They call me "Melina Teacher"

“Teacher, what’s your name?” If one of my students had asked that question today I would not have been surprised, after all, this is only week 2 of our term. However, a girl asked me that a couple weeks ago… in week 13 of last term. Back in the States, students referred to me as ‘Miss Lawson’. Here, I am officially ‘Melina Teacher’, however some call me ‘Melina’ and one calls me ‘Melly Jelly’, but to most I am simply ‘Teacher’. And so it came to pass that after 13 weeks in which I memorized approximately 70 names, this darling girl still didn’t know the name of her teacher. *Sigh*

I'm bringing this one home with me in my suitcase.

This job has its ups and downs like any job, but I do love my students (even the ones who forget my name). Sometimes they drive me crazy, but they also make me laugh a lot and I enjoy working with them.

Would you just look at those hard workers?

Here are some things I think are funny: Whenever a student asks where I’m from and respond, “America,” they seem surprised. I’m not quite sure what they were expecting me to say… They love to abbreviate words, but it doesn’t always turn out quite right – It took me forever to figure out that “Aypuh” is short for “A+”, and I cringe whenever they call the “Thinking Project” “Think Puh” (Half the time it sounds like they’re saying “Think Poo”) I get asked almost weekly if I’m married or have a boyfriend (they obviously don’t listen to the answer to someone else’s question) and when I answer “no” I am repeatedly told to “Marry a Korean and stay forever” – I guess that means they like me?

Good team work.

Working at an academy can be difficult for several reasons, one of them being that a lot of what I do is teaching test taking skills rather than English, but it can also be very rewarding. I love letting them be creative during story prediction and the Thinking Project. Some of them give very normal answers, but others get really excited when they realize there’s no wrong answer and they can say whatever they want.

Got to love his octopus flying machine.

I also love watching students who have to repeat a level start to take leadership as they now find themselves a little ahead of most of the other students. They are familiar with classroom protocol and the methods used in class so they feel more confident volunteering answers.

The first picture was all straight-faced, so I told them I'd give them F's if they didn't smile... don't they look happy? ;)

Presenting their "flying machine" sandals.

I had to be quick to get even this good of a shot of his face! It might be the only photo of him in existence!

One of my favorite things is getting the quiet students to talk. I had a boy last term named Jetal. He was the kind of kid that, as one teacher said, when you asked him what he did last weekend you expected him to say, “Teacher, I killed someone.” He was very quiet, frowny, and just seemed generally unhappy and unengaged. So, in week 1 I decided that my goal for each class with him was to get him to laugh. I spent the next 12 weeks trying different tactics. At first, I counted it a victory when I caught a grin involuntarily flit across his face, but by the end of the term he was actually laughing and joking with me and other students. Success.