Day 54: Monday, October 17

NOT a Bad Case of the Mondays

This week started unlike most weeks I have had here –wherein the Monday is a slightly dreaded return to the working world –because this Monday rocked.  Not that “The Mondays” is a particular uneasiness reserved for the Asian part of the world, but I certainly felt it more here than in any other workplace environment (Formex excluded).  However, with the gradual flip of the switch, my Monday was actually quite productive and dare I say, fun! 

My brutish Blueberries still brought lots of energy but I was able to channel it into enthusiasm for our TinyTalk (textbook), high-fives and hugs.  Of course, there were still slip ups since they are children and having spontaneous fits of dancing, crying or daydreaming is just natural, but correction of such situations seemed much easier to handle with our recent bonding.  Also, I think it was highly beneficial that I had the opportunity to go on a work trip with a handful of my coworkers, my supervisor, Ann and the directors of my school: Mr. Cho and Eileen.  Having a chance to see my superiors far removed from the work environment (read: slightly tipsy in a Buyeo Norebong), I was able to create that more personal connection that I crave in any of my relationships with people.

From left to right: my co-worker, Chad; my supervisor, Ann; Wonderland's director, Eileen; Andrea, Hilary, myself; and Wonderland's co-director, Cho.  Taken this past weekend when we were on an hiking/cruise/bus tour of Buyeo, South Korea

Ultimately, the day seemed to fly by.  It helped that I utilized my juggling skills to spontaneously thrill and amaze my first period class and then continued to be popular with my planned Snack Party in third period.  By the time my fifth and sixth period classes rolled around, I realized that my all-male classes were finally starting to task risks in their written and oral communication.  Not only is my advanced class willing to ask questions like “Why is Canada so big?”, they also seem more capable of correcting eachother’s English in a whiteboard peer-editing exercise.  As someone who has been trained to teach English, it delights me that I can start to use the strategies that proved successful in Canadian classrooms; it’s a far cry from the ‘duck, duck, goose’ and hangman skills that I often elicit in my lower-level classes.   

Also, my middle-school boys have now come to the realization that their high-frequency use of Korean will not deter me from teaching them English –particularly because I’m sneakily hinting at their interests (such as the “beautiful and perfect” Korean singer IU or the ever-popular game of Angry Birds) in our conversations so they have no choice but to be drawn in.  Thankfully, a teenage boy’s capacity to talk about the hotness of a famous actress, singer, etc. is universal; beyond creating conversation, it keeps the chatter interesting until our class comes to an end at 7:30pm.