New Semester: 1st week

It's Wednesday, so we have had 3 days of the new semester.  It's off to a good start, partly because I am teaching a lot of the same classes.

Before this week quite a few kids were taking a break from our academy during their summer vacations, but now they're back, so there have been some noticeable reunions of friends, but also questions, such as (most commonly), "Teacher, where's _____ ?" (insert student name.)

My answer has usually been, "I don't know.  I think he/she is coming back.  Maybe they'll be here next class."

This week, often 1 or 2 students in a class don't yet have the new books (or they have the wrong books), so I'm working with them and the front desk to sort things out.  I also want to make sure they have an equipped pencil case, a notebook, and, for the students who need it, a diary.  For students in some classes, this might mean a total of six books (and then they have a Korean teacher with her book requirements, so it's no surprise that a few parents call in to the school asking how many books their kids need to bring each day--the weight can really add up).

(And our English academy is only one of several academies that many students attend after their public school day finishes--I have blogged about that before and I will again.)

The school director and the front desk staff have been a huge help in these cases.

A lot of my classes have changed classrooms (we have nine), and they are usually excited about the change, though one student told me she wanted her old classroom back.

One great exchange that I had today was this: I entered a class and a female student (5th grade) I have been teaching for 2+ years asked me, "Teacher, where is my diary?"

I replied, "It's Wednesday, and you get your diary back on Friday (they turn it in on Monday). Why do you want it now?"

She smiled and said, "I only wrote three sentences in my diary."

(Which is not good.  And she knew it, but where almost all students would have remained silent, she spoke up--wow!)

"Do you want to write more today or Friday?" I asked her.

"Today," she replied.

(Very good answer.)

"Come with me."  We went to my desk, found her diary, and I gave it to her.  She wrote in it and gave it back to me.  I am very interested to see how she updated/developed it, but I didn't have the time or the free thinking to look at it today.

During the three days we have experienced so far this week, I have noticed some of the new students looking at me, kind of measuring me up as a new teacher--fair is fair, I am doing the same thing.

In the first week I am very intent on establishing order, process, and alleviating any stress that new students might feel; creating a comfortable atmosphere is so important for the rest of the semester.

What else is new?  I have one new class which has 9 girls, 0 boys (our class max is 10 students).  I am very interested in that class because, from my experience, girls in elementary school are often better students than boys (in Korea, but I think elsewhere as well).  I have high hopes for them (4th graders) . . .

And the week is not yet finished . . . I hope it goes well and ends well, for both myself and my students.