someone is coming by with something for me to sign. What am I signing? I have no idea. I just know there sure are a lot of things to sign. Maybe I’m signing that I agree to working with people who annoy me. Who knows?