Open Up The Door (June 11)

• Today was my Open Class. This is when students’ parents, other teachers and administrators come into my classroom to see how I teach and what my students have been learning (these also happen for Korean teachers). A lot of TaLK scholars do special activities for their Open Classes, like games, cooking, projects, etc. It can definitely be nerve-wracking. Winter and I decided though that we weren’t going to do anything special – no way could I imagine trying a cooking project with my first and second graders! So anyways, we got to school early today to get everything ready. After lunch, we went back up to the classroom and, for awhile, I legit didn’t think anyone (including my students) would show up! (Even my mentor teacher said that she wouldn’t be able to come.) But all the students eventually came in and we had an audience of teachers (including my MT...oy) and parents by 1:25. I just did my normal routine with the kids – intro songs, Simon Says, dancing, phonics, special topic (days of the week), game. The kids were pretty good (I was actually happy they weren’t perfect angels, so their parents could see that they weren’t) and I also felt it went well. Afterwards, we were able to have a reflection meeting with some of the parents and teachers. My MT and the gym teacher both said that they got some ideas about teaching in non-traditional ways from me today. One of my first grade girls’ mom was told me that Yeong Che really enjoys our class and comes home speaking English – so she’s trying to learn some now too! Min Ji’s mom (another of my first grade girls), who also teaches at my school, said that she never thought that Min Ji would be taking English classes and now Min Ji loves our class – she gets really upset if she has to miss! Yeun Ju is one of my second graders and her mom said several things that touched me. First she said that She didn’t think Yeon Ju would ever be able to learn English and now she wants to try to get her into a hagwon (private school). Second, she said that Yeon Ju wants to be an English teacher when she grows up! Third, she told a story about how she saw us interact with Yeon Ju outside of the school one day – Yeon Ju hugged both me and Winter and when her mom saw us hug her back, she almost cried! It was so sweet to hear this positive feedback. It was also really empowering (maybe in a weird way) that Winter and I have been able to continue teaching well and make a positive impact, despite many negative feelings towards our school and our situation. Winter also said she thinks a lot of the teachers respect us a lot more now that they’ve seen us teach. Overall, it went really well :) 
• After school, Winter and I had dinner my head teacher. We went to a restaurant down my street, had samgyupsal (not as good as Beef Before Flowers though), and just talked for a while. I really enjoyed it and, hopefully, I can meet up with him and other staff more before I leave. 
• Winter gave a saleslady a piece of her mind, on my behalf, tonight. Even though it made Winter feel a little bad, it really was awesome and I felt very grateful (again) to have her as my friend and co-teacher. 
• I got some great deals at HomePlus and I was very excited. (I feel like I don’t really get to use my deal-finding skills here because there really aren’t clearance racks and there definitely aren’t yard sales.)