Last Day for my First Contract

Well, I finished my 17 month stint at Kate LA, and am back home in Maine for several weeks. I've only been away for two and a half weeks, but already Korea feels like a distant memory. I'm sure once I get busier around here and my next trip approaches, time will go faster.

So I'm posting some pictures of my last day at Kate LA (at least until late August, when I go back). I had a party for all my classes, in which I gave them chocolate cupcakes I made from scratch (using Heather's oven), and I showed them Roadrunner cartoons, and some Looney Toons. My advanced classes got to watch Halloween episodes of The Simpsons.

Here is me with my 6th-grade level class. Most of these kids just got back from the US with Heather. They speak English very well now, with really good American accents, for the most part. Heather's daughter Kate sounds just like my sister. The boys are Harry and Wesley; the girls are Kate, Sally, Hanna (who's not even in this class, but popped in at the end), Annie, Alisa, Tana, and that little one is another Sally (also not in this class):


This is my 4th-grade level class, Hanna, Sally, Betty, Sally, James, and Gyu-ho:


This is one of my 2nd-grade level classes, John, Sally (yes, ANOTHER Sally), Ella, Alex, Crystal, Jenny 1, Jane, and Jenny 2:


This is my lowest class. They are at a first-grade level. They drive me insane. I found out at some point that they are in 4th and 5th grade, but I would swear they're in kindergarten. Have I mentioned this before? It's pretty much all I talk about when I mention this class. Anyway, it's Kitty, Helen, Lynn, Steven, Arnold, Danny, Oscar, and Kevin (who is utterly incapable of silence):

I didn't get a proper class photo for this class, one of my other 2nd-grade level classes. That's Terry and Celina, watching Roadrunner:

That's Jenny in the back and Wendy (a colossal brat), playing a form of jacks:

This is another 2nd-grade level class with no proper photo, mostly because Emily, my replacement, wasn't around to take it and remind me. That's Joe in the back and Albert:

The rest of that class is Eric, Sean, Louis, Erin, and Lucy is in the front:

This is my 3rd-grade level class, but they will pass into the next level soon. This is the class that seems to have the strongest bond with me, particularly (from right to left) Melanie, Danny, Michelle, and Andrew. The girls were in my class from day one, with Danny, who is their lifelong friend, joining shortly after. Andrew came a few months in, but was able to mesh pretty well with the group. Jeff, although he isn't shunned or scorned, never seemed to merge into the knit.

That class always brings cakes and snacks for special occasions. Melanie's mom brought this ice cream cake for us:

Michelle came in with several boxes of brownies, cereal bars, and other snacks, which we didn't end up eating and I just passed around to the other teachers later. Danny's birthday had been two days earlier, so his mom sent in a cake that day, as well. We had a pretty laid back last week, especially since we had two days of testing and I don't give homework on test days. I'm sure they were happy.

Most of the kids in my classes were very vocal about not wanting me to go, so I imagine they'll be glad when I come back. I'm not sure if I'll get any of these classes back, though, especially considering the overhaul that's about to go down at the school. The schedule changed immediately after I left, and I'm sure a lot of classes were moved around and kids separated. Additionally, Heather mentioned wanting me to do more TOEFL test preparation classes, so I may have less time in my schedule for actually teaching basic English. It may be better for the kids that way, anyway. As much as they like me, over the next two months they'll get used to Emily or one of the other teachers if they get moved, and probably not want to change again.


Anyway, after school we had a going away party with the whole staff for me and Sue, one of the Korean teachers who didn't renew her contract. We had shabu shabu (thinly sliced meat and veggies cooked in a liiiiight broth, but not eaten as soup) and naturally went to a no rae bang afterwards. Here's Mingyu singing (trashed):