Last day of class for me, contractually. I don't have to come to school again until March 2 next year! At that time, I'll have a brand new batch of kiddos -- 1st years in the school. Meeting the 1st years is always really fun.
For example, this past year, I got a really great new 1st year in Tae Hyun, who understands my position as a foreigner better than any of the other students since he lived in Egypt for a while. We started off really well during winter camp when I first met him. His spoken English skills impressed me to no ends (thanks to ESL classes in Egypt). Unfortunately, the other students used his great English skills and his slightly bigger size as points to make fun of him for.
It broke my heart. I became one of his best friends in the school, since all of his peers made fun of him for his size and called him "Foreigner" or "Egyptian". The teachers even picked on him, berating him for his low scores on vocabulary tests. I'm not sure which is worse, being picked on by your peers (which totally sucks at that age) or having your accomplishments (conversational English skills) completely overlooked by teachers just because he didn't test well. After a semester of putting up with this, he's started acting up, creating problems, refusing to study. It's become a real downer for me.
All my students are growing up on me. Between their 1st year and their 3rd year, they go through a lot. 1st years are fresh out of middle school, just starting the cool high school years. Most of the students at this point (and I teach a lot of boys, remember) are testing the waters with their peers and their teachers, trying to see where the boundaries are. The 1st years tend to be some of my loudest, most difficult to control classes, probably because they're out to prove themselves.
The 2nd years are more mellow in my school. They're not being testing for anything *particularly* important yet, and they're not coming off of any tough tests like the 1st years (the middle school test to get placed for high school). My 2nd years are laid back, they like to have fun, they don't sleep as often in my class. I'd say they were my favorite, but every single year...
..the 3rd years are my favorite. It may just be because they seem to look forward to seeing me the most. Even with only about ~50% of them taking the college entrance exam, they are still forced to memorize an unbelievable list of vocabulary every week. Maybe that's why they look forward to my class. I have the most relaxed relationship with my 3rd years since they never seem to have any discipline problems (maybe out of relief that they're out of their usual classroom and just chillin' listening to music in mine). I also have the closest bonds with the 3rd year students, since I've taught them for a year and a half and we chitchat more than other years. In particular, the class captain of one third year class, Sarang (awesome name, right?) always goes out of her way to be cheerful and helpful in my class, demanding quiet and respect from the boys when they get out of hand. The school president in another class has his posse of 3 close friends, all with mediocre English but with the types of welcoming and humorous personalities that make them the most "popular" crew in school. (And, not surprisingly, the most sought after bachelors amongst the ladies.)
So this is the sad time of year, when my 3rd years are all skipping school since their finals and the suneung is finished. Every once and a while, when I'm walking down to the bus stop, a 3rd year will hang out of the window from the 3rd floor, where all their homerooms are, to yell "Goodbye, Lindsay!" and make a heart over his head with his arms.
Goodbye, Taehyeong. Goodbye, Sarang, Goodbye Taehyeon. Goodbye, Daeseung. Goodbye to all my 3rd years, and good luck where ever life's taking you, whether to college or to the galbi restaurant down the street.
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