Drugs, Conferences, Turkeys and Top 10s

I think Korean kids are, for the most part, pretty smart. People here are known for their work ethic, and some of my students are true testaments to this. (Some people just stay at work for long hours, but it doesn’t mean they’re slaving away.) The middle-level class I teach has some of my brightest, hardest-working students. There are at least three prodigies in this one section, and they are always on top of everything, from homework to current events. But I’m reminded of their youth and greenness once in a while, based on, amongst other things, questions they ask. The last book we read was Elian Gonzalez: Caught Between Two Countries. Toward the end, we were talking about demonstrations in the US and Cuba after the INS made the decision to send the boy back to Cuba to be with his father. Some people were arrested. Well, one of the examples in the workbook to explain the word “arrest” said,

“The man was ___________ when customs officers found drugs in his bag.”

Two of my smartest kids asked, “Teacher, what is ‘drugs’?” Wow. I was taken aback at the naiveté. (One of the same two children asked me in the following class, “Teacher, what is Big Bang?” I looked at my book trying to find the sentence to which she was referring and having no luck, I said, “Where is that?” and she said, “No, I just want to know.”) This is a different society indeed! How do you explain what drugs are to eleven year olds? Opportunity! If their definition of drugs describes how undesirable they are, I could plant a seed in their little brains in case their futures ever include them encountering such. My impromptu lesson was, “Drugs that you take for a headache are okay. When your doctor gives you medicine because you are sick, he is giving you drugs. They change your body and make you better. But some drugs are a really bad thing for your body. Some people take them, and they are a little bit crazy. You can smoke them, put them in your blood or in your nose, and some people swallow them. They change your body and make you worse. They hurt your heart and your brain. So when people get caught with drugs, because those drugs are so bad, those people are arrested and brought to jail.” I think they got the idea, but the topic has low importance here because the few drugs that do exist are hard to find and not really an issue.

My school divides terms into 13 weeks per course. Now that 9 weeks of this term are completed, there will be level-up tests the second half of this week to see if students are able to move to the next level. The tests are about 150 questions and they have 90 minutes total to complete a reading and a listening section. This shouldn't be an exceptional amount of concern for me as far as my regular class preparation duties go. Additionally, we have to write a report both to each student and about each student, which is also not a problem, just a little time consuming considering I have 51 underlings. However, we have to meet with each of their parents, as well. Of course, there will be an interpreter in the room. I can be pretty tactful when I want or need to be, and because I have to write the report before I meet with their parents, I will have everything diplomatically worded so that “Your kid is a slacker” doesn’t come out. My concern is the parents of three students in particular. Their averages are between C and F. They often make zeros on their memorization work, which is a direct result of the homework they didn’t do. Parents call already and say, “Oh, teacher doesn’t motivate my kid/give them more homework/I don’t like the way she writes her checkmarks” or whatever. (Andy has some especially ridiculous parents who have come up with some pretty exciting accusations which have made us all glad that there is a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in each classroom). I have 48 students whose parents I’m not really concerned about more than I should be. But still, my three students who make Fs and will go several weeks at a time without doing an ounce of homework and who would sit in class for an entire 3 hours and not lift a pencil if I allowed it… I just dread meeting with their folks. How do I say, “Your kid is lazy” in a nice way? No one wants to hear that. My grandparents in their 70s still don’t think my mom is ever at fault for anything, but an elementary student? Ahh geez!

My Korean class ended on Monday. I am officially a beginner! I feel like I learned a lot of words, but not necessarily how to correctly put them together. Well, I will have to train this month to teach a higher-level English course at my institute, which would require me to miss 3-5 days of Korean class. This past Saturday though, I received a late birthday present from my thoughtful cousin, Kerrie. Learn Korean on CD! 10 CDs full of I don't even know how many 30 minute lessons. Since I can already read and write Hangul, if I can understand what means what, I should be good to go. Or as good as I need to be for my stint here.

I got an email from a friend of mine who just recently moved from San Francisco, CA to Melbourne, Australia. He has a friend from college stationed in Seoul and is contemplating making a visit for Thanksgiving. Woohoo! The prospect of having someone even remotely familiar visit, especially for a cool holiday, is quite exciting. I don’t foresee my school giving any time off for the holiday, since Korea’s Thanksgiving was in September, but even if I only see him for a little while, it’ll still be pretty cool to have a somewhat recognizable face around!

I’m compiling several top 10 lists. Of course, there’s the list of the Top 10 things I miss. I also have Top 10 “Engrish” moments, Koreans I love/hate, Cultural Shocks, etc. Please send your suggestions and I plan to keep this list going for my stay here and disclose it upon my departure.

Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed