Children

Two extra hours of volunteer work on Thursday night putting together a haunted house completely paid off on Friday. Watching tiny children scream and cry and run for their lives (in a controlled setting, of course) was strangely enjoyable. The rest of the fulfilling day was consumed in Halloween origami and candy consumption. Lest I lose sight of the rewards still attainable within the inevitable daily grind, the following anecdotes:


Life can only be understood backward, yet, it has to be lived forward. - Søren Kierkegaard

It's always somewhat depressed me to think that humans take so long to develop both physically and mentally. It seems a waste to spend 22 years just learning how to think, and then the rest of a lifetime still developing that process. Some never learn at all, which is not only depressing but also angering. Someone recently said the ages from 25 to 30 are the best in one's life because you're old enough that people take you seriously but young enough to still have carefree fun. But despite the fact that coworkers and friends here call my 21-year-old self "baby," my relatively young age is standing me in good stead. This week, my youth may have scored a few points toward tenure as teacher at POLY.

Last night one of my fifth grade classes experienced a long exprobation about the importance of respecting the teacher and completing homework. I pulled my favorite tone: one of those “deathly quiet,” intimately intimidating timbers which has proven pretty effective here.

I think it hit home.

Me: “I know you all have lots of work to do, and that POLY is not your only school. I know that if I call some of your parents to report you, they won’t care. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to respect me, and do your homework. I’m not just another one of those people saying you need to do this, either. I’m not much older than you. I am twenty-one years old. I’ve had to do homework for many years, and I’ve known how it is to be so busy with schoolwork and everything else. I had to do lots of homework just last year. But I can tell you that doing your homework will make you a better person in the long run. I wouldn’t be teaching you here if I hadn’t done my homework.

Suha: But teacher, you’re 21? That means you’re still student?
Me: No, I graduated university.
Them: Only 21? How is this possible? What kind of schools do they have in America?
Suha (incredulously): But teacher…that means you are very smart!
Me (discreetly smug): It means I know what I’m talking about, and you should listen to me.


There was silence in the room, and a new respect in their eyes. It will be gone and forgotten by next week, but at least for that lecture, there was peace, and a new temporary resolve on their part to complete the two pages of homework I assigned.



These munchkins make my living overseas possible. They’re not the reason I came, but they are the means by which my coming was made possible. I’ll be the first to admit that kids and teaching has never been a dream of mine (yet I recently realized it’s been my main source of income since I was 16). But they’ve turned out to be a bonus (admittedly a mandatory one) and I find myself smiling over on weekends when we’re apart. These are the kids who eat dried ramyeon and shrimp chips instead of Pringles and potato chips, who love old Mickey Mouse and Tom n Jerry cartoons, who regularly whip out origami frogs in class and Samsung touchscreens laden with large dangly charms. These are the kids who spend their days in one academy after another, who don’t do much homework, but still manage to function in two different languages and two different worlds.

Dino-crazy

Steve, grade 2: Abridged monthly writing test prompt: Describe your best friend."He's not very good at soccer, but he knows ALL the dinosaurs."

Txtbk Assignment: Using sequence words, tell your reader how to do something. Don’t forget a topic sentence!
How To Catch a Dinosaur
I will talk about how to catch dinosaur.
First, go to time machine.
Second, find a dinosaur that fights. Then tickle dinosaur’s nose.
Next, watch the dinosaur cough.
After that, land on another dinosaur.
Then, shout at dinosaur’s ear.
Finally, It will be mortified and catch with net.

My Parents' Bedroom
[Just the sound of this cracks me up...]
Cindy, grade 5: Txtbk Assignment: Describe your favorite place, using vivid adjectives, similes and metaphors.

My favorite place is my parents’ room….The claimax [sic] of my parents’ room is the king size romantic bed. It feels as soft as cotton candy, it smells as fresh as herbal, the blanket color is as red as red wine…

Twitter-pated
Brian, grade 2: Textbook assignment (the week after I required the students to create Twitter accounts for writing class): Complete and illustrate the [story about a giant bird].



"Lord Voldmot was there with his pupils. He gave my [sic] magic wand. I spoke, 'Twitter!' A mammoth bluebird came out and killed them. I became the most famous magician in the world."



Resolved: People should not eat meat (5th grade debate):
On vegetarians: "Vegetable people have only bones." (transl.: Vegetarians will shrivel and die without meat.
Response: "There are still fat vegetarians." (transl.: Vegetarians are capable of obtaining enough nutrients and then some.
On warranting their arguments: "It says in a book..."

Creativity
MAG3 is the most creative class. They've done excellent sculptures, sugar cube architecture, comic books, and painting among other things.