The Journey

"Teacher noooooooo!"

A couple of weeks ago our school held a speech contest. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to post some videos of the older kids and write a bit my afternoon classes that I so rarely talk about.

We were informed about the speech contest, by most teachers, around a month before it took place. From that moment onwards our sole mission in life (as far as they were concerned) was to spend a minimum of 25 minutes each week in a classroom full of agonisingly bored kids making them repeatedly recite, and devise actions too, a six line conversation or story book they had memorised weeks ago.

With one week to go until the contest the efforts to bore the kids to death were stepped up. For one week all the foreigner lessons were dedicated to speech contest practice. Every time I entered a classroom and uttered those fateful words: "Speech contest" I was met with unanimous groans and begging cries of: "Teacher, nooooo!" It was then my duty to watch as each kid, usually more than once a lesson, dragged themselves to the front of the classroom and, most of the time, perfectly recited their given text.

I could begin to comprehend the incessant practice if the parents were going to watch the contest, something that stupidly I though would happen. But as I arrived on the day I realised the only people watching were the teachers and the other kids - who I'm sure couldn't care less whether their classmates pronounced the conversation, they'd heard them practice a million times, correctly. A fact that was proved by the inability of the assembled kids to be quite and listen.

Kat and I were told we were to be the chairmen - which meant we had to announce the kids. The rest of the teachers were armed with scored cards. In true Korean style these were numbered 10 to seven, so no matter how bad the kids were the lowest they could score was seven! You gotta love the Hagwon way!

Onto the video and a bit about each class, unless you're one of my parents, a stalker or insanely interested in the kids at my school I'd stop reading now! This bit is mainly so I can look back and remember the kids and my classes.

Three time classes - or in English - 3:00pm classes.

Basic Adventure - Kang - Story book: Teddy's Big Adventures

This was the one class I didn't have to teach speech contest to. The Korean teacher (Kang) in her incompetence seemingly forgot about the speech contest. So I wasn't told what to do with any of her classes until I went and asked the director about them four days before the contest took place! Usually I would have asked the Korean teacher weeks ago but Kang's English is so bad I rarely converse with her unless she is saying: "new book today," (this happens around once a month) or "..... absent". Because of our lack of dialogue I kept waiting for her to tell me what was happening then before I knew it it was the week of the contest and she hadn't said a word. Luckily this absolved me of responsibility of the boredom of one class, especially as the kids had already memorised the book as part as their normal classes.

VIDEO - Basic Adventure - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/Teddykang.AVI

IN THE VIDEO - Left to right: Annie, Amy, Diane, Kate ??

This class is learning one of the books I teach in Kindy. I only know some of their names because new students keep appearing who don't understand the question: "What is your name?" Or Don't have an English name. Nobody informs me that a new student has started and tells me their name I just enter the classroom to find them sitting there (in fact that happened in this class today and I didn't notice her until about 10 minutes into my lesson!). I don't even have a class list so I only ever have a rough idea of how many students I'm supposed to have!

There are also some boys in this class but I didn't take any video of them. Most of these kids are ok. Kate used to be in a much higher class but for some reason disappeared from the school for ages then reappeared in this class. Amy has been at the school for ages but apparently struggled the more difficult books. Most of these kids are probably capable of a harder book as most of them can converse with me on a very basic level. The other kids I teach this book to don't know their alphabet yet! But who am I to judge how well the kids can speak English.

Super Fantasy - Henry - Conversation: Level 2

These kids are a nightmare. I teach the whole class three times a week and I take five of them for another two lessons a week. Most of them have big personalities and they can be incredibly difficult to control.  Another problem with this class is that Henry (the Korean teacher) refuses to discipline the kids. "They are paying money we must be nice to them!" Yeah right! Since Cindy left and Henry took over this class their behaviour has gone from bad to worse because he refuses to tell them off. I can shout at them and tell them off all I like but it doesn't mean anything to them if they don't understand me!

VIDEO - Super Fantasy, Brian and Sunny - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/briansunny.AVI

Sunny is one of the kids I really dislike. He is constantly doing something other than what he is supposed to. I usually spend my lessons confiscating various items that emerge from his bag whilst he's supposed to be reading his story book. He fidgets incessantly and NEVER has his story book open on the right page!

