As it stands, I have a ten hour work week. My week starts on Friday. I get a much needed break on Saturday. Then I’m back to the grindstone on Sunday to close it out. Currently, I’m in the process of getting a second job, but I’d be kidding myself if I said that working twice a week wasn’t an easy thing to get used to.
Possible cover for the tiny Asian version of Breakfast Club.
Maybe it’s because my schedule is less than grueling, but the kids I teach are actually pretty great too. I have first graders that are, at least in terms of understanding me, almost fluent little first graders. They’re fun and haven’t even brought me to the point of yelling once yet. A pretty amazing feat, considering that by this point last year I felt like I was scooping up 3rd graders in each arm and chucking them out of the class on the regular. Last year there were points where I was pretty convinced that all kids were just smaller shittier versions of real people.
My other class is made up of much lower level students of students of about the same age. One of our two weekly meetings is a 3 hour marathon of a class. Given that these three students only have an English vocabulary slightly larger than mine in Chinese, class tends to drag on quite a bit. By the end everyone (myself included) is both physically and mentally exhausted. I try and suck as much time out of every activity as humanly possible. I do things like give them tons of little flash cards to cut out because I know that their motor skills are lacking and that should buy me 20-25 minutes. We also have a full 40 minute stretch dedicated to coloring something. Sometimes this is english related. Other times, not so much. Also, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t let their break stretch out a little longer than it should. Still though, this one can be tough. I know it’s absurd for a person with a two day work week to complain about anything job related, but for these three hours at least, I feel like I’m more than earning my money.
Last week we had open house day. This is the day that the parents get to come in, observe your classes and tell you what they think. Now, normally I’d say that the prospect of teaching in front of a room full of tiger moms is less than exciting, but at least this time round, it went incredibly well. I think the kids were more stressed about it than I was, which meant that they were on their best behavior. Also, given that I only work twice a week, you better believe I can put together 2 killer lessons with all my down time. We brought out the big guns as far as games were concerned too. It was not a day for workbook activities. I’d say ‘shock and awe’ was the major strategy employed.
“Your moms are going to come in and watch the rest of our class now, ok?”
In the end the moms loved it, but they still had to throw in some critiques:
Tiger Mom 1: Well I thought it was good, but maybe there could be more writing.
(all the moms nod in agreement.)
Tiger Mom 2: I thought it was good too, but maybe there was too much writing.
(all the moms nod in agreement)
Me: Yeah…well….ok. You’re right?
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- Could you imagine being a little kid and having a 3 hour after school class with some guy in a langauage you don’t understand at all?
- Am I a less angry/more mature teacher this time around, or is it just the fact that I basically never have to work these days?
-Who has the more intense tiger moms, Korea or China?
- Will I be this positive with regards to my students by the end of my contract?
- Does my class actually need more and less writing?
- Do you wonder what the ‘big guns’ were in terms of english games?
