The Diary Set Up

At my English academy all students--except for beginners (phonics) and middle school students--keep a diary and submit one entry per week.

For the first two years they are trained in diary writing by their Korean teacher.

(Note: all students spend one 50 minute period with a Korean teacher and one 50 minute period with a foreign teacher.)

Then we switch off, and for the next 2 years the students submit their diaries to their foreign teacher.

Teachers read the diaries and correct errors (usually in 3 sentences), and we encourage students to write longer entries, to use more adjectives, etc.  By the time the students are in 6th grade they can usually write close to 1 page about something interesting that they did over the weekend.

I like to read diaries because--despite the added work load--I get an insight into students' lives that I normally would not have.

Students generally do not like diary writing because, to them, it is simply another homework item that they would rather do without.

Yesterday, Friday, my Korean co-teacher for a class told me that I could assign diary writing for next week (meaning it is time to change delivery to the foreign teacher).  Since I enjoy the class and am interested in reading their diaries, I said, "Ok, I will tell them today."

Then she said, "I told them it was my present, no diary homework."

I groaned and made a joke, because I knew what was going to happen.

So I had class with the students.

Then it was time for me to write their homework on the whiteboard.

I wrote the first 3 items of homework, and, of course, when I got to the 4th and last item--diary--they were surprised.

"Diary?!"

One student blurted, "Diary?  The other teacher said 'Present! No diary!' "

He was kind of gasping.

For about one hour they thought they would not have diary homework.

I felt sorry for them. so I gave a short motivational speech about the importance of diary writing, though I am not sure it was fully accepted.

We'll see what happens next week . . .