the newest and smallest additions to my teaching day

really, there isn't enough content on this blog about my students, considering they take up a massive bulk of my work week/life in general. and while i favour some students over others, the addition of a brand new grade one class in my schedule has definitely won all of my love and attention.

12 new-to-english + new-to-our-academy students arrived wide-eyed and terrified two mondays ago. their backpacks were clean, over-sized, and never used (and they didn't know how to open them ...). they had never had class with a foreign teacher, and i had to assign a dozen english nicknames. it's been an interesting and bumpy start, what with them not knowing any english and me not knowing any korean enough korean to hold a conversation. i've improvised with my extensive charades abilities, and by adding dancing and hand actions to story time - goodbye conventional classroom conduct! they've since been split into two classes of six (one clever class, and one not-so-clever class), so now they keep me busy on both days of my rotating two-day schedule.

i'm totally biased because they get away with so much more bad behaviour as a result of being just so cute! i've had my hair pulled, nosy six-year-old eyes trying to peep down my shirt, and my ear screamed in. oh wait, that was all from little trouble-maker kevin ...

he looks so innocent, no? forgive him his inappropriate behaviour because he's just so small and adorable! i named him after my sister's boyfriend, and big canadian kevin has been inundated with updates about his little korean namesake. and with the pronunciation of "v" being a big challenge for native korean speakers, he can instead be referred to as "kebin."

clockwise from left: ian, blake (and his monkey face), paige, jake's mouth, and alex teacher.

the whole "clever class" crew: dean, ian, blake, paige, jake, and liz. mono-syllable names like woah.

representing half of the not-so-clever class: cindy, travis, and mick.

travis is by far the most polite and well-behaved student. he's super small and had a bit of difficulty with his new name. it took some practice to get away from "cherbis," but he's coming along. definitely one of my faves. every class is ended with his lingering at the door for a second "goodbye alex teacher!" and a big grin. insert heart swelling here.

me and my little group: (L to R) cindy, blake, liz, paige, ian, mick (with an awesome boy band pensive chin holding pose), travis, jake, kevin, dean, simon, and joey.

i'll be really sad when my time with these little guys ends. but i suppose there's only so much hair-pulling i can take ...