A note on the kids!

Kids will be kids.  That is true everywhere including Korea - at least until they reach middle school and high school or so the rumor has it.  The kids in elementary school, where I am teaching, are cute, energetic and rambunctious.  In my short time here I have seen the giggling girls, the too cool for school boys, the quiet learners and those that definitely fit in their own unique categories.  I have learners of all levels in my classes from incredibly gifted to those requiring special needs.  So far I definitely have a few favorites but one boy has made me so proud to be his teacher that on the days I want to beat my head (or my students' heads) against a wall this boy reminds me why I have become so fond of teaching.

To start, he is one of my higher level students in one of my more rambunctious classes and he sits next to a very low level boy.  First a little about my low level student so you can see why this higher level student is so special.  My low level boy tries is very hardest and is always trying to speak English to me at every opportunity, he's just a little slower to grasp things than his other classmates.  He is currently the student that is left behind at lunch, not invited to play with other students and generally ignored by the other students.  When I was his age I can remember all too well being treated the same way, only it wasn't because I was slow but because smaller than average and have always walked to the beat of my own drummer.  My low level student makes me so proud, because despite the poor treatment from his friends he is generally a very happy boy.

So while my low level student makes me proud to be his teacher, it is my higher level student that sits next to him that makes me smile and gives me hope everyday.  This student shows a kindness and patience toward the lower level boy, and to other students, that I seldom see from adults.  He seems to be one of the few students that includes the little outcast boy in lunch time activities and in class he helps the lower level student.  During a recent reading game, where students had to read the sentence correctly in order to get the point, the higher level student made sure that the lower level student was able to read all of the sentences and helped him through them so that the lower level student could get his points and the game would be more competitive.  The higher level student still won the chocolate at the end of the game but he only won by one point which was more a matter of timing than reading.  The higher level student could've easily just read all the sentences and not give the lower level boy a chance.

It is this sort of simple kindness that makes me eager to get up and go to work in the mornings.  When I was being bullied in school I had a couple of people at different times extend the same sort of kindness to me and I think it truly made all the difference in the adult I became.  I hope that in his remaining academic career this sort of kindness isn't discouraged out of my high level student and I hope that my low level student will always find someone willing to show him that sort of kindness.