Ready, Go.
The principal at my school informed my co-teacher that we would be having an English speech contest just days before he expected it to happen. This put a lot of stress on my co-teacher as she is extra busy this time of year. Since she is a temporary teacher and not used to everything here it is extra stressful for her. Our school is very small compared to most elementary schools and this means that the teachers have even more work because it is split between fewer teachers. It is not uncommon for my co-teachers to fall asleep at their desks in the middle of the afternoon. There are also beds in the nurse's office with heated pads where teachers can go to take a nap. My co-teacher gave me the go ahead one day and I spent about an hour cuddled up and warm, staring at my eyelids. I don't think you've assimilated enough into Korean teacher culture until you've fallen asleep at your desk. Yesterday I woke up when a co-worker walked into the English room to give the English teachers an invitation to her wedding. I was a little embarrassed that I had to wipe the drool from my mouth as she was looking at me with a grin on her face.
Well this post has started to go in a totally different direction than intended.
So last week my teacher started working on the logistics of the speech competition. The 3rd-6th graders that wanted to compete had to write a speech on various topics and recite it the next week. They had the weekend to write and memorize their speeches and my co-teacher had that time to work everything out. She was already stressed because she has been working on figuring out winter camps too. Winter camps are week-long or more English camps that the native English teachers have to teach during winter break. Last Friday my co-teacher was so stressed out and looked like she was about to cry. I asked her, "Are you okay?" She said yes but you know when people ask you if you are okay and you say yes but you really aren't and it makes you break down in tears? Well that's what happened. I felt so bad because I knew that she was really stressed out and I wanted to help but there is not much I can do without being able to speak Korean. I always ask her to give me work and sometimes she gives me little task but usually just mundane details, nothing big. My other co-teacher and I left for the day hoping that the weekend would calm her down a little.
The next Monday the 3rd and 4th graders were scheduled to give their speeches. Before the contest I volunteered to read the speeches and pick out the better ones which would be awarded more points for 'content.' As I was reading I began cracking up hysterically at my desk at the hilarious, insightful, brilliant things that some of these students were writing. The 5th and 6th graders gave their speeches on Wednesday and my reaction was the same while reading theirs. Throughout the contest I just sat in the back of the room, score sheet in hand, with a huge grin on my face and seriously almost getting teary-eyed. I had never heard my students, especially my 3rd graders, express themselves before. In class they have to spontaneously answer questions but with this assignment they were able to take time to think, write down and practice what they wanted to say. It was a really awesome event as it allowed me to understand the students' personalities a little bit more which is hard to experience with the language barrier. I felt a little bit bad for scoring little elementary school kids on their English language ability but I guess that's what Korea is all about: competition. Because some of the students' quotes were so intriguing I had to copy them down and share them with someone. My co-teacher just didn't appreciate them the same as I did because English isn't her first language, but I hope you get as much of a kick out of them as I did and still do. Here are a few of the quotes that I wrote down, with added commentary on some, separated by grade level:
3rd grade:
"I am so happy when I have dilicious food with my family. Especially, I like deonjangjigae, cheonggukjang, kimchijigae. They smell a little but they are really good."
-The smellier the better.
"My dream is to be a soccer player in the future. I'm a girl but I like to play soccer very much. I want to inform my country in the world like woman soccer player Yeo-Min-Ji."
-A 9 year old future feminist <3
"My mother takes care of me. She is a math teacher. So she helps me a lot with my math homework. I think she loves my brother more than me. But she also loves me...My brother is seven years old. He is very cute. His name is Toby, and he likes drawing pictures. I like his hairstyle. Sometimes, I tease him, and he yells a lot."
-Can't empathize with ya there, brother. My mom loves me the best.
"Flavorite food is seaweed."
-Can you imagine the typical American child's face when he heard his 9 year old Korean peer say that his favorite food was seaweed?
"My father is tall. He is very busy and works until late at night. He is a stern father but he loves me."
-Multiple students wrote about their fathers being stern. I thought it was culturally significant.
"My favorite color is blue, Becaus blue color makes me clam."
-Clam or calm, it's awesome either way.
5th grade:
"Our English teacher is a native speaker and she is from America. She is kind and pretty."
-Had to throw that in there.
"Lastly we have to improve our a little bad things: loudly noise and playing tag, cutting in line school lunch, pushing eachother when washing hands. If our these points change, I think our class will be more orderly and great class."
-Future Kailey teacher.
"My classmates have a lot of nicknames. These are so funny and interesting. Kim-yoon-kyung is 'lazy' because she behaves like a bear moving very slowly. Lee-eun-bi is a primitive woman, and the nickname of Park-mi-jun is a martian...I also have particular nicknames; vampire and koala. Do you think I really look like these characters?...Anyway you can imagine how exciting and unique my classmates are by their nicknames."
-Girl, you don't even wanna know my nicknames.
"Our class has 27 friends. Their favorite subject is P.E. Because when they do P.E. they feel good and do their best in P.E. But I think they do not good at math. Because They don't answer when teacher gives a question in math class every day. Our teacher is very scared if she is angry. But sometimes she is funny."
-It's bad if she even scares herself when she is angry! I do it sometimes too.
"An English class with native speaker teacher is really exciting."
-Oh, stop it.
6th grade:
"Drum skills of the star is so much better now cocked."
-Your guess is as good as mine.
"All the people's plan the daily schedule is almost same
First is wake up
That's war"
-I couldn't have said it better myself.
And now an ode to the Korean educational system:
The test
I had midterm test a few weeks ago.
I wanted to do well on my test.
I was very busy preparing for the test.
Before the exam I reviewed what we learned.
The test give me a lot of stress.
I was very nervous before the test.
My heart was pounding.
I did my best,
finally the test were over.
After the test I felt free.
The test results came out.
I did well in English and Korean.
but I messed up in the science
I rank in the middle of my class.
I didn't want to show my report card to my parents.
I need to improve my grades.
Ill study hard from now on.
I just thought this was brilliant. This puts into English words the stress that many Korean students feel. This begins at the elementary school level and continues up until the university entrance exams and beyond. So much pressure is put on children and adolescents to succeed in school, otherwise it is thought that one will have no future. This speech, which I see as a poem, was written by one of my best 6th grade students. I love the rhyme and repitition and feel that she needs recognition for this.
Have a good Thanksgiving everyone! I wish I could be at home with you, family!
I'm jealous. I think if my students had o do speeches, all they would talk about is Starcraft, K-pop stars, and of course, "handsomeguy teecha." As usual, a great post.
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