I am...
genius
sexy
Spaceman
a normal student
selfish but honest
a princess
a pretty girl
a Jeong Myeong High School Student
These are who some of my many students are. I have given them the prompt "I am" and they have had to finish the rest of the sentence. When I walk around and look at their notebooks I usually see many of the same answers, "a student," "a girl". But when everyone stands and has to share one by one, they must change it on the spot because suddenly I hear a range of beautiful, surprising, and ordinary answers because, well, that's who they are: beautiful, surprising, everyday teenage girls. It's a perfect lesson for me when I get angry with them for not listening, for talking too much, for using their cell phones in class, falling asleep during class--they are girls with their own lives, their own troubles, their own obligations, and lots of relationships.
However, they are also still young and so "예브다" --yebeuda. The literal translation means pretty, but it can be said to someone when they are sweet or smart. The teachers and I use it to describe how inherently beautiful and innocent the students are. An instance when I was confronted with how ibbuh they are...
Tonight's evening class we opened with the writing prompt: "I feel". All but one answer was negative: I feel tired, I feel sad because I lost my cell phone, I feel irritated and annoyed, I feel angry because I have so much homework, etc. So my next writing prompt was "I hate". I thought it would be a good way to get out aggression or frustration. For a second I envisioned this intense, silent, brooding, venting session on paper. Never happened because the first translation I was asked for was cockroach. Then how to say, "I hate chickens because one attacked me and nearly killed me." I was so surprised by what they hated: chickens, cockroaches, coca cola, the blood-colored curtains in our classroom, a Korean billionaire mogul, and mice to name a few. Maybe I am being patronizing, but I was struck by how innocent their hates were. Here I was thinking of things like: "I hate that the women in our church never get to pray" or "I hate when I am treated like...." Maybe it is the language, but then again, if they couldn't say it in English they would have just asked me to translate. I am sure there are many hardships they face, but these were what they came up with for what they hated. It was a heartening discovery for me, and made me reconsider the smaller details in the everyday. This is one of my favorite times in my day; I learn so much about them through this free writing. We had a lot of fun listening and laughing.
A short story on the upside of my evenings...
sexy
Spaceman
a normal student
selfish but honest
a princess
a pretty girl
a Jeong Myeong High School Student
These are who some of my many students are. I have given them the prompt "I am" and they have had to finish the rest of the sentence. When I walk around and look at their notebooks I usually see many of the same answers, "a student," "a girl". But when everyone stands and has to share one by one, they must change it on the spot because suddenly I hear a range of beautiful, surprising, and ordinary answers because, well, that's who they are: beautiful, surprising, everyday teenage girls. It's a perfect lesson for me when I get angry with them for not listening, for talking too much, for using their cell phones in class, falling asleep during class--they are girls with their own lives, their own troubles, their own obligations, and lots of relationships.
However, they are also still young and so "예브다" --yebeuda. The literal translation means pretty, but it can be said to someone when they are sweet or smart. The teachers and I use it to describe how inherently beautiful and innocent the students are. An instance when I was confronted with how ibbuh they are...
Tonight's evening class we opened with the writing prompt: "I feel". All but one answer was negative: I feel tired, I feel sad because I lost my cell phone, I feel irritated and annoyed, I feel angry because I have so much homework, etc. So my next writing prompt was "I hate". I thought it would be a good way to get out aggression or frustration. For a second I envisioned this intense, silent, brooding, venting session on paper. Never happened because the first translation I was asked for was cockroach. Then how to say, "I hate chickens because one attacked me and nearly killed me." I was so surprised by what they hated: chickens, cockroaches, coca cola, the blood-colored curtains in our classroom, a Korean billionaire mogul, and mice to name a few. Maybe I am being patronizing, but I was struck by how innocent their hates were. Here I was thinking of things like: "I hate that the women in our church never get to pray" or "I hate when I am treated like...." Maybe it is the language, but then again, if they couldn't say it in English they would have just asked me to translate. I am sure there are many hardships they face, but these were what they came up with for what they hated. It was a heartening discovery for me, and made me reconsider the smaller details in the everyday. This is one of my favorite times in my day; I learn so much about them through this free writing. We had a lot of fun listening and laughing.
A short story on the upside of my evenings...
posted by jacquelina at 9:52 PM
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