My students

So, I started to get really frustrated with yelling "Hey you!" in classes to try and get the kids to listen to me, so I decided to take one week (last week) to record ALL my students names from every class, at ONE of my three schools, so that I could try to learn their names, and be able to yell at specific kids instead of just "Hey you!" Following, is a typed list of all these kids (plus doing this REALLY helped me learn the layout of the Korean keyboard. Now I can type Korean without looking down every time I try to find the right letter. Still not as fast as English, but not far off):

M, T, W 9:50am Special class
김진석 - decent, playful b
이은찬 - TROUBLE b
준호 - cute, biter, b
이동건 - teeth/eyes b
김면준 - trouble 2 b
오유만 - window b
김정호 - b/y stripes b
김지우 - head band g
박하은 - new g
안소연 - cute g
고연주 - small, curly hair g

M, W 9:55am
이윤상 - little mischief b
유지훈 - THE kid, ad lib b
정영진 - fragile b
정현민 - little trouble, teeth b
장원준 - green b
윤선재 - perm b
최형준 - Beckham hair b
마윤민 - teeth b
이현정 - pigtails g
정승아 - cute g
채헤연 - pink, mushroom hair g
김예은 - cute, giggly g
김서현 - new g
김한희 - cute, one pigtail g
조유즤 - eyes g

M 10:20am
오명주 - sp class b
김자현 - cute, little g
김현민 - b
도민혁 - rambunctious b
임주연 - (playful feet) g
서준 - shy b
이예은 - cute, eyes, face g
서상진 - cute b
오창현 - military cut b
------------
방형원 - shy b
김긴기 - green coat b
신하경 - cute little g
강현명 - perm b
최세웅 - LOOKS like trouble maker (not) b
이도윤 - cute, little, little g
김수성 - looks balding b

M, T 10:45am
이소한 - cute playful g
유신영 - eyes g
오호영 - teeth g
신하현 - cute g
박소윤 - serious g
김예솔 - absent
박주혁 - cute glasses b
기도현 - Bootanka
송재민 - rambunctious b
오재성 - cry glasses b
윤대회 - facial expression, teeth b

M, T 11:10am
박준우 - trouble A LOT b
최지민 - twin trouble b
최지우 - other twin b
이식 (이세현) - cook's son, trouble b
최일규 - quiet b
이건은 - little cute b
한창희 - fun kid b
황예림 - not happy g
이조은 - cute, photo g
조수빈 - Santa Claus g
이난희 - glasses cute g
오소경 - SMART reader g
이자영 - chubby g

M, T 11:35am
심지수 - glasses, sad g
박도연 - pee girl
이윤서 - cute and playful g
장준희 - cute, pink, talkative g
이현지 - cute and SMART g
최진선 - glasses g
전강현 - small, cute b
임재민 - Spiderman b
최민준 - Spiderman's friend b
황희원 - cute, rambunctious b
최건 - badish b
김도헌 - perm bad b

M,T,W 1:50pm Special
박기완 - cute b I played w
최진혁 - smart, active b
유지훈 - ad lib b
장원준 - green coat b
한정우 -quiet, good b
정승아 - CUTE g
박병근 - plaid coat, crazy b
김민석 - perm b
최하늘 - cute, quiet g
이한영 - chubby b
김넉준 - trouble b

M, T, W 2:20pm Special
지원 - older, bigger b
소희 - cute, chubby g
도연 - food g
대환 - cute, small b
윤서 - cute, quiet g
정민 - teeth, chubby b
이삭 - cook's b
김도헌 - perm trouble b
강재욱 - small, smily b

T 9:55am
신송이 - cute, small g
정민 - smart g
조수민 - eyes, curly hair g
서하나 - cute, pigtails, playful g
양진영 - plaid today, big head b
박민준 - "panties" b
김 윤상 - small, black and eyes b
최호운 - green, chubby b
장현민 - special class trouble b
한정우 - cute kid, smily b
최대규 - ET-like head b
이한설 - small, small, b
박동혁 - rambunctious b

T 10:20am
이은민 - eyes, chubby g
김연주 - special class g
이은컴 - small, rambunctious g
이윤재 - pumpkin face, smily g
여우철 - glasses b
김도환 - bed head hair b
김도연 - cute, playful b
정승원 - round head, buzz cut b

