Bored

I miss teaching. I miss it more than how much I say or write here that I miss it. I’m dead bored with work – even if there’s, thankfully, quite a lot that came in this morning. And, note, you’re hearing this from a lazy person. Yes, we’re blessed to have work today. But with teaching, I was never bored. At some points, I may have been tired, stressed, nervous, angry, and there might have been mornings that I did not want to get up. But never bored. Hopefully my students never were too. Except maybe with the writing class – even I didn’t like the lessons there. Most of my students were children - but I got to handle a few adults who were either the same age as me or older. As a whole, I enjoyed my classes immensely. I had a student who never does his homework. The first day he came to my class – he was probably 8 or 9 - he was determined not to do the exercises I gave them. He was a transfer to my class because his previous teacher was assigned to the new students that came at that time. I had no choice really but to accept him. He told me, “Teacher, I don’t want to do again – I did this many times with Teacher *Iforgothername*. Teacher, cursive - I perfect it.” Apparently, he had done numerous writing exercises with his teacher before me. And so, he was adamant not to do the writing task I was giving the class. Then, to avoid the work, he told me a story about his older brother (who was also my student). He said, “Teacher, you know my brother? When we were in Korea he took an English test. The first time, he got 98. Then the second time he got 97. And then again, he got 96… Teacher, my brother, he is the Again Master! Me, I don’t like again.” I tried my hardest not to die laughing. How could I possible get angry with that boy. You could say there’s something wrong with me as a teacher. I don’t really get angry. I get irritated or annoyed. But still. I love my students no matter how much they grow to be the bane of my passion for teaching.

And during lunch, when I used to detest Kimchi as its smell reeked through the entire building, Vivien, my closest co-teacher, and I would sometimes sit at the small park in front of the school. We would sit on an old bench and watch the whole scenery before us – only, it was hard to look at the cemented road as it reflected the intense light of the afternoon sun. But still, I loved being under the sun, especially if I’m stressed with my class. Beside me, Vivien would be writing something (I can’t remember what were they for, probably for class too), and we would just talk. Sometimes, our students would sit with us and ask various questions, from those related with their lessons to pick-up lines - a student was going to Boracay for a week and he seemed desperate for some pick-up lines. Vivien had a list of those ready just for him *laughs*. There might be something wrong with her too, but she is an excellent teacher. And so, we helped him practice a few pick-up lines - though it could hardly be called practice, me and Vivien were laughing the whole time.

I really miss teaching. And I miss my students. The only sour taste of the experience is a malicious headmistress who thinks that a student is hitting on you because he requested for you to be his teacher – and there's also the propect of getting difficult mothers as your students… I wished we had Japanese students. Well, it was a Korean owned language school – but when I applied they told me that it was not exclusive for Koreans. At least I would've understood a bit more of what my student was saying in his native tongue if he were Japanese. My strength in the Korean language is contained in the words ‘chincha (sort of like ‘damn it!’)’, ‘pali (hurry)’, and ‘pabo (stupid)’. Not much of help really. Though it doesn’t bother me if my students are cursing me when they converse in Korean in my presence, I just think being able to understand at least even a little of what they’re talking about would be lovely.

It might not be right to say that I fell in love with the profession considering my brief and limited experience as a teacher – just roughly 2 months. But if I could, I really want to teach in a language school again. It seems to be a very appealing and satisfying job – especially if you’re drinking 3 cups minimum of coffee per day to keep you awake in your present occupation – and yes, there’s also the chance of blogging at times to keep your mind working… hehe