Funny Things ESL Kids Do

Wurly and I are always chuckling at the cute things that our students do. For a start, they are highly respectful (mostly) of their teachers. This probably stems from fear for the most part because many of them (in particular the Korean students) have come from schools where the teachers hit them. Add to this they know if anything bad gets back to their parents they're in for a beating at home too. So as a result of this they take everything really seriously. Many of them by this stage of the year though have started to 'warm up' and have realised it's OK to make jokes and laugh in class.

Yesterday one of my ultra-serious kids lit a Bunsen Burner for the first time EVER. The look on his face! Oh, I bought the farm. My abdominal muscles hurt today. Another little quirk is that whenever they hand you anything (paper, book, eraser...) they do it with two hands and with their eyes slightly downcast. To give someone something with one hand is considered rude both here and in Korea. It's cute and also kind of nice. I have to try to remember to do it myself as it's not something I'm used to doing obviously.

At first all the kids called me 'teacher' (that's what they do in Korea). I thought it was cute but decided to get them out of the habit and insisted they call me by my name. I'm glad I did because they have such a cute way of saying my name it sounds like Miss Egon!!

Next week I'm going on grade 6 camp. It's one of those activity camps where they go rock climbing etc....the big difference is, we're staying in a 4 star hotel. Are they kidding!!??? Can't wait!