He is one of my 750+ students. We also see each other after school for English Class.
Most days, I don't think he likes me. Most days, I think he's making fun of me to the other boys in the after school class. Most days, he just simply pisses me off.
But TODAY, Ralphie made my day. The 5th grade students made "mini-books" this week to practice using past tense verbs. "What did you do on Sunday, Monday, etc etc" They had to write a sentence and draw a picture. Most students wrote things like "I went to church/I went to school/I studied English/I played baseball/I ate lunch/I watched a movie/etc etc," using the simple, easy verbs we've been studying.
Here's what my creative, devious little Ralphie came up with:
Sunday: I killed a rabbit. Monday: I baked a rabbit.
Tuesday: I ate the rabbit.
Friday: I made rabbit for jaket.
Saturday: I wore rabbit for jaket.
Gahhh hahah I still can't stop laughing. AND CHECK OUT THE DETAILED PICTURES. I love the serious face he's making in these photos. He's so into himself. Little boys are little boys no matter what country you're in, eh?
Meet Tom (left) and Jason.
Any of you that have skyped with me while I'm at school have undoubtedly met Jason. A sweet, sensitive, bright, witty young dude. He's my favorite. And that's saying a lot, considering I have 750+ kiddos to choose from.
Meet my shadow:
Joy, Mary, Sally.
These little girls follow me around EVERRYYYWHEERREEE. I love it. Can't get enough of em'. Their English isn't very good but they try SO HARD to talk to me. You can tell they want SO BADLY to be liked by me... ah, such a blessing, I love lovin on these three.
Mary is so stinkin cute. Her English needs some work, as evidenced by this worksheet... don't worry, I'm all over it.
Joy is an artist. She's trying to tell me that she saw me that morning on the way to school. But she couldn't figure out how to say it, and I wasn't understanding the usual game of charades, so she drew a picture. Such is my life.
And last, meet Ellen. Ellen is a beautiful, beautiful soul. We had a significant bonding moment last week that still warms my heart: she came to class after school crying, and she didn't know how to tell me what was wrong in English, so I just held her. And no words were needed. The next class she brought me a gift with a note that said "Happy day. I love you! Ellen."
I like to play games with them. Their lives are too serious, going to school from 8am-6 or 7 or 8pm. Or 10pm. Yikes. So my goal as their teacher? I just try and create a space for them to relax and have fun for one hour in their hectic day.
This week, during one of our after school classes, we listened to Korean Pop music (oh it's the WORST... and yet, it's the BEST... it's complicated... it's growing on me... I'm assimilating into the culture... uh oh, Kelly's gonna be a little more Asian when she comes back home...) during class. Ralphie was singing along. It was pretty funny, he knew all the words.
Gotta love Daniel, the goofy (literally) lookin kid in maroon (I know, I'm so bad). I think Daniel has some sort of speech impediment because he literally CAN'T talk right. Which is why he's looking at the camera, knowing that I'm filming without Ralphie knowing, but he doesn't say anything.
Ooooh my life is so funny to me. I'm an English teacher in Korea.
Nuf' said.
