Hello Mr. Kang!

Korean children study, a lot. Fortunately enough, for those of us looking for jobs here in the 'land of the morning calm', Korean parents force their children to study, a lot. Unlike back home, where after school activities typically include playing some sport, socializing with friends, walking home, riding bikes around town, and so forth, Korean 'youngins' study anything and everything from robot building, to playing musical instruments, to English, to Maths, to Lego building (in English!). Hagwon is the Korean name for such after-school private institutions, where little Korean kiddies flood, between that last school bell, tae-kwon-do practice, dinner, homework, and sleep. Hagwons even offer Kindergarten (English Kindergarten) classes for Korean children as young as 3 years-old (western aged 3, anyway).

Although I work for the public school system here in Jeju, my job is more similar to that of a private institute. The Jeju government has established 'The Centers' in an attempt to offer an alternative to Korean families, who do not have the funds to send all of their children to expensive English hagwons. The Center is free for all students, ranging from 1st graders to middle schoolers, and even adult students. My job entails then, teaching a maximum of 16 children (or adults) per class, four times a week for 50 minute classes. The differences in English level I see each day ranges from 2nd graders who are happy to ask each other 'How are you' and giggle when they scream in excitement, 'I'M HAPPY!!!' to middle schoolers who sift through English newspapers in order to complete my assignments. The Center has been a fabulous place to work for my first two years in Jeju, but it, like all things in Korea encompasses some annoying aspects that can be truly hilarious.

A couple of weeks ago, the second in command here at the center, Mr. Kang, was strolling the hallways during our last class hour. Mr. Kang is a smiley, silver-haired, short Korean man, who, despite working in the government-funded language institute, can speak no other languages besides Korean. Before beginning class, I was showing 2 members of my whopping 6- student-class a video on the internet about polar bears. Mr. Kang walked past my open door, peered in suspiciously, and looked at his watch, signaling to me, that he thought I should be teaching now, instead of showing my students a polar bear video. I waited a few minutes more, as 2 of my students had not arrived to class yet, and when the last of my middle schoolers arrived, I asked (surely because of Mr. Kang's disapproving eyes) that she close my door.

We began class chatting about their all-school, all-subject exam day each of them had just finished; how they thought they'd done, if the tests were difficult, if the English section was difficult and so forth. Ji Eun, the chattiest of my students was explaining how they could check the answers to their tests after school, so everyone pretty much knew how they'd preformed when mid sentence, she noticed the the window behind my white board opening and she said, "Ummm Arielle Teacher, that window's opening, mind if I check out who's behind there?" I smiled and said, "Go for it!" Ji Eun crept up below the window, slid the white board to the side stood up in front of the window, and yelled 'boo!' Her face quickly turned to terror, she shut the window, started laughing uncontrollably, and quickly made it back to her seat. She pointed toward the door. "Your boss, your head boss!" She said. I opened the door, saw Mr. Kang, smiled and said, "Hello Mr. Kang! If you'd like to observe the class, please have a seat. We'd be happy to have you in here." Certainly understanding little to nothing of what I said, he shook his head, smiled out of embarrassment, and quickly turned the corner out of my sight.

A few minutes later, Mr. Kang was back to his old shinanigans, opening more of my windows. This time, at the rear of my class, behind the students, in the direction I was facing, he slid open another one of my windows. This time, however there was no white board to hide his sneaking little face. When our eyes met, I repeated my offer, "Really, Mr. Kang, if you'd like to watch the class, please come in, and have a seat." He uncomfortably laughed again and quickly slid the window closed.

I know there must be some cultural, generational, possibly even gender differences here that make it very hard for me to understand the motivation behind Mr. Kang's sneaky window sliding! But, I reckon I don't even want to completely comprehend his class checking impetus, after all, these diversities and misunderstandings make for such sweet stories!