"It's a bed bug, Teachuh!"

I have a new teaching schedule for the next month. Instead of working 2:15pm-9:45pm, I'm working 10:50am-7:20pm. It's nice coming home from work when it's still light outside :) Our kids have a month-long summer break from their academies, so we were able to move our hours around so they could still come to our hagwon for English tutoring.

During this month, Darren told Beth and I that we could break away from the traditional curriculum for the middle schoolers and teach our own lessons. We decided that every day we're going to choose a topic and teach Speaking class with that. Today, our first topic was "Restaurant." For my middle schoolers, I decided to teach them how to order food at a restaurant, what the role of restaurant workers are (host/hostess, waiter/waitress, chef), and how to invite someone to your favorite restaurant. I had the students stand up and present in front of the class. They were really shy at first, but once they realized that they were all in the same boat, they eased up a little bit and started enjoying themselves. I also had the students do conversations with their partners, which is something they rarely get to do. At their academies, they typically just sit in class all day and listen to their teacher. The Speaking lesson today was really successful, and I'm excited about tomorrow. We're doing Shopping and Clothing :)

For the older elementary students, we have been watching short movie clips and talking about common lines and phrases that are used in English. I was in the movie room with my students watching a clip from Ratatouille today, when I heard shrieking from down the hallway. I assumed there was a behavior problem with one of the younger kids. Boy, was I wrong!! After class, Beth came up to me and told me to look at something one of her students had brought in that day. One of her boys had a jar, and he was unscrewing the cap. Beth said, "You have to check out this bug!!" Well, I don't really prefer bugs at all, so I started wigging out before I even saw it. The student said, "It's a bed bug, Teachuh!!" So, I assumed it was something small. Either way, I don't like bugs, so I was a few feet back. He opened the jar and moved the dirt around. Inside, I saw the largest beetle I've ever seen in my entire life!! It was about 3 inches long and had horns coming out of its head!! The student shoved it up in my face, and I started screaming for him to put it away. All the other students in the hallway were just laughing at Beth and me. When we were back in the Teacher Room, I told Beth I could hear her students screaming from down the hallway. She said, "Oh no, they weren't screaming. That was just me." Apparently, the student had taken the bug out to show the class, and it was crawling up his arms and over his hands.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going back to Suwon Medical Center to pick up my test results from my check-up last week. Once I have been cleared medically, my next step is to fill out the paperwork at the Immigration Office so I can get an Alien Registration Card (ARC). With the ARC, I'll be able to open my Korean bank account, hopefully just in time for my first payday :)