Ian's last class on Wednesday nights is his "Leaders" class. It's a fluent class, but Yoon's changed the name so that it would appear that there are more classes full of articulate, fluent English speakers. On the whole, the class is pretty good. The kids are mostly fluent (though, Ian says "Leaders" is a stretch). They're older and well behaved.
But, there is one student in this class (his name escapes Ian at the moment) is very angry about being in Ian's class and his true feelings rear their ugly head every so often. A few months ago, this kid became the inspiration for Ian's "five marks and you're out" rule. He's obnoxious and disobedient. He speaks in Korean and when you tell him not to, he speaks in Chinese.
Today, Ian assigned an in class essay on the topic "What Makes Korea Strong?" The students hadn't done their homework, so they had to make up for it in class. This is what the student handed in:
"Korea very stronger than U.S.A. And best all over the world, solar system. Ian, okay? Because Korean programmer is better than U.S.A. programmer. And, food is delicious than U.S.A. And, soccer is better U.S.A. And, baseball is better than U.S.A. And, comedian more funny than U.S.A. And, Korean people better than U.S.A. So, we help U.S.A. Korea is strongest all over the world. And, is strongest in our solar system. So, Ian don't behave flippantly."
So... tell me how you really feel. This kid's opinion is obviously not the problem here. He didn't follow the assignment (it seems he found the assignment to be an example of Ian's "flippant" behavior regarding Korea's place in the world). Instead, he chose to attack his teacher, so Ian asked him to rewrite it. That's when things got ugly. The student refused and scribbled on the new paper, so Ian told him to go sit outside. Again the kid refused, so Ian put his hand on his shoulder to give him a bit of a boost out the door. The student got angrier and angrier until his refusal escalated to Ian trying to pull him out by his ear. The ear pull prompted the student to pull his own ear in the opposite direction. In the end, Ian practically carried him out by the waist. The kid even grabbed the door frame on the way out.
Ian is expecting Goam to get an angry phone call tomorrow. With Julia's track record, he is also expecting to be blamed and potentially punished.
I had a completely normal day. Unfortunately, a normal Wednesday includes three Beginner 2 (8-10 year olds) classes. So, we're both pretty wiped. Here's looking at tomorrow.
Good night!
Wow, reminds me of the classmate you had in grade school and then again in North River. I won't mention names, but he was a large kid for his age and I remember him grabbing the desk when he was removed from the room. Later he would put his fist through walls. Remember?
ReplyDeleteIan has his hands full , I wonder what this kid is so angry about.