Teacher, Teacher!!!

Below are some pictures and videos from my teaching job in Seoul!  My morning Kindergarten class, in the pictures below, is great!  I have 10 kids, half who already speak a bit of English and the other half don't understand a word I say, which can be very frustrating!!!  They are all really great kids for the most part, very sweet and work pretty hard, but they definitely push my buttons as any 5 year olds would!  We are together from 9:30am until 2:20pm, with a few breaks in between and an hour lunch.   My new name is "Ashley Teacher" or just "Teacher." The second they finish their work they scream, "TEACHER FINISHED, TEACHER FINISHED, TEACHER, TEACHER!!!!"...how very annoying!!!  I'm trying to get them to raise their hands quietly instead, some are catching on, others not so much.

This is a video of them doing freeze dance before they left for the day...

This is my class during playtime, they get loud and wild and drive me a lil bit nuts!!!

They created a congo line during freeze dance lol

 This is Amy, she's one of my favs...so smart and sweet.  Although, the other day she cried because she couldn't draw a map well, even though Ashley Teacher's map was a nightmare as well!!!!

 This is Olivia and Joseph.  Olivia is great, she is very smart and is doing so well!  Joseph on the other hand doesn't understand a thing I say and just blankly looks at me, but he's adorable so it's ok...for now ;)

 Here is E class!!!!

After Morning Kinder (MK), I have PK, which is technically second grade.  I started with four girls and now have five girls and a new boy.  The new boy, Jason, lived in America for a while.  He speaks really well and understands everything, but can't read well or write at ALL...and often drives me insane because he asks the dumbest questions (I know, no question is a dumb question, but his really are!!!!).  It's 100% the language barrier that confuses him, so I'm learning how to be the most patient human I can possibly be.  For those of you that know me well, you know this is proving to be the biggest challenge of MY LIFE!!!!  Sometimes this class likes to just gaze out the window and completely ignore me, so I've been bribing them lately...pizza party, ice cream party, cookies, candy...what do you want...just please PAY ATTENTION!!!!  We shall see how that goes!

My PK class, just the ladies...

 Amy and Jasmine, two of my brightest stars :)

The PK class had to write a short paper on an animal they like the best, memorize it (in true Korean fashion) and present it to the class.  The two best presentations competed against the other PK kids in the school...neither of my girls won, but they did really well and made Ashley Teacher very proud!!!

Here is Sue's presentation on puppies...

Teaching here has been amazing so far, very different, sometimes challenging, but overall a wonderful experience!  I look forward to updating you all with funny stories, more pictures and videos to give you a taste of life as a teacher in Korea!!!