Here are some of my best and brightest 4th graders performing a little skit that we'd studied that day.
They're supposed to feed each other with whatever is in the box/bag (it's a Korean culture thing that I still don't fully understand), so I started putting random things in the box.
The boy on the left must have some kind of learning disability, but he tries super hard. All my fourth graders are golden angels though. I honestly can't think of one 4th grader that gives me problems.
Yeah, I put a dog in the box. I know. What a silly teacher I am.
By the way, that's my co-worker that you hear on the camera. I'm just off to the side doing my thang (I hate that word...it's often used by people who say 'girlfriend' a lot, which I also hate).
Anyways, these two girls are cool. The one in the white jacket is sweet as can be, and always comes to small talk with me before class. The other one's English is super good, but she can be a brat sometimes.
It's weird. The kids who speak English really well are either really sweet and kind or kinda bratty and selfish. Well, I don't know...maybe that's the same as saying clocks are either working or broken.
I had a picture of myself sitting around.
Who doesn't?
Anyways, I have a situation, and I'm not sure what I can do to make it better. There's this one 6th grade boy who gets picked on profusely. I can't stand it, and I try to stop it whenever I can. First off, it's not right. Second, he's actually a lot smarter than all the boys who pick on him. Third, I have a firm belief that people who are constantly picked on tend to turn into some of the dredge of society: the rapists, murderers, child molesters....
So, of course, none of the other teachers seem to care too much about what's happening (Korean teachers seem to be even less effective than their American counterparts). Even my co-worker doesn't seem to care too much. Today we were walking to lunch and some boys were bullying that boy and one of them kicked him. I took the boy who kicked him to my co-worker and she just told him to go back to his classroom.
I want to do something, but I have no clue how. I thought maybe I could give the poor kid some candy and some American coins and tell him that even though the other boys are really mean, I think he's a good guy and that life has lots of rainbows and unicorns dancing around if you just look in the right corners. However, his English might not be good enough to understand what I'm saying, and it might just make the other boys mad at him.
I also thought about yelling at the other boys when I see them doing something like that. I've seriously never yelled at any of my students, and it would probably scare the crap out of them. Of course, that has its flaws too.
I talked to one of the boys in that class, and asked him why everybody picks on that one boy. "Because he picks his nose," he said.
"Are you serious? That's why the pick on him?" I asked.
"Yeah. It means he's retarded."
That, of course, made me even more mad. I'm an avid nose-picker; one of the best in the business.
The whole situation reminds me of something my last recruiter once said: "The classes have too many kids and the materials are terrible, but just try to shed a little light in your corner of the world." He was an Australian, and was probably just spouting off Australian road-side philosophy when he said it, but I took it to heart.
I mean, realistically, I can't fix all the problems in the world. I can't even fix most of the problems I encounter. Yet, I'm not obligated to fix every situation. Nor am I equipped. Furthermore, not all decisions are left up to me.
However, some problems I can fix. Some situations can be easily affected by me. Some decisions are fully mine.
Anyways, for now, I guess the best I can do is keep an eye out to see if I can help that kid.
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