Entry 25: Sports at School

"Jelly teacher!!! 우리 팀!!!" The mass of kids screamed and shouted as I put my shoes on to go play with them in the school's grass-less field.
Dressed in my button-up shirt and my slacks, I ran across the field as I could hear the 5th grade girls screaming "OOOOOO!!!" the same way that Korean girls scream across the world. My shirt was about to be soaked in sweat in a few minutes but the look on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, grade boys faces made it all worth it.

The kids are brutal, they tackle me when I bend down to tie my shoe laces, then pinch the excess fat on my belly, they stick their fingers between my butt cheeks and giggle, and they say things like "Jelly teacher" because they can't pronounce my name correctly. "Jeremy" translates to "재래미" which translates to "Jelly" at least to the 1st graders. Usually when the kids get extra physical with me, I usually play a bit rough back but am always cognizant to be careful with them. Josh hit his head on the floor when I put him down after picking him up and putting him on my shoulder. I felt horrible. It was an honest accident, and thankfully Josh had no hard feelings, but he cried for a while. I gave him a candy and all was good between the two of us.

So after playing soccer with the kids for a good 20 minutes, I went inside, taught my 6th grade class, and then was led back outside to teach "baskteball" to the kids. The head teacher had a different idea in mind since the kids are too small to play basketball. We ended up playing a game that was a mix of basketball, soccer, football, ultimate frisbee, and rugby. Basketball because they shoot a volleyball like a basketball towards the goal. Soccer because the court we used was freaking huge. Football because there was definitely tackling and ball strips/fumbles. Ultimate because the goal was someone standing on a chair at the backcourt line, and if they caught the ball then their team got one point. And like rugby because they bounced the ball on the floor like a rugby ball and they were freaking brutal to each other, tackling and shoving each other (I don't know much about rugby, I just know that whatever it is that we played was the craziest I have seen my kids, EVER).

Before we started this monstrosity of a game, I spent some time with the kids just playing outside. They really really really wanted to size me up. They wanted to see how strong I was. They wanted to see how fast I could run. They wanted to see how far I could jump. They wanted to see it all. It was like I went through the combine. I ran the 400 meter dash, while the kids raced me doing the 400 meter relay. They made me do pull ups. They had a long jump pit. I would have been glad to do it if I had shorts and a t-shirt on. Let's just say, that I was disgusting after this hour outside.

We went back inside, and I had to teach my 4th grade class. I ended up not teaching them anything because we were all sweaty and gross from outside. I reviewed what we learned last class and we played "heads up seven up".

I asked the class if they wanted me to end early, since we were all visibly tired and sweaty, but surprisingly they unanimously shouted "NO!". I repeated myself in Korean, just so that they knew exactly what I was saying.
"NO! END LATER!" They shouted back at me as if ending early was the worst thing ever.
"THIS IS THE FUN CLASS!"
"Jeremy Teacher! I LOVE YOU!" One of the boys said while laughing.
"You kids are crazy" I said to them quite flattered and yet at the same time sad because my voice was dry and I needed water.

I saw how Korean teachers get respect. They use fear. The eye. That eye that is basically saying "what the hell do you think you are doing right now you little punk?" Its a freaking scary eye. But surprisingly, the kids aren't that scared of it. I think if I was a kid in Korea, I would cry a lot, the teachers scare me.

If you were wondering, the way that I discipline my kids when they go out of line, is simply withholding candy and games. I usually bring candy to class and give it to the winning team, but I make sure that I bring candy randomly, where some days I go to school with nothing, just so the kids don't expect to have candy. If I don't have candy, I keep the kids in line by giving them homework if they were being too rowdy. If homework doesn't work, then I end up just making the class really boring, and when they start getting better we play games. Teaching is fun. The more creative you are, the more interesting the job is.