I woke up on Friday with a sore throat and an exhausted body which, annoyingly, has persisted. Despite feeling sick physically, I've had a pleasant week. Spring is upon us in Korea; the cherry blossoms are everywhere. It's gorgeous.
On Wednesday, four of my third grade girls walked with me as I left school. They invited me to the street market (located on the street behind my building). Despite close proximity to the location, I am oddly disconnected from Market Day. I can count the times I've been there on one hand, with fingers to spare. It's overwhelming to be caught up in the energy and bustle of a busy market when my Korean is so limited. Moreover, Jun insulated all my windows in bubble wrap at the beginning of December so I haven't even been a secondary observer to the market: all the windows in my apartment are nearly opaque. Wednesday, though, my perky students invited me to try 호떡, a Korean fry bread. I agreed and we waited in line together for our treat (which was actually quite delicious!). It was fun to be out and about with my energetic students.
In other news, I taught my writing students about haiku yesterday. Writing haiku in English proved to be a unique challenge for my Korean students. Syllables are counted differently in Korean, so a word that's considered only one syllable in English might be counted as several more syllables in Korean. Take the word "sprite," for example. Although it's one (admittedly, a long one) syllable in English, when transferred to Korean, it becomes "스프라이트," a five syllable word.
At any rate, I introduced the concept of haiku to my students before we watched "The Firebird Suite" segment from Fantasia 2000. I selected that particular video because it is a wordless exploration of nature as a subject, and nature is a traditional source of inspiration for haiku poetry. I could see that my some of my students were struggling with the writing process so I asked those students to tell me which parts of the film stood out to them. They threw out words and I verbally reiterated until they were able to craft their poem. It was a challenge for all of us, but not without its reward: before class ended, everyone had written a haiku.
Sally's Haiku
Hot fire killing
Melting down the mountainside
Evil firebird
Hannah's Haiku
A little fairy
Flies over the hurt forest
Healing all the land
Hannah reminds me of myself; she's very sensitive. I had my second and third graders write their own "I Have A Dream" speech when I taught my classes about the American Civil Rights movement. Hannah wrote, "I have a dream that one day will disappear sexual violence and war." If that's not a girl after my own heart, I don't know what is.
All of these girls are creative and talented. I only spend 45 minutes with each regular class per week, so it's hard to become close to many students. However, I spend more time with the girls in my writing class and I tend to notice the creativity I observe in the after school program when it shines through during regular class. When my students wrote out bucket lists, Ginny, from my essay class wrote (and subsequently informed the class), "I'm thinking of kissing my lover in the street before I die." You go, girl!
In teaching, I've found that I'm continuously surprised. And why shouldn't I be? Teenagers are just people, after all, and people are surprising. A few weeks ago, my student read this paragraph for the class:
Once upon a time, there was a girl who did housework. She was pretty and kind. Many boys loved her. But she wanted to marry nobody. It's secret! Actually, she likes girls, not boys. She can't tell it nobody, even her best friend, Runa.Didn't see that coming! After only a few sentences, I want to read the rest of that story. Since it was just written as part of a short writing exercise, though, that's the entirety of the piece. Still, even a small sample of writing can yield fascinating results and provide insight into the writer's style and creativity. I've included two examples of what was written during our first meeting as a class:
Ugly Ducking by Ivy
(This story is focused on mom duck).
I was look forward to the eggs are hatched. But, one egg is strange. The swan was hatched at that egg. First of all, the swan's voice sounds very strange. I fought with my husband because of it! Swan's feature is strange, too. It's fur's color is white. I hate it. I was so angry, so I screamed "Don't follow me!" And now, it's alone. So I'm little bit sorry about it. Oh no! I had sorry mind about it just seconds ago, but now, I'm not. The swan is together with other swans! I kept it warm before the egg hatched! I feel sad and angry at the same time. Oh, now I want to eat something with my ducklings. Goodbye, ugly duckling.
Hen's Love by Pudding
There was a hen, in a farm. Someday, she had four babies. When her babies bore, she was very happy. But few minutes later, her face changed badly and she let her babies go away. She shouted, "Go! Go away, chicks! Get out of here! Now!" Four babies were surprised and they must go out.
They stood at the door of the farm. They started crying. They were very confused. At the same time, the owner of the farm shouted, "Oh my god! Where is my chicken! I want to eat some chicken for my dinner, but chicks are disappear! Incidentally, I have to eat a hen!" Then, their mother became a farm owner's dinner. Their mother tried to keep them, and she did her best. Now, four babies start going, even if they don't have any goal.The following story was written during a 24-minute writing exercise. I can't remember who else collaborated on it, but Hannah wrote the beginning and ending sections. I've indicated where the writer changes by the color of the text. Each part was written during a 6-minute period:
I saw my dream that I dreamed before. It was very scared and afraid, because of a man. My dream was dark, so I didn't see his face. But I could feel that he is very dangerous. When I saw him first, he was looking at my younger brother James. A few minutes later, he looked at me. So, I ran away to avoid him. But, he chased us. James and I ran, but it was too slow. The man came near to us. At that time, I could saw him clearly. He has black hair, pretty big eyes and nose. I decided to talk to him. "Who are you? Why do you chase us?" He replied, "I'm not a bad person. Trust me. Your parents ask me to take care of you." But, we see that he has a knife behind his back. I think we can't go away from him. We have to find other person to help us. When I thought like that, I woke up. I was in my bedroom. Yeah, that was a dream, it was a dream. And, I felt it is real. So I found James. However, now, I didn't find him yet. I can't find him. Where is James?In an exciting, unexpected development, the principal has decided to extend the essay class so it will meet twice a week before school as well as for two periods after school. I will now have four hours every week with these girls (and possibly with one very sweet third grade boy whose schedule prevented him from attending the class yet). I was initially told that I'd be teaching a weekly remedial phonics course before school, but apparently my school thinks I'm better suited to teach writing. I'm absolutely thrilled.
Although so far I've only focused on stories and poetry in my writing class, I'll soon begin to broaden our projects in other directions. My students never, ever write academic papers. For this reason, I want to start small, probably with a basic book report. I want my girls to excel in creative and academic writing. I want them to be able to write a personal letter with the same fervor as a literary analysis or history report. I want my class to thrive in the balance of creative freedom and supportive guidance so we can lay the foundation for strong, versatile written English.
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| Rainy Daun-dong |
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| My student Loha was in my after-school conversation class last year. She wrote me this message earlier this week; I was touched! |