W 10:20am
연희 - of course 연희
경서 - happy g
재륜 - shy, quiet g
선혁 - trouble b
두환 - mullet b
민성 - quiet, nice b
건영 - round head, eyes b
대운 - grown look b
진태 - head gear b
환석 - teeth b

W 10:45am
전나래 - chubby, glasses g
정연주 - bad teeth g
이지원 - cute, dyed hair g
강민해 - teeth, biter g
김하늘 - cute, eyes g
백주희 - leg braces, sp class g
김성훈 - perm, cute b
양해민 - looks like Tom b
김건호 - trouble, sp class b
유명환 - bigger, and eyes b
양지성 - smallest, round head b

W 11:10am (worst class of the week)
김주연 - pigtails g
현성희 - small, one tail g
임현희 - eyes g
박건하 - perm BIG trouble b
방지원 - special class, bigger
김도영 - eyes, teeth, trouble
이다혁 - good kid b
긴정환 - bad, bad, bad, trouble, rambunctious b


Well, that's everyone from the morning, for three days of the week. I also have 2-3 more special classes that happen on Thursday and Friday, as well as 3 classes I see every day for the after school elementary program (I know the names of all the kids in 2 of those classes because I teach them regularly, but the other 10 kids in the third class I only know 3 names). And on Thursday, I have 5 different story time classes with between 7 and 15 kids in each class. And on Friday, I go to another different school for 6 classes with between 15 and 25 kids in each class. Needless to say, I don't know even SOME of those names. I only see the Thursday/Friday kids for 20 minutes each week, and the whole time I'm teaching, not taking or learning names.

Now, adding that all up, I've got about 150 students JUST mornings, M, T, W. Include the extra 30 kids from the after school program each day of the week. Then add in the additional perhaps 20 kids I missed from the Thursday and Friday special classes, and we've got about 200 kids so far, just for M, T, W. Thursday's kids are approximately 5 * 10 = 50 extra. And Friday's kids are approximately 6 * 20 = 120 extra. Putting that ALL together, that's almost 370 kids each week, and taking away a few that I may have counted twice, and giving room for error, I see AT LEAST 350 DIFFERENT kids every week. Holy crap!

Well, I suppose it's a good thing that I FINALLY started to learn some names. Unfortunately, my boss just hired two new teachers who will take my place at at least 2 of these schools coming next month. It's not that I really mind that so much, but it's just seems like I've almost wasted my effort last week to record so many names when I won't be using any of those after February.

It seems like my boss is going to be putting me back into the University when that all starts up again, esp. since that is what my contract says specifically, however, after teaching solely kindergarten for the last 3 months, it really isn't so bad. Some of the kids are esp. troublesome, but at the end of the day, they are just kids. Anyway, I HOPE when my boss does put me back into the University that he won't give me a CRAPPY split shift again like last semester. Where I work a few hours EARLY in the morning, and then have a 4 hour break or so, and then work a few hours LATER in the evening.

I do like University classes because the people there WANT to be there, and are much more disciplined than the kids (and they just skip if they don't want to be there). But, I also like kindergarten, even if it is more challenging, just because it stretches me more, and makes me be creative, energetic, and like a kid, even on the spur of the moment. So, I at least hope that I don't lose my Friday school, I think I'm the only English teacher there, and that's where I REALLY shine!

The other schools have a multimedia format and computer discs, and story books with really only one way to teach them, so my creativity in those schools is limited by the material. However, every time I go to the other school, on Friday, I walk in with NO idea of what I'm going to do, and each week it is a different story and a different song. And I have to stretch my creativity to make both things equally interesting and entertaining for the kids, and they love it. The first class or two, I get used to the story and the song, and develop a style for the rest. The 3rd class is the youngest (3-4 years old American age, 5 Korean age) so I have to be more active there and simplify a lot, or I just lose the kids. After that, the next two classes don't have working CD players so I have to acappella the songs and I can add my own little "twists" such as speeding up or slowing down dramatically (and the kids LOVE faster and faster singing and actions). And by the time I hit the last class, I've already had a great day, so the last one is my best and most fun class.

Seriously, every time I finish the job there, even if I'm tired, or sick when I walk in, I feel like a million bucks when I walk out. So, if nothing else, I hope that I keep that school.