VIDEO - Super Fantasy, Eddie and Steven - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/eddiesteven.AVI

VIDEO - Super Fantasy, Lilly, Rebecca, Emily, Jean and Nick - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/lillyrevetc.AVI

The above video is of the kids I have for an extra two lessons every week: They are horrible to teach. When I arrived at the school I heard that the previous foreign teacher had named them Jurassic Park because during his lessons they would constantly make dinosaur noises! Lilly and Rebecca are wild (Kat had some good video of them fighting, screaming and running around during her lesson!), Jean and Nick are just difficult whilst Emily is the one good one who doesn't cause any problems. But Kat and I have suspicions Rebecca and Lilly pick on her a bit for being fat!

The conversation in the video I adapted from the one I wrote for pink class for their graduation. When I showed it to he Henry though it was too hard, saying that they wouldn't be able to memorise it. This was despite him wanting me to teach it for three 25 minute lessons every week for one month! A monkey could memorised that conversation in that amount of time!

At 3pm I also teach Super Special who have some of the best English in the school. I didn't take any video of them because their scripts were too long and my camera was running out of memory space, but I did take some pictures. Also this is one of few classes that are taught by me and Katrina: Katrina was given the arduous task of teaching them speech contest.

 
Amy and Luna.

Amy is the daughter of the aforementioned teacher, Kang. She probably has better English than her mother!

 
Arnold and William.

Arnold is one of the loudest kids in the class whilst William is the quietest and also the least able.

 
Crystal and Alice.

Crystal is the best kid in the class, this could be because she is one of the kids that hangs around the school for ages after her lesson. I'm guessing this is because there is no-one at home to look after her!

 
Kelly and Anna.

Kelly is very sweet. Whilst Anna is probably the most annoying in the class. She has a tendency to come and stick her nose into whatever you are doing whilst you're on your break.

 
Kenny and Kate.

 
Kevin and James.

Kevin is probably the loudest kid in the class and has terrible handwriting!

Four time classes - or in English - 4:00pm classes

Basic Junior - Jinny - Story book: The Crystal Starfish

You may recognised this book from the video of the kindergarten performance and graduation. The school (franchise) produces two versions of their books, one for kindy and one for the older kids, making my job even more boring!

I like this class but I really dislike the Korean teacher. She barley speaks a word of English but constantly looks down her nose at us foreigners. Every time you question something she has done or ask her why her class is different to every other one you teach she responds with: "The master said!" If you then dare to question further, ask for help or ideas on what to teach she goes running to Mr Kwak ("the master") and you're landed with a 10 minute incomprehensible rant form him about something which just required a simple answer from Jinny in the first place. I have given up communicating with her, if she doesn't make any sense I just do my own thing!

VIDEO - Basic Junior - Crystal Starfish - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/crystalstarfish.wmv

First you see Jenny, Jinny and Tom then Tony.

On Jinny's instructions taught up to a certain page for the contest. I was therefore astounded when on the day she had made one of the kids (Tony) memorise the entire book. I only finished teaching this book last week (three weeks after the contest) and subsequently Tony has spent every single lesson since the contest causing trouble and generally being a nuisance because he's already finished the work I'm doing with the rest of the class. I swear sometimes they deliberately try and make our classes more difficult.

After the contest one of the students was moved up a level, you'd assume with his ability to memorise the whole book in half the time of the rest of the class that would be Tony, but no it was Jinny! I'm still trying to figure out why! (I have just come out of this class (three weks after the contest) and found Tony is moving up a level.)

Inter Junior - Sophia - Conversation: Level three, Story Book: His Name was Popeye

This is another class I like. They are all good kids who get on with their work and don't give me any trouble. They didn't even complain too much about the incessant speech contest practice. They were more than happy to learn their conversations and make up actions. I also like the Korean teacher, Sophia, she was the only teacher who thanked me for the work I put in to get her classes ready for the speech contest.

