Santa Clause is Coming to Suji!

Sweet little Alice :)

Across the street from my apartment: this is what you see

Looking down the street of my apartment...

My apartment is on this street...

There it is!

Zackary- one of my favorites!

This is what happens when you give a swine flu mask to a kindergartener...

(It reminds me of that book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." I should write a children's book called "If You Give a Kinder a Swine Flu Mask")

I don't even know the words to explain this child- Alan. He just cracks me up every two seconds of every day! He's definitely a class clown, but so sweet and loving. He interrupts me every other second because he gets so excited to share his thoughts: "Britney Teacher! Teacher! Britney Teacher! My this, yes! My house, this yes!" (translation: "At my house, I have this, too!") He just loves to be involved in every single happening within the classroom :)

Julie, becoming a bit more photogenic! She really loves to be in pictures!

This is Jack. He's a 7-1 kinder, meaning that he's 7 years old and in his first year of English. He's in my afternoon reading club (only in Korea do you have a reading club for kindergarten students!) He's absolutely adorable- always pushing those big glasses back up on his nose. Don't be fooled, though- he's quite the troublemaker!!

Irene: I had to bribe her with an extra Hello Kitty sticker to make her be in this photo!

Gingerbread village on my classroom window...

Merry Christmas, from Classroom Two!!

It's a pretty crowded classroom, with one teacher, ten students, Santa Clause, and eight reindeer!

"Christmas Tree," aka garland stapled to the wall

I made a stocking for each student and hung them by the "fireplace"

Of course, Irene needed to get in on the Pikachu hat action...

Alan, modeling the Pikachu hat

Ashley wore this hat to school one day. Once I realized it was for real, I absolutely had to document it...

Busy, busy times at school to prepare for Christmas! Song contest this week- my students didn't completely drop the ball, as predicted, but I wouldn't exactly say they did well... :) I think I ended up destroying my vocal cords while practicing that stupid song ("Jolly Old St. Nicholas") with them, over and over again. I could barely talk, let alone lead them in song, by Wednesday! Now it's Friday, and I still can't raise my voice much- these song contests are just torture for me!!

My kinders keep asking me, "How many sleeps til Christmas? How many sleeps til Santa Clause?" They are very excited for "Christmas" at LCI (Monday the 21st). In preparation for "Christmas," we had to do an important activity ahead of time. It was called "Write Down Three Things That You Want for Christmas, and Then "Santa Clause" Will Deliver Them to School (And Don't Worry, Money is Not an Issue)." What fun! The kids wrote down their Christmas wishes on construction paper trees, and then took them home to show Mommy and Daddy. By the end of this week, there was a large, accumulating pile of wrapped presents, all set to go for the kinders next week. And I don't mean little wrapped gifts- these all look like HUGE presents!

My students basically all wrote down the same thing:

The girls...

"For Christmas, I want:"

1. Princess doll

2. Pokemon doll

3. Ice cream maker

The boys...

"For Christmas, I want:"

1. Pokemon cards

2. Pokemon doll

3. Ice Cream maker

I have no idea what this ice cream maker is, but apparently it's very popular amongst the 6-7 year old Korean population. The Pokemon cards and Pikachu doll requests didn't surprise me in the least- they are all Pokemon obsessed here (see photos above...) We have at least two students bring in Pokemon cards for show-and-tell every week. And I have been drawing quite a few "Happy Pikachu faces" when we do "How are you today?" faces on the board every morning.

I did have a few students defy the norm, though: new student Julie requested "princess clothes," Zackary asked for a teddy bear, and spoiled little Alex asked me, "Teacher, how do you spell diamond?" I asked him why he wanted a diamond for Christmas. He said, "Teacher, diamonds are very many money!"

Yes, Alex, I know. But why do YOU know that, as a 6 year old child?

In other kinder classes, students were requesting both endearing and outrageously absurd gifts for Christmas. One of Shauna Teacher's students expressed his desire for an umbrella. Another of her students wrote down "a Christmas decorations-making kit." Many of Gina Teacher's 7 year old students wanted a Hello Kitty computer and Hello Kitty cell phone (don't be fooled by the Hello Kitty label- these are actually real computers and cell phones- that these 7 year olds will most likely get!) Most of Steve Teacher's students just wanted "ice cream" (that's the kind of answer that makes you just want to hug them, because it's such an innocent, little kid wish...not so much with the diamond request).

It's beginning to look a lot like a commercial Christmas....