It's the little things

The most experience I had working with little kids before moving to Korea was babysitting my niece and nephews. Knowing how to balance strict teacher/nice teacher has been something I have had to learn. You can't give them too much because they will walk all over you, but if you don't bend a little, don't have a little fun with them, they don't get to act like kids. I have found it is a hard hard task to learn how to find that balance. And I won't lie, it has taken me a long time to learn how to find that balance. Now, with less than 2 months to go in the school year, I feel like I finally have that balance. It seems as though the kids are feeling that way too, and here are a few times those kids steal my heart :)

Like so many have said, it's the small things in life that count. The other week, school was about to end and it was Friday. I heard two of my students talking and heard my name a few times in their conversation and James says how much he will miss me, then the other student asks, "Katie teacher is this your last Friday? Will you be back next week?" I say, "What? Of course I'll be back next week. I'm here until you graduate!" Then James says, "No, I meant I'll miss Katie teacher this weekend. I won't see her for 2 days!" I was taken aback!! James is not one to show his emotions often and especially to me! It made my day.

As Christmas approaches, we are doing a lot of Christmas crafts and fun things in class. One of those things is writing letters to Santa. I had the kids write a practice letter, then they have a final draft that we will send to Santa. I was proof reading the letter so the kids can fix their mistakes and send a perfect letter to Santa. As I was reading, most the kids are asking for Nintendo D.S. or Nintendo Wii, cell phones, touch phones, puppies, kitties and everything else under the sun. Then I get to Rain. Rain did ask for some kind of toy, but it wasn't that part that got me. He wrote to Santa, "Katie teacher is kind. I want 10,000,000,000 Katie teachers." It was so adorable! I never thought one of my students would ask for 10 trillion of mes!!

If you have been following my blog you know I teach two different classes, Bristol and Leeds. I usually start the day with Leeds and the second lesson I move into Bristol. Usually when I go into Bristol Ian is on the floor or running around, Danny and Minjae are wrestling on the floor, and some of the girls are fighting over God knows what. But lately, it has been a bit different. When I come into the room, I set my things down and get ready to start the class. Before I can even walk 4 steps into the room, Terry is around my waist giving me a hug. She doesn't say anything, just runs up to me and puts her arms around me! Now, I miss my nieces and nephews more than words can describe but when that girl comes up to me and just hugs me, my heart melts a little. She doesn't do it every day and sometimes it comes out of nowhere. Today for example, I was sitting on a chair in the room close to Terry, and we were listening to Ian give his Picture Diary presentation. Out of nowhere, she just gets up and gives me a hug. She doesn't say anything and quietly sits back down!

Lucille is another on who loves to hug. But Lucille is a bit different. Lucille doesn't always give hugs but when she does, she always says these four words, "I like Katie Teacher." That's it. Those four words. It's so simple and so sweet but it always makes me smile.

These kids can drive me nuts. They can make me want to bang my head against a wall, but they have their way of making my day! They are the reason I'm staying another year and the reason I want to teach when I come home!