Opening Ceremony

A new school year has begun. This semester arriving at school I feel like a veteran. The chaos, wildness, lack of information, and the amount of English my students' have forgotten is thrilling. All the teachers are changing desks, getting new schedules, meeting new teachers, etc. I'm not alone. I have a new coteacher even though my old teacher is still teaching at the school. And my new coteacher is the one I would have picked. It's amazing.

Of course our opening ceremony was outside, and it was lightly snowing. The students had to be out there for more than an hour, while the teachers were out there for probably 15 - 20 minutes. I don't know exactly, I was daydreaming as usual.

I have moved to a new desk on the first floor in the main teachers' office. Right next to the vice principal! I have cleaned the desk and moved all my stuff from my old desk, but I'm not setting up shop yet. According to the Korean law of averages, I will probably have to move to a different desk later today, and then move once more next week. Why? I don't know. It's just the way things work.

Around 10am a new English teacher asked me if I was ready to teach.
"When?" I asked.
"mmmm... maybe 5 minutes later. Do you have a lesson plan for introductions?"
Smiling, I said "I do."
"So can you teach them? Maybe the class will only be 20 minutes today."
Laughing, "I'm sure I can think of something."

In class there was a new student who lived in America for two years. He can speak English well. After he said something the rest of the class cheered, and then proceeded to take 5 minutes to think about how to answer "What did you do during vacation?"

It's lunch time and it's time to be a rock star in the hallways once again.