My students

First off, let me tell you my daily schedule - first class begins 8:30, and I go straight through till lunch at noon then have just one afternoon class. Starting next week, basketball is twice a week for an hour and a half starting around 4:00, and since we were encouraged to propose an evening course (for which we get overtime pay), I created a class called "mathematics for competition and recreation" which will begin with preparation for the American High School Math Competition, and after that turn into a workshop on applied discrete mathematics, i.e. games and gambling.

It is a more work than my job last year, but frankly that was a sinecure to the extent of being unenviable. Perhaps I am just still filled with the energy of starting something new, but I should say that in the first week of classes I could hardly even read fiction without my thoughts being interrupted by ideas on how to teach these kids math and science.

While it's only been one week since I first met my students, so far I'm quite pleased. Compared to the standard Korean high schoolers I met last year I can say that the English level of the worst of these is about as good as the best of them. In fact, with my primary social circle being my fellow teachers (all Yanks besides one Canuck), and the students being so English that some are more comfortable speaking it over Korean, the only reason I know I'm living abroad is the lack of delicious beer in my fridge.

So far, I can't say anything against the kids. They are mostly attentive and well-behaved in class. Of course, that might just be a first week phenomenon. I'll let you know more about personality and academic qualities when I get some more feedback, but for now my level of dread is fairly low.

The most notable student is Young-woo. This because he was granted admission despite still being an 8th grader. He is by a huge margin the least mature student physically, and has about the lowest English level as well. I'm a little worried how he will cope as a boarding student. But I saw him playing basketball with some of the other boys after school one day, so at least it looks like they will be inclusive and treat him like a younger brother a bit.

The final introduction I should make is of new science teacher, who cleared his visa and arrived just in time for the first day of class. He's a pretty interesting character, a Canadian, and very well traveled, having learned yoga from some north Indian masters, and herbal medicine from southern African shamans. But in fact, if I tell you our new teacher is Andrew Zimmern, the fib will leave you with a pretty good idea of the fellow. Yes, besides world travel it seems food is one of his passions. My favorite quote so far, "My most memorable exotic food so far is whale meat. It is so obviously whale. Like if you weren't told what the meat was, when you put it in your mouth you would immediately think that's whale!"