School woes....

School has been utterly crazy this past week. With the start of the new year our school has undergone renovations (pictures to come) as well as the changing and integrating of students. Everything is totally different, from the class times, to the kids, to the korean teacher we work with daily. It is almost like starting over again.

I guess we sort of took for granted how things were in October, November and December, because now everything is up in the air, and changing and taking some getting used too. I mean sure there were some problem classes before, and some kids we just wanted to magically withdraw from the school, but it was how we were introduced to the school, and those classes were our classes. We got very accustomed to those classes and those kids. Things seem so insurmountable now, I guess because it is so different. New textbooks, new students, Old students that transfered from Joseph's class to my class, and vice versa. Even students changing levels of English (most of which I do not agree with)... I don't really feel nervous getting in front of the student anymore, but more longing for my old classroom dynamics.

I am finding out what an amazing difference only one or two different kids can add to a classroom dynamic. Students that are smart and confident in one realm suddenly retreat into their book praying I don't call on them, and others when placed in a new situation blossom into a student I had no idea they could be.

Take for instance Alex. He was one of two boys in my 6:30 Canada class, and he has since been moved to 7:30 class where now there are more boys his age. He NEVER spoke in the classroom of girls, and now suddenly he was on top of things. He answered all my questions in class, and even got most of them right. ( I was impressed because it was a difficult subject matter as well) He felt more in his element with more guys around.

And from that same 6:30 class I have a student named Kelly who always seemed on the brink of understanding, but always fell slighly below the other students, she too moved with Alex to the new 7:30 class and has now fallen totally silent. She gave me a sad look after class today so I asked her if she could understand the material or had a question, and I was given a shrug and a shake of the head no... I don't want her to fall through the cracks but it is very apparent she needs the security of her friend Gloria ( who moved to the 6:30 china class with the other girls from the 6:30 canada class) and the security of the high female to male ratio, which she won't find in this class.

That is the case with alot of students, Some move classes because the time was better for their family, but now they either moved up a level (without adequately finishing the level they were working on) or moved down a level ( which I guess is okay for review, but I know they can do more so it is sad they don't have to try as hard now).

I feel the same frustration in my Re-start English review class for the month of January. I know it is important for the students to enjoy this class,(new students take it to decide if they want to Join our hagwon for the school year) but I have students from basic phonics classes(aka they know ABC....) to Level four kids who can conjugate a verb almost as well as me. The two don't mix, and it is hard to keep it challenging for the older students, as well as not too difficult for my younger ones. There are maybe four kids in the class of 8 who can acutally benefit from the "review" aspect of the course... and for the others, this will be the first time they are introduced to this information....

I don't want the class to be a bust, but I had no idea what levels I would be working with when I picked the book. I figured they would only put appropriate aged and level children in the class.... oops my bad.

So things are moving slowly, hopefully this is just a case of the New Class blues (I miss so many of my old classes and students) and with the new classes and students I will find new ways of teaching and working with the kids so they can understand, if not just simply have an appreciation of the English language.
I don't have any outright trouble makers ....yet... they usually wait a month to let their true colors show... so we shall see....

Hopefully things will improve... I mean tomorrow is friday... so things have to be looking up soon!