The Kids

I'm really beginning to enjoy teaching these kids. I teach five classes. Four of them I teach twice a week and one of them (my most advanced level) I teach only once a week. My youngest student is in the 3rd grade and my oldest is in the 7th (I think).

One student I like in particular is named John. He is chubby, but the kind of chubby that will fall away once he hits puberty. His cherub face is almost constantly smiling and I love to watch him verbally battle the girls in the class. They trade insults and he yells that it's unfair that I pick the girls to read more often than the boys. His English isn't advanced enough for me to explain that since there is only one other boy and six girls his argument is ridiculous. I just shrug and smile. And each time I ask for a volunteer to read, if he wants to be chosen, he'll shoot his chubby little arm high in the air, fingers rigid and pointed upward, and scream, "JOHN!" Sometimes he just lets out a guttural scream.

One of my girls is particularly cute and always gets straight A+'s on her memorization tests. I commented on her unfailing performance and she told me that her mother won't let her sleep until she has memorized everything perfectly. Last Sunday she was up until 1:30AM. And she's 7 or 8.

Another boy I like even though he doesn't put forth as much effort as I'd like is Johann. Don't ask me where he got the name. He is clearly intelligent and funny as all hell, but he is a bit ornery and has problems remaining quiet and staying on task. When you come near him, he smiles his crooked, yellow-toothed grin. But if you move your arm too quickly while standing near him (like when I talk to him and make quick hand gestures), he shrinks back as if he is sure he's going to get hit.

They ask me questions about my personal life all the time. I tell different classes different stories. One class believes I was in the US Army and have a black belt in karate. Another believes I am 62 years old and married with three children. And another class belives I teach them English for free and live in the Seoul Subway station.

I do admire many of these children. Apparently there are only two colleges worth attending in the country and the competition is fierce. I suppose that's one of the contributors to the high suicide rate here. Or so I hear. They go to three schools at a time and only have, on average, one day per week when they don't have to go to school and no days where they have no studying or homework. Some have more demanding parents than others, of course, but it's sad to see some of them fighting to stay awake in class with only 4-6 hours of sleep under their belts.

Today was Children's Day. One student asked when America's Children's Day is, and I told her that in America every day is Children's Day.

But, even though there's no way I'd ever allow them to read my blog, I want to say to my students: Happy Children's Day! You deserve it.

(What I could really use is a holiday for single females in the mid-twenties trying to find out what to do with their lives. That'd be a great holiday. It would be a day to celebrate this stage of life and a day to hope that these days won't last forever.)