Kate's Birthday Party & Festival

 

A week after Anthony's birthday party, we had Kate's birthday party. It was a lot of fun, and the student enjoyed the break from work and festival preparations.  So like I said before, after the time I had nothing to do, now I am extremely busy.  We are starting to use all new books at work, and I was the main editor after the Korean staff spent many weeks, including weekends, writing up classwork and homework books.  I took home editting work at least three nights, and have to say, I can only imagine what the Korean staff had to do.  And of course they were all due by the day of festival so that meant even more work for everyone.  And then graduation is the following week.

Festival was a lot of work for everyone, as there were musicals, speeches, and much more for each class.  They even had costumes for the musical (my class did Aladdin) and my class had costumes and props for their speech (What I Want To Be When I Grow Up).  Wendy - Scientist/Genie, Joseph - Police Officer/Aladdin, Winston - Soccer Player/Aladdin, Sohee - Painter/Jasmine, Amy - Doctor/Jasmine, Anthony - Taekwondo Fighter/Jafar, Kate - Ballerina/Jafar, Sally - Teacher/Sultan, Serry - Veterinarian/Gazeem.  We had a lot of rehearsals, but the day of festival went by really quickly.  Most of the parents were there to watch their kids.  Though I think they were all really stresses as I had three kindergarteners burst into tears in the classroom at various times of the day.  But thankfully they all did very well on stage and spoke nice and clearly and remembered their lines and dances. 

I even had to dress nicely (which led to many "Teacher, you look pretty!" comments ^.^) and give a speech, which wasn't too bad.  I just said how wonderful my students were and how they have improved over the last six months that I have had them.  One of the grandparents even gave me some lovely yellow flowers which was nice because I don't see fresh flowers often in Korea.  Then Anthony saw that and took a flower from his fake bouquet and said, "Here Teacher."  It was so cute that I couldn't say no.  Sally tried to give me her entire bouquet too but I wouldn't let her.  Serry gave me a random petal that had fallen off hers.  The things children do definately can make you smile, but it did leave me very tired afterwards.  Thank you Meena and Heather for taking pictures for me. 

A Short Break Then Chaos

A Rose Made By Kindergartener Kate

So ... it has been over a month or so since I last wrote.  I apologize but I was lazy and nothing too big was going on either way.  Mostly just playing Eden Eternal in my free time.... During the last month or so is the time many students take a break from school, so I got some extra free time at work.  Work wasn't too busy until these last few weeks as we prepare all of the end of the year stuff.  We will be getting new classes the beginning of March when the new school year begins. 

 

First, we have festival, which is where the students prepare speeches and a little Disney musical performance.  My students have Aladdin, and I am very excited to say they are singing A Whole New World as their finale piece.  They have been working really hard on memorizing their script lines and all the songs and dances.  They even have a speech that they have to memorize.  It is based off what they wany to be when they grow up.  Sadly the videos still won't upload or I'd show you some practice videos.

Then almost immediately after festival, we have graduation, and Alex and David are leaving.  We will be getting 1 new teacher, another guy named Nathan.  During graduation, all the 7 year old kindergarten classes have to prepare a speech and sing a few songs.  Then they move to Korean schools, and maybe will come back for some of our afternoon elementary classes.  Progress reports are due and we are working on changing books and improving the curriculum.  Needless to say, what was once a slow time has now become a very busy time as we all get ready for the new school year. 

Recently, we celebrated the Lunar (Chinese) New Year.  This meant that the teachers got to enjoy a nice three day weekend.  Before the New Year, the students dressed up in their hanbuk again (Yay for traditional asian clothes!).  All of my kindergarteners had to bow to me and thank me.  It was odd being bowed to, but it was really adorable at the same time.  They thanked me and then wished me a Happy New Year and I told them what a good job they did this year.  It is tradition for them to bow to their elders in respect (often their grandparents) and then get money in return for doing such a good job this year.  They also were reminded that they were a year older (so my class is considered 7 year olds now). 

Other news, we had a birthday party for Anthony.  Anthony's mom sent us a lot of fruit and everyone enjoyed it.  We will have another for Kate next week, and a week after that I turn 23 years old.... where does time fly .... I can't believe I'm 23 years old already.  Kate made a really good rose in art class out of brown clay.  She even layered it my pressing circular disks into each other.  It's a lot better than anything I could do.  Also, Joseph has become a lot more out-going and is quite the character now in class.