::A Geek in Korea::

The coworker who substituted for me while I was in Europe has his girlfriend in town for the next week. He’s currently substituting for my other long time coworker, who also went on vacation. He asked me for a favor sometime last week. Could I take a late night class from him so that he could spend some time with her?

Considering he is the reason I was able to go on vacation in the first place, it’s not like I could say no. I mean, one class? Sure. Of course, I’d have to stay two hours after my last class was over to teach it, but it’s fine. I still get paid for the class. What else am I going to be doing?

This was a middle school class. Fundamentally, those classes are about trying to channel the boredom and angst of young children into lessons slightly less amusing than a trip to the dentist. One of the best things about being a “substitute” teacher is that you can throw off the conventions of the class to a degree.

Before the class, during my two hour break, I had a solid viewing of a week worth of both The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. These are shows I never miss, but I went to the trouble of encoding them for my Cowon D2 so that I could have some entertainment. That sort of detached irony is very much my style of humor.

The mood I was in after watching the shows carried over into the classroom. These are classes that I never see because they are so late in the evening. I’ve gone home and posted on this blog most nights before they even begin. I’ve taught some of the students in summer intensives, or as intensive one on one classes for special test preparation, but never during the regular schedule.

The only thing I was told I needed to do was give the students a “five minute test”, and cover a chapter on Tiger Woods. While I was writing the question on the board about a positive role model, I pointed out that anyone lacking a role model could look up at the board to learn how to spell my name. One of my old students actually wrote my name as her personal role model because I, quote: “Teach English Hard.” Damn straight I do. That’s the only way to teach.

We talked about the students choices for role models, why Tiger Woods was famous, and the rest of the topics in the book. I also accidentally destroyed a girl’s faith in her role model by telling her that Kim Taehee had artificial teeth. I heard Kim Taehee had all her teeth pulled, then replaced with permanent dentures to keep a perfect smile. This is a rumor I heard from Koreans while traveling in Europe, but I can’t find any English confirmation. She was really crestfallen despite my assurance it was only a rumor.

Besides destroying the hope in a role model, we had a good time in class. The students were shouting out answers, entirely engaged, and wanted to participate. It was a lot of fun. It wasn’t “stay a few extra hours each day to teach them every time” fun, but good. I thought they would be a totally dead class, devoid of any enthusiasm, but they were better behaved than my normal classes. They were also happy to see someone new in class for once. All in all, it worked out well.