Avenues Level B Class

The first class I teach every day at 1:50 is the second level of a reading program called Avenues. Avenues is unfortunately largely geared towards Latin-American students who are either learning English as a second language, or who are bilingual, in addition to typical American students. This doesn't make it the easiest thing to teach, but I work with what I've got.

There are eight students in the class, who have taken on English language names, as is the custom for English speakers in Korea (and maybe more of Asia, I don't know). Two are boys--Joey and Major, and six are girls--Amy, Aimee, Lucy, Freedom, Jessica, and Kitty. These kids are becoming kind of a nightmare, but I'm trying not to take it personally.

I expected Korean kids to be much more studious than American kids, given the amount of pressure that's put on them to excel at their studies. In Korean culture, once you begin school, that is pretty much all you're expected to think about until you get to college. But I've found that these kids are just like our kids, or maybe even less geared towards school. In classes of no more than eight, there is almost always at least one students, sometimes up to three, who doesn't have the homework. It's kind of ridiculous. I write on their faces with dry erase markers when they don't have their homework, but for most this isn't much of a deterrent from the behavior.

They also don't pay attention very well, which I didn't expect. The amount of times I say "Listen!" in a day now is mind-boggling. I guess kids are kids, no matter where you go. Maybe once they get into middle or high school they get more studious, because University is more of a reality.

This class is a "below basic" level, so I have to work really hard with them. It's kind of funny to see the difference between when they get what I'm saying and when they don't. I was trying to explain to them that old people get tired more easily than young people today, because the topic came up in the storybook we just started, and boy, they just tuned right the hell out. Sometimes I just give up and move on because I know they'll never get it and I'm trying to challenge them too much. It's hard to get the level right, since I really don't know what they know before they come to me.

So, the nightmare. Amy is the root of it all. In another class, we're reading Junie B. Jones and the Stupid, Smelly Bus, and Junie B. Jones reminds me a lot of Amy. Except Amy is more of a jerk. She's the kid who wastes everyone's time by not paying attention and then asking what I'm talking about right after I've just explained it completely. We talked about what a paragraph is for two weeks, and I've got every other kid knowing exactly how to describe one, but she's still saying "Paragraph is what?" over and over again. I put her in the corner and give her extra homework sometimes.

Lucy is my second biggest problem. She has such a low level of understanding that she doesn't bother to pay attention, and ends up playing with Amy and interrupting the class. I hate discipline.

Freedom is really cute. She has not much more understanding than Lucy, but she tries really hard, and I often take time in class to explain things directly to her, in hopes that she'll get it, and that the others will get it better in the process. It's nice to see her light up when something finally clicks.

Aimee is the smartest one in the class. She's usually the only one who really knows what I'm talking about up there, and answers most of my questions. I feel bad for her sometimes when I keep asking different kids the same question, which she keeps answering for them, and I have to tell her I need them to answer, and I know she knows already.

Joey probably understands second best, but he gets confused a lot, too. I still have trouble keeping him and Major straight in my head, because Major really, really looks like his name should be Joey. He's got that fresh-faced innocent look about him. All the other kids look evil.

Kitty is new to the class. She's very outgoing and always talks to me before class. But she also seems to have a problem not speaking Korean in class, and the other kids tell on her a lot, because I don't notice. I was surprised at what wicked tattletales these kids are. It's really annoying.

Jessica is always late to class recently. I don't know why, and she can't express it to me. She always talks to me before class, too, which I'm glad of, since she needs the practice. Her understanding is better than Lucy and Freedom's, but not by much, I don't think.

All the kids have a problem saying "Me is" instead of "I am," which I'm trying to correct.