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We have been back from Thailand now for a month. This past month has gone by quickly. We have been teaching Monday through Friday and exploring different parts of Seoul on the weekends. It is beginning to feel more like we are actually living here and less like a vacation now. Things are becoming more familiar and more routine. Our students are adjusting to us and teaching is becoming easier (sometimes).

No matter how comfortable I become as a teacher in Korea, there are some things I will never get used to. In Korea, education (and appearance, but I will save that for another day) is everything. Our students are pre-school, kindergarten, and elementary age students and many of them go to several schools for several hours a day. I have asked my students what they do after they leave school and their answers are always “go to another school” or “homework”. I find myself asking my students if they ever play, because all they talk about is school and homework.

This dedication to education definitely pays off; these kids are brilliant. I am teaching four-year-olds the curriculum you would teach a second grader in the US. Not to mention this curriculum is not in their native language! Everyday I am blown away by how smart my students are. However, I am constantly reminding myself that these children are four-years-old. I have trouble disciplining at times because I understand why they don’t want to sit in their seat and do more Phonics.

This brings me to hardest part of my day. Monday through Friday I dread 1:55pm. One-fifty-five pm is when my “kindergarten” class (my main students, the four-year-olds of which I always speak) goes home. You may be saying to yourself “Oh that is so sweet, she doesn’t want to see them go home”. Well no, that is actually not true. I am quite ready for them to go by then, for I have had enough for the day. The reason I dread this time so much is because I have to give out an award.

The Best Student of The Day award is this horrible idea someone had (I know that person will never read this but I apologize if you do but I can’t lie the idea was awful) to award one four-year-old student the “Best Student of the Day”. I keep repeating that these children are four not to make you feel like an idiot who didn’t pick up on that first five times I said it but to emphasize how young these kids are. At four if someone uses your crayon you cry. You cannot imagine the amount of tears I see falling when I have to give out this award to one student. I have tried giving them to all the students everyday, but was scolded for doing so. I was told that was not the point. I explained my problems with the reward, that I didn’t think you should be picking a “best” student and send the others home in tears everyday.

As a solution to my concerns my boss introduced a new aspect to this reward system. The “I Was Bad Today” card. I was now told to give out the Best Student reward and if anyone cried I was to send them home with a devil-clad card that said “I Was Bad Today....I’m Sorry”. I was blown away by this idea and just so you know I still have the entire stack of these cards on my desk unused.

My problems were far from solved. I record who I give the rewards to and rotate through the students systematically. I hope the mothers don’t pick up on this because they are keeping track as well. I have many students tell me that they get a prize from their Mom after they receive a certain amount of best student award. When I hear “Teacher this is my 37th Best Student Award” and everyone else in tears saying “I hate teacher”, I know that 1:55pm is the worst part of their day too, unless you are the Best Student.

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