VIDEO - Inter Junior - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/Interjuniorsophia.wmv

As you can see in the video the last kid, Sam, struggled remembering the story book. He was originally doing conversation like the rest of the kids but his partner went on holiday or something (all Sam told me was: "Scott, plane, fly, no speech contest!") so at the last minute Sam had to memorise part of the book. Usually this wouldn't be a problem because the kids memorise the book as part of their lessons but thankfully Sophia doesn't make the kids do this making the lessons more interesting for the kids and for me.

Inter Adventure - Anne - Story book: There is a Town

This class is OK. They are a slimmed down version of a class I used to hate that was split because their ability levels were so different. Luckily I didn't get the completely useless kids but I did get the average kids. However since they have been in this class they are much more pleasant to teach. A bit too talkative and have taken to laughing at the way I say things (because obviously they know better) which is incredibly annoying. But on the whole they are an OK class.

VIDEO - Inter Adveture, There is a Town - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/thereisatown.wmv

First you see Ricky and Shaun, then Katie, then Tom and Dennis, then Katie, Jennie and Christina, then Kennis, Eddie and Sky. They did pretty well with this book, but it was very easy for them.

Five time classes - or in English - 5:00pm classes

Basic Fantasy - Sophia - Story book: Teddy's Big Adventures

This is another class doing the very basic story book. These kids are complete beginners and were given the rare privilege of looking at the book during the contest because many of them don't know their alphabet yet. Personally it astounds me that the school expects the kids to memorise a story book before they teach the kids the alphabet - but what would I know? We recently had a meeting and were told to teach the kids to read - but we're allowed to teach them the alphabet or phonics so they can sound out a word we just have to use a story book to tech them to read! I guess the Koreans know what they're doing?? It just all sounds a bit backwards to me.

Luckily Sophia is the Korean teacher for this class and although she can't do anything I think she comprehends where I'm coming from with the whole reading thing. She has even let me teach phonics for a few lessons. So this class now know the vowels and their sounds. But I get a new story book next week so no more phonics! Just teaching them to read using the book!

VIDEO - Basic Fantasy, Teddy's Big Adventures - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/teddysophia.wmv

Basic Adventure - Kang - Story Book: Sir Small and the Dragonfly / Silent e

I also like this class. They are usually pretty good. They love playing games although can get a little over enthusiastic standing on chairs, cheering and chanting at the tops of their voices. They also love nothing more than shouting the story book as loud as they can!

VIDEO - Sir Small and the Dragonfly, Jacob and Justin - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/sirsmall.wmv

This was another of Kang's classes and so I wasn't informed about the speech contents until four days beforehand. Half the class were given their old story book that they'd already memorised whilst the other half to memories their new story book: Sir Small and the Dragonfly. They did remarkably well to memorise what they did in that time. Although one girl, who was struggling with this book, didn't turn up on the day. I only have video of two of the kids from this class because my camera was running out of memory space. The kid on the right of the video, Justin, is the brother of Irene from Kindy.

Six time classes - or in English - 6:00pm classes

I only had one class I teach at this time doing the speech contest. The other are older kids and were not entered.

Basic Magic - Kang - Story book: Sir Small and the Dragon Fly / Silent e

This is another class I like (or liked). Over the last couple of weeks loads of new students have arrived making it quite a difficult class because their ability levels vary so greatly. I am also very lazy with this class because I usually have a 25 minute break before the class, then Kang is always five minutes late out which means I get into this class just 20 minutes before I finish work and after winding down for half an hour. Subsequently by this point I am easily distracted. The kids usually have something to show me or a Korean word to try and teach me, that usually takes about five minutes of the lesson then by the time I've got them settled and started teaching anything there is only about 10 minutes left. Good job I'm only doing story book and they'll be bored after seven minutes. Just enough time to pack up and get out dead on 6:50pm so I can be on my way home by 7pm!

This is another class of Kang's so had very little time to memorise the book the video is of the twins reciting their old book, Silent e.

VIDEO - Basic Magic, Angelina and Julie - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Speech%20contest2/silente.wmv

• Posted by j150vsc on 23/04/2007.
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