teaching

There is something wildly intimidating by 9 sets of eyes looking up at you in expectation of teaching them something useful. This is much different than 9 sets of eyes that peer at you openly wondering if you are going to make their semester another living hell or slightly enjoyable. This is one of the biggest differences of teaching kids in Korea versus people who want (and need) to learn. This is a much bigger responsibility for the teacher.
But yesterday’s class, besides the huge intimidation factor went rather well. By the end they were catching my jokes and laughing at my mannerisms which I was not doing on purpose. Rather just kind of flow when I teach. Whew, thank goodness for that. The beginning of the class was rather quiet and serious and I was really getting worried that I was in for a long next 3 months. But after I scared the crap out of them with a waaaaay too hard placement test, they loosened up and really had some fun with the “Common English Questions.” A lot of what I asked them to do was too hard and went over their heads but at least we were able to move on from there. They were pretty forgiving, as was I – but I don’t know if that’s the word you could use for what I was doing. I guess so…I mean I forgive myself and realize as fast as possible that I made a mistake. But today will be better.