1) I almost cried tears of joy in my advanced elementary writing class. Actually, today I felt complete success. But first about the advanced class- We’ve spent the past two months working on Gulliver’s Travels. I've been wondering if they are really following with what was going on. In class today, they were instructed to write as much as they could about each of the three parts that we studied (Lilliput, Brobdingnag and the Houyhnhnms). For 40 minutes they worked individually, saying aloud some of their thoughts and asking me to correct their work. I was so proud of them! They were able to recall the key facts from each of the ‘adventures’ and write them into coherent sentences. The one boy looked at me kind of funny when he saw how overjoyed I was with his work!
2) I’m rejuvenated. After having a brief discussion with a coworker, I realized that I am not the only one feeling the tense atmosphere in work. Working at a language academy in a country like Korea, where there are multiple schools in practically every building, is very challenging. It is challenging for the owner, the supervisors and the teachers. Unfortunately, not every student is going to be happy with every lesson- this is the fine line. Finding the balance between games and activities and teaching the student that it will take some hard work to learn a new language. Movie English and other multimedia tools are excellent, but no matter what, grammar and writing are a necessity. Also, it is not a school- it is a business. The customer (the parent) expects results immediately. This is not an easy task. So, in the words of Benjamin Spock, "Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do," and what I know is that 'I Appreciate Notes' are amazing. I stuck a note in my distraught coworker's purse for her to find later telling her she's a great teacher. Today, she brought me a jar of homemade kimchi. Life is good!
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