Sewol Ferry Disaster

As most of you have heard (I hope all of you have heard), there was a huge ferry disaster off the coast of South Korea about a week ago.  I am not going to add to the crazy information going around on the internet, because I don't think I will do any of it justice and I do not want to add to the speculations going around.  However, I am going to discuss the children.

I teach high school children and this accident really hurt me.  The loss of these children (an adults) is such a huge loss of potential and life.  These kids had their whole life ahead of them and now they are laying under this cold murky sea.  It breaks my heart to see the parents, family, and friends crying over the loss of their loved ones.  I think of my kids and I just can't imagine what they are going through.  I would be devastated if this had been my school or my kids.  It is a truly heartbreaking disaster.

Another thing that breaks my heart is the ones that survived and how much guilt they must feel because of that.  The Vice Principal, who was one of three teachers rescued (out of 15 teachers), already committed suicide because he felt responsible for what happened.  The children that survived, while their classmates weren't so lucky, will face some heart wrenching issues in the next few months, if not years.  This event will live on with them for the rest of their lives and I really hope that none of them decide to take their lives because they question themselves and their survival.  I hope these kids can get the counselling they need.  I also hope that the parents, family, and friends of those who lost their lives receive the counselling they need.

This entire disaster is heartbreaking and I cannot even express how I properly feel.  There is this great article by Kim Seong-kon and it sums up the tragedy really well.  You should read it.  Kim Seong-kon did a really good job expressing the sorrow because of this tragedy and the loss of these young children. (http://m.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140422001304)

Spring is here and simply beautiful! ♥♥

The trees are in full bloom and it is so pretty.  I am in love with the beautiful trees and flowers and plants.  It is wonderful.  New life!

Looking kind of 1930's wartime woman meets modern art teacher!

The New School Year

As most of you know, I absolutely adore my school and the students at my school.  They are wonderful little smartasses and it is great.  However, there was a slight change to my first year classes and only my first year classes.  This year the students whose English abilities are good enough, get to be in my class.  So my first year classes are divided in about half (12 to 18 students per class), with the lower level students receiving extra grammar lessons from the Korean English Teacher and the higher level students getting to be in my class.  This split is supposed to help with classroom participation, improving the lower level students English levels and to be a sort of reward for studying English.  Like: If you do well on the assessments and show progress you get to be in the fun class with Kara and not in the boring class with the Korean Teacher.

The thing is, I have found that they don't want to participate because the class is so small and they feel dumb.  Mostly my girls but sometimes my boys too.  Three of my five classes are great,but the other two are horrible.  I feel like I am pulling teeth to get them to say anything.  They don't want to do anything or say anything.  The sad thing is my boys are the problem, it is the girls.  They just don't want to participate and I have no idea what to do.  Give it time or something but I have no idea.

I genuinely love these kids and I love teaching.  It hurts that these classes are confident enough to speak in English.  I am hoping that things will turn around or something because I just don't know what to do with these two classes.  I guess two out of eighteen isn't horrible though.  My other classes are brilliant.