Monday, November 9, 2009

Smile, Nod, Repeat.

We got our package from Ian's folks this morning!




Ian tears into it, but it's pretty well packed!





Tons of oatmeal and peanut butter and eight books (The DuMauriers by Rebecca DeMauriers, Blood Sport by Dick Francis, Orbit by John J. Nance, Star Trek The Great Starship Race by Diane Carey, Star Treck Spock's World by Diane Duane, Star Trek Yesterday's Son by A.C. Crispin, Omerta by Mario Puzo, and an anthology called American Verse.


Guess whose having peanut butter oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow?


Julia texted us last night: "if you dont mind can we have the meeting at monday morning?"  Well, she told us that she would give us warning, but (in her defense) she never said how much warning.  At least it wasn't Monday morning.  So, we gathered up our report cards and headed over to Sinback at noon.  As we walked in Julia said something about how Ian's principle said that he has lost weight (which he has), and it would have simply been a nice compliment until she said "thank you."  Yep, she thanked him for losing weight, as if it had something to do with her.  From that point on, it was obvious how today's meeting was going to go.  We didn't discuss the report cards.  Today's meeting was one of our "teaching skill" meetings.  She mostly focused on Ian today.  In fact, she said almost nothing to me directly.  She spoke mostly about how we need to make the kids write a lot in their book (she put a lot of emphasis on it being "messy") so that the parent's could see how much their kids are "learning."  She continued to impart her "teaching skill" to us by informing us of things we should be doing.  We are already doing all of the things she mentioned, but telling her that only made her repeat her advice.  She spent an hour giving us two pieces of advice and then she even gave us a summary.  Some important Yoon's folks are coming from Seoul on Thursday and Julia wants to impress them, so she told Ian she was going to sit in on his Basic 1 today. 



When I arrived at Ha So, she was there talking with Chun wha.  It turns out that my little kids don't understand me very well (I think they do really well in my class, but they have trouble progressing because I only see them once a week), so Julia sat in to see what I could do better.  So, she sat in on my first class (Beginner 1).  This class normally has four students, but only three came today.  The two girls are good students and they're English is good for as young as they are.  But, Jacob, the little boy, is very difficult to work with.  His language capabilities aren't very good and it's difficult to get him to do anything but repeat what you say.  Julia tried and tried to get the proper responses out of him and eventually, she had to resort to giving him instructions in Korean.  That's right, when Julia says she wants to sit in on your class, she doesn't mean that she wants to observe.  She spent equal time ignoring my class and writing notes for Ian's Basic 1 and interupting me.  Any time I wanted to move on to my next lesson, Julia had a suggestion for what I should do first.


When she went to Ian's campus, she began by walking into his classroom, shutting the doors behind her and talking to his students.  She quietly sat through his class and Ian treated her as a student, handing her the same worksheets as everyone else.  Considering my first graders had a larger vocabulary than her, I doubt she even tried to participate.


The rest of the day was fine, except that every one of my students was handed their report cart in an unsealed envelope before they entered my classroom.  Almost all of my students were either happy with their grades or understood what they could do better (some of them talked to me about it).  But, one girl, in my last class was none too pleased with my assessment of her behavior.  I had given her poor marks because she has a terrible attitude and doesn't do her homework or her classwork.  So, she sat and scowled in my class and refused to do anything unless I coached her through it.  She sat with her chair in my way as much as she could.  She is a spoiled brat and I can almost guarantee her mother will call and complain about my report on her daughter.  It should be an interesting week.


That's about all the Fun with Julia I've got for you tonight.  I hope your Mondays go better than ours!  Good night! 

5 comments:

  1. Hmm, does Julia know about this blog? I'm waiting to read the entry about when she finds out. What did you say her email was, again?

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  2. I am so sorry! If only you could confront her and speak with her logically. Doesn't quite sound possible, but if you tried I would cheer you on full force!

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  3. All I can say is, sorry it was a rough day.
    Glad you got a package in the mail, that is good for a little cheer.

    And Peter, Sounds like Julia would not be able to put 2 sentences together, so I think Casey is safe. Say hello to Lynn for me , hope you two have been well.

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  4. Yeah, I think we're safe. Her English comprehension is terrible. Any time we talk to her, she just reiterates the point we're trying to discuss, it's so frustrating.

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  5. Glad you have peanut butter oatmeal to look forward to. Comfort food is good after a lousy day like that.

    You didn't mention the knee braces for Ian. Do they fit? Does he think they will help?

    I'm sorry Julia is making your experience there so much harder than it has to be.

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