A new month

You know you've turned a corner when you can say to yourself "I was so naive." When I started teaching in Gurye, everything was going smoothly. The kids were still excited to have an American teacher, my expectations were high but seemingly reasonable and all was going as I had planned. Little did I realize that I was just in the eye of that storm. The novelty of my being American was like a little wall that held back the flood of high school behavior problems. I was like George Bush right before Katrina. "Of course those levees will hold!" I was so naive.
As students start to feel more comfortable around a teacher, depending on the teacher of course, they can start to develop a feeling of friendship. Really, who would be willing to learn from a friend? I worked hard to be an approachable teacher, which can backfire when students start to feel comfortable taking certain liberties like trying to hold our hand or stealing your sandals. I think I miscalculated somewhere.
One month and several new teaching philosophies later, I have finally begun to understand the differences between Korean and American students. Korean students are worked incredibly hard and absorb an immense amount of information. Some of the students could probably ace a vocabulary test in the United States as long as it was multiple choice. They spend so much time soaking up new knowledge that they don't really have the time to learn to apply it. This leads to a dilemma for foreign teachers as discussions are not an option. Korean students hate it when they get taken out of their comfort zone and apparently nothing is more discomforting than saying something in English.
Of course they are good kids and I can't blame them at all. Spanish was no picnic for me and our classes were even in English. One can't help but have mixed feelings for the students. On the one hand, they work to the point of exhaustion and need all the support they can get. On the other hand, someone stole my sandals. If I find out who it was, someone is going to be reading "The Great Gatsby" for the class.