Entry 23: Kindergarten

Their faces still show the purity of infants and their minds are supple for the receiving of English, BUT WHY CAN'T THEY LEARN THAT RED IS RED AND BLUE IS BLUE!

They are so precious, so innocent, so dang cute, BUT NO, THAT IS YOUR MOUTH NOT YOUR EYE.

These are some of the trains of thoughts that go through my mind when I teach Kindergarten once a week. They incredibly cute kids that are still learning how to read and write Korean, so expecting them to learn English is a bit much, but please understand my frustration when we spend 20 minutes of playing games, singing songs, repetition, repetition, repetition, and they are still unable to tell me that a red block is red. Thankfully that is an exaggeration, my kindergarteners know blue, red, green, elllo (they don't really say the Y), and orange. They know their body parts as well, at least they know head, shoulders, knees, and toes (maybe eyes and ears but that is pushing it). This is the class that I use the least amount of words, either English or Korean. I am over exaggerated in my movement and motions. I am the clown (minus the freaky makeup) that makes the kids laugh so that they will correlate English and fun. I play the most games in this class, simple ones like follow the leader. I sing lots of songs in this class, unlike my other classes where I pretty much refuse to sing songs that are utterly ridiculous (but we play really fun games instead).

Chris: He can't pronounce his name correctly. He says "Cliss"
Julia: She just repeats what I say, every word that she can hear. Me: Good job Julia! Julia: GOOD JOB JULIA! She has a husky voice for a little kid, and is super cute. Especially when she concentrates really hard.
Katie: The smartest kid in the class, but the quietest kid. She never smiles. She is darker then most of the other kids. She definitely remembers what I teach. The teacher says that she is the same way with Korean.
Kyle: The oldest of the bunch. He loves to lead the classroom, but he sort of gets sidetracked with something (I have no idea what) and kind of wanders off and I have to continually remind him what we are doing.
Sarah: This girl has attitude. She makes it seem like she doesn't like English, but I can tell that she really wants to learn. She keeps quiet when she doesn't know the answer, but when she knows the answer she says it with such flair as if the other kids are foolish for not knowing.
Sunny: Well behaved girl who just sits and listens. She rarely speaks during class, but she smiles a lot.

These are my kindergarteners. They are a precious bunch, but I because I only see them once a week, they forget what I teach pretty easily. My goal with them is to make them like English. I'm going to be singing, dancing, and just being a crazy man in this class so they will have fun. Little kids love just being little kids. Thankfully I'm the biggest little kid I know.