And let the teaching begin

Teaching ESL is both incredibly taxing, boring, hilarious, and heart-warming all at the same time.

Michael and I began our first day of actual teaching on Wednesday.
Wednesday I had three second grade classes all very, very different. In the first class I was nerve racked but pulled through with a lot of ABC singing. No help from co teacher. Next class was with the Matriarch. YEA! Easy flow...Matriarch led the way. Third class was the soccer coaches second grade class. Ah! Very silly , loud kids, shouting the ABC's while the Korean teacher taped the whole thing on his phone and did not stop even to assist me when the class got CRAZY!

Thursday was interesting. I had two 3rd grade classes, one fourth, and one after school. In the first third grade class, I walked in, said hello, the Korean teacher walked to the back of the room, and waved his hand in a "go for it" gesture, signaling me to start the class. Unfortunately I don't know Korean, the language most of the textbook is written in. So while I can get the gist of it, I can't really make out much else. At first I thought he would just let me flounder, but he came around and together , though pointing and miming we communicated and taught a class together...wow.

In the other 3rd grade class I was mostly used as a recepticle for good pronunciation of the English language. The teacher (who I really like) had two lessons for classroom English ready. She would say something in a heavy accent then point to me and say "Now watch Melanie teach-a a-speak-a da sound". The best classroom English phrase turned out to be "go back to your seat". The Korean teacher would say "Repeat afta me. A go beck-a to yoourl shit." And the whole class shouted in unision, "A go beck-a to yoourl shit". Very endearing. :-)

A lot of the quieter teachers know a lot more English then they let on. There are several teachers that can't directly communicate with me but can understand what I am saying and translate it to their students.

After school class was crazy. An hour before the class I was given a topic to teach, an attendance sheet, and told I would have mostly 6th graders. Oi.
I survived it but defintely need a plan as I have this class (which I teach alone) 4 days a week.
Class ended after a lot of high fives. Two of the tallest 6th grade boys came up to me as they were leaving. One looked at me and pointing to the other boy said, "This is my best friend." I love that he wanted me to know that. Very sweet. One girl in particular in this class likes to tell me what things are in Korean, touch my arm a lot and get hugs.

The next day I seemed to become even more of a celebrity than I had been before. The second graders (who seem to roam the halls at all hour) flocked to me wherever I went. A couple little boys were very interest in learning about me and Michael. One kept saying. "Melanie teacher...Michael teacher (then made a heart shape with his hands and put it over his heart)lub (love)?" And I would say "yes. Melanie teacher, Michael teacher love." This was followed by shrieks of excitement and recognition. It went on. "lub..marry...da-da-da--da (he hummed the wedding march!)" I said, "no, no marry". He said "Oh"and squealed, "in Korea no, no".!!!!!!!

On the third day Michael got out and played soccer with a ton of students. I wish I had a picture.



Tomorrow we start week two....wish us luck.