Day 204

July 9 Thursday

We had our first big rain 2 weeks into the monsoon season. Its really coming down. I have a big umbrella and I still got soaked. I also had to step in a lot of puddles so my feet were wet. The floor in the lobby of the subway station was really wet from everyone coming in from the rain. I don't know how long it rained but it was over by the time I left school at 9pm.

My first class was okay but we didn't get as much accomplished as I wanted to. One of the students was taking their test too slowly. He kept talking in between questions. I told him to quit talking and do his test. One of the students was absent. The other student told me she was absent because there was "many rain". Okay. Skipping class because of the rain.

In my 2nd class there is one student who has missed a ton of classes. He missed so many classes last month that I didn't even give him a grade. He was back in class today. Today in that class we went over homework and finished the unit and reviewed. The students don't like to review. They want to end class quickly so they can have free time. I make them review anyway. One of the students told me "we know this stuff". They only got 5 mins of free time. I told one of my students to study the new words in the unit and I would give her a test. I gave her the test today and she said "what's this?" I told her that I asked her last time to study the words so she could take the test.

I spent my break time today filling in grades for report cards. If I was nice I would just fill in A's for everyone for behavior, assignment, attendance and contribution, but I fill it in realistically. I grade fairly. There's no bribing me. The student that missed so many classes got a 'D' for his attendance grade from me. The guy that is always late got a 'B'. If some of the students are a little rowdy in my class I gave them a 'B' for behavior. If they didn't turn in their essay they got a 'C' for their writing grade. Its so funny how the kids try to bribe me, but it doesnt work. I'll start to write the homework on the board and they will say things like "you are so beautiful. I love you teacher", hoping that I'll not give them homework.haha.

My 3rd class was good. We went over homework, went over a few pages of work and then I let them play a game. They ask for a game at the beginning of class. I said "if we finish our lesson". Then they try to rush the lesson, but the 3 boys are well behaved and they grasp the material. They do their work, dont speak in korean and they keep the noise level down. They love to hear me speak in Korean. Even if all I say is hello. They get all excited when I say "anyeonghaseyo". I guess the twins arent in my class anymore. The korean teacher didn't have a report card for me to fill in for them for last month. The boy that is always late showed up 30 minutes late while they were playing the game. He missed the whole lesson. I'm going to tell the Korean teacher that he is always late and see what she says.

I had a new kid in my 4th class. In class today we went over homework and then we did a review unit. They all did good in my class today. They did their work and had good behavior.

My 5th class was really short. We finished up the unit which didn't take long at all. Then they had the rest of the class as free time. They like to write on the board. One of the students had me to write something in Hangul on the board. She told me not to erase it. She wouldnt tell me what it meant.

The person in charge at Nokbeon asked me if I paid my phone bill. I told her that I don't even know how much it is. I don't get a phone bill. The school always just tells me how much it is. I asked my school and they said they will ask how much I owe. The first 2 times they just took it out of my payroll. Why can't they keep doing that??

I decided that having a landline is stupid so the person at Nokbeon called and got it disconnected for me. I know it was only about $5 a month but I dont want to pay for something that I don't even use. When I told her I wanted it disconnected she thought it was a good idea to save money since I only want to use my cell phone.

I really want to go to the soccer game this weekend! I hope its not raining like it was today. If it is I won't be going. I wonder if they play soccer in the rain. If its not raining I will definatly be there.

I signed my payroll today at my school. So why have I been having to go to Nokbeon every month to sign if they could have just sent it to my school?? crazy!