These are my little monsters.
I should probably let you guys know something about the kids I teach and about what makes this job so rewarding and yet so stressful at the same time. I have six classes that I teach. Five of those classes are with young children who range from 4-9 years old, and I have one class of older students who are 13 and 14. That class is nice because it’s relief from the craziness that comes with teaching small kids.
As a teacher I try not to play favorites but it’s hard to not have a student or group of students fall into the teacher’s pet category. Especially when they are all so damn cute, like with my student Rain, he is a energetic little monkey who is so eager to learn and when class is over will follow me around like a puppy. To be honest I believe it’s because of the attention that he lacks at home, but if I can nurture him while he’s at the school that’s what I’ll do.
Another student that sticks out in my mind is a girl named Niko. She’s 8 years old but already has a strong understanding of English. She is a point of pride for me because I helped her prepare for a national English contest that she took first place in. It’s the moments when you see your students succeed that make you the happiest as a teacher. The younger kids it’s easier to get that satisfaction as well because you see the results of your teaching right away, which is something you don’t get to enjoy when you teach older students.
The older student’s development in English is much more subtle. The hardest problem for me was to break them from their bad English habits. My first success with my older students was just a simple correction of a word that still urkes me because I still hear many other kids in the school who use this word. They call a pencil eraser a “rubber”. Now I know that a rubber is what some British or other Westerners may call an Eraser. As an American I find it quite irritating that you would call an eraser something that Americans and Canadians call a condom.
Maybe it’s crazy for me but the little successes in my classes are what make teaching even with all the stress more than worth it. It eats at me at times and makes me get behind on my blog because I spend so much time on my own outside of school doing things to improve my teaching and keeping myself prepared for classes. I probably do much more that I should to stay prepared but I came here for this job so this isn’t just some passing whim. I found a school that is great and I don’t have to worry about them trying to rip me off. The school is growing to the point where there is opportunity for someone who is ambitious like me to succeed and actually move up without sacrificing who I am or any of my morals in the process.
I must say... I dig the kid in the green, white and blue plaid shirt on the left in the great Gong Fu pose!!! :D A rising superstar, I see!!!