Kindergarten Graduation 2011

A few weeks late, here is my post on the JungChul Kindergarten graduation of 2011. This time at graduation I had been with the kids for the entire year, so it was just a little more exciting and endearing for me to see the little angels (and the devils) celebrate another year passed.

As people should know who read my blog, the graduation ceremony involves some plays and some dance routines by the kids. This year musical preformances were also included, so everybody had the chance to enjoy dozens of kids playing ocarinas, xylophones, and castanets. Anyway, I'm just going to get straight to the photos, AND VIDEOS!!!

Here are all of the kids set for the musical numbers:

Kelsey got to MC (master of ceremonies) with a teacher named Evelyn:

Here is the Aries class performing. They first did the "No more monkeys jumping on the bed," which was super cute, and then topped it with this song about reaching for the sky or something:

As they were walking off the stage, the smallest girl in the class, Kelly, decided to stop behind and wave to everyone. It was incredibly cute:

Next came the Snow White play, and this is Jessica looking very beautiful as the witch in her dress:

A few of my favorite students, Jenny and Anna. Anna is Snow White:

I was allowed to watch from the audience in the beginning, but after 45 minutes or so my boss Jay asked me to help backstage. I of course said OK, knowing full well that there would be nothing for me to do back there but to take pictures of the kids. Anyway, I got a few nice photos, although I had to miss the rest of the show.

Here is Lucy, but my favorite part is Ella and Rex behind her with very bored looks. Part of me wonders if they really know how demeaning their costumes are:

The Polaris class did a very well choreographed dance to a K-pop song, which I missed. I did, however catch a rehearsal earlier that morning. I like the video even though Jay and a teacher walk in front of the camera at the end:

Here is Tiffany with the Aries class:

One of my favorite photos is Louis. I'm not sure what his costume is, but he was in the Pinocchio play:

Here is Tom, looking handsome as the prince from Cinderella:

And a shot of the two foreign teachers at our school, AKA me and Kels:

Well, once again graduation was very fun (way more fun that teaching anyway). I was glad while it was happening, but also very glad when it was over. We also didn't have to teach Kindergarten classes until about a week after that.

Keep on the lookout for another post with more photos of the kids from the ceremony!

Teaching Can Sure Be Sweet

When my new kindergarten classes started about a month ago, I got a gift from one of my student's mothers. It was this bag with a jar of sugar candies in it. It's definitely a nice gift, but the messages with it are funny.

On the outside, it says "Bradley Teacher: I appreciate your interest in my son." Hmmm ok.

And here's the jar of candies, which say "Be My Love Sweet" on the outside of the jar.

The be my love sweet thing is pretty funny, but this is a fairly common practice for Korean parents to give a gift of food to the teacher as an incentive to teach their children well. The only problem is this kid is kind of a terror. He hates to sit down during class, and occasionally he likes to punch me in that special area. He is surprisingly strong for a 6 year old, too.

So thanks for the gift, I'll do my best. Or maybe I'll just give the candy to the kid in exchange for not hitting me in the balls.