No matter what language they're speaking, or which country they're in, kids are still kids.
The ground was wet from rain yesterday, so I didn't take the third graders out for gym. However, there is a room sized porch attached to my classroom, so I took them out there. Lining them up, I gave them a random work out involving punches, kicks, elbows, and touching their toes. Now they know what left and right hooks are, and also what uppercuts are. The ironic thing is that I can't realistically fight for shit, but I like to think of them as my pokemon - while they're not pocket sized, I reserve the right to breed little monsters.
A few of my sixth graders came to visit me after class for the heck of it. They started playing with sharp things on my desk like scissors and box cutters. And then they revealed that they REALLY like anime. We went through a good portion of the list: Dragon Ball Z, Sailormoon, Naruto, Bleach, Haruhi Suzumiya, Doraemon, and others. It dawned on me that cartoons are intercultural.
So I designed a word search for afterschool one day for them, and had a list of words for them to look for. It was getting really loud. Then they started forming teams, and used umbrellas to keep out others not on their teams. I confiscated the umbrellas, but admired their competitive spirits anyway.
Soccer is a really big thing here. Now those who know me know that I'm far from athletic. But their enthusiasm bleeds, so I try things out anyway. On the one hand, I'm not good at all. On the other hand, I'm twice the size of an average kid, so when I block, I pretty much knock them down. I also tried playing catch, and while this is with a tennis ball and not an actual baseball, I felt good for not completely throwing like a girl anyway. The vice principal was happy when I said I'm a Boston Red Sox fan, and that my favorite player is Big Papi. I guess the nickname doesn't stick much here, cuz it took him a minute to think of who that is.
I'm starting to learn more about their pop culture purely through the references that Mr. Jeong uses in his classes. There's a lot of comedy, they like Borat, and Michael Jackson, and there's a lot of food references as well. One of the most famous male comedians here apparently has a signature big bowl haircut and specializes in cross dressing. I think I've seen some of their skits on tv
The ground was wet from rain yesterday, so I didn't take the third graders out for gym. However, there is a room sized porch attached to my classroom, so I took them out there. Lining them up, I gave them a random work out involving punches, kicks, elbows, and touching their toes. Now they know what left and right hooks are, and also what uppercuts are. The ironic thing is that I can't realistically fight for shit, but I like to think of them as my pokemon - while they're not pocket sized, I reserve the right to breed little monsters.
A few of my sixth graders came to visit me after class for the heck of it. They started playing with sharp things on my desk like scissors and box cutters. And then they revealed that they REALLY like anime. We went through a good portion of the list: Dragon Ball Z, Sailormoon, Naruto, Bleach, Haruhi Suzumiya, Doraemon, and others. It dawned on me that cartoons are intercultural.
So I designed a word search for afterschool one day for them, and had a list of words for them to look for. It was getting really loud. Then they started forming teams, and used umbrellas to keep out others not on their teams. I confiscated the umbrellas, but admired their competitive spirits anyway.
Soccer is a really big thing here. Now those who know me know that I'm far from athletic. But their enthusiasm bleeds, so I try things out anyway. On the one hand, I'm not good at all. On the other hand, I'm twice the size of an average kid, so when I block, I pretty much knock them down. I also tried playing catch, and while this is with a tennis ball and not an actual baseball, I felt good for not completely throwing like a girl anyway. The vice principal was happy when I said I'm a Boston Red Sox fan, and that my favorite player is Big Papi. I guess the nickname doesn't stick much here, cuz it took him a minute to think of who that is.
I'm starting to learn more about their pop culture purely through the references that Mr. Jeong uses in his classes. There's a lot of comedy, they like Borat, and Michael Jackson, and there's a lot of food references as well. One of the most famous male comedians here apparently has a signature big bowl haircut and specializes in cross dressing. I think I've seen some of their skits on tv
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