I was a little excited for my last class today, which is at the 8:40-9:30 time slot. I'd planned on watching 15 minutes of Toy Story, and having some good conversations about it (teaching English with movies is something I only get to do twice a week, but I love it).
My students showed up, and they looked despondent and unhappy. We talked for a little while about random topics, and they told me about what they did last weekend and why they weren't really scared about the Swine Flu.
The last topic we covered before the movie was 'How are you feeling?' Each student responded in turn with 'bad,' 'tired,' and 'not good.' I asked them why, although I kinda knew the answer already. My oldest student looked at me and said, "I go to school in the morning, and then after school I am here all day." The other students said pretty much the same thing.
Not every Korean kid is like them, but it seems that most are forced by their parents to spend at least some time after school in various academies and tutoring places that focus on math, english, taekwondo, etc.. My oldest student's case is a little extreme, but not too far from the norm: she goes to school at around 8 or 9 in the morning, and doesn't really make it home till around 10 at night due to the fact that she's enrolled in so many after-school classes.
So, after hearing their responses, I told them that I felt sorry for them, and then I gave them candy and we watched the movie. I tried not to interrupt it too much cause I wanted to let them just have at least a little enjoyment to make up for their sucky lives.
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