The Interesting Students
Looking back, I notice that I don't really mention many of my students this semester. Hell, I don't mention much of anything. This semester really flew by, and I kept myself very busy, so there are things that I'll try to go back and talk about in retrospect. In any case, of the 400 or so students that I taught this semester, here are some of the most interesting:
--Dae Woo: Dae Woo is huge. Whereas most Koreans are thin and fairly tall, Dae Woo is short and stocky. His English name is Blanka, after the green monster from Street Fighter video games; it fits him well. He loves soccer. He's active as hell. And he's always dressed to the nines. But what's so surprising about him is his personality. He's very kind and sweet. He's always talking about love and gushes about his girlfriend whenever he has an opportuntiy.
--Dong Myawng: Dong Myawng is Dae Woo's sidekick. They take my early morning conversation classes together, and they're rarely apart. Dong Myawng is, however, nothing like Dae Woo in any way. Dong Myawng is tall and thin. He's terrible with girls and a little rough with his language. He has, in fact, never had a girlfriend despite the fact he's not bad looking and is 26 years old. So he's always on the prowl. Every conversation class (which go in month long cycles), he finds out early which girls are single and hunts them. Dae Woo helps in his game, often using his sweet personality to try to set up Dong Myawng with girls in the class...or girls in the class's friends...or girls that anyone in the class might just happen to know. It's quite a dynamic the two have. Dong Myawng is very repectful to me, but it's clear he thinks of me as a friend. After the last class, he called my cell phone and asked me to give him the cell phone number of a really pretty girl that was in the class. Lord knows I want to help him out, but I couldn't bring myself to give him the number.
--Jesse: Jesse is also friends with Dong Myawng and Dae Woo and also takes me conversation classes. He's sweet and kind, but he also has trouble with the ladies (which is one reason I think he takes the classes). Whereas Dong Myawng's problem with girls comes from his total lack of understanding regarding how to talk to a woman, Jesse's problem is just that he's so shy. He's very content to just smile or laugh instead of talk, but when he talks, he has a really great genuineness about him that I really appreciate.
The three above were in my conversation classes, but the rest are from my Practical English classes. Practical English is required for all students passing through PNU, so many of them don't really want to be there. These classes are big and meet only every other week for two hours (the conversation classes meet daily, and I only teach one in any given month). This coupled with the fact that I have 14 classes all pretty much the same means that students really need to do something interesting or weird to stand out for me.
--Nicole: Nicole is a very pretty girl. She reminds me of Jennifer Connely is she were Asian (hard to picture, I know). But as I've said, I had many pretty girls in my classes, so it still took a lot to make one stand out. Nicole was quiet and reserved. I actually took her to be snotty at first, but I think now that she was just shy. I never understood why she always sat alone in my classes. If I was one of the guys in class, I'd be fighting to sit next to her every day. Besides the prettiness, she was also quite smart. She got one of the highest grades in any of my classes. But even those things wouldn't have made her stand out to me. What made her stand out were her homework assignments. She would take my simple assignments and write these wonderful narratives. The one that stands out to me the most was about her teenage years. She moved to Africa because her father got a job there. She had to go to school in French, even though she didn't speak the language. She was appauled by the openness regarding sex. And she had no friends. Her description of all this was quite interesting and touching.
--Bess: Bess had a crush on me. What made it all the more strange was that her boyfriend was in the same class as her, although he didn't seem to mind. Bess would talk to me after class. She gave me a birthday card. She even sniffed back some tears on the last day of class. She was a good student and probably got an A (I don't remember for sure), but her English really wasn't that good. What made her a good student was her confidence. She would say something completely wrong, but because she spoke with such confidence when she said it, I'd still often understand. It was rather strange.
--Jackie: I don't know much about Jackie, but he still stands out to me for two reasons. One, he told me that his nicknames is because he loves Jackie Chan. And two, he has only two emotions as far as I can tell: elation and confusion. He's usually happy. And when he's happy, he's VERY happy. He'd sit there smiling his big grin and nodding all class. Unless he got confused. Then he'd have this blank, raised-eyebrow look. He'd still keep complete eye contact, but the grin would be gone until he understood again.
--Jin 1 (the guy): In my Practical English classes, everyone chooses an English nickname. I have to respect any student that makes a English version of their Korean name instead of just picking some movie star's name. Jin was one of those students. He was also one of the few students that was brave enough to chat with me in English after class. He told me he really wanted to learn English because he had a half sister that was born and raised in Canada that he barely knew and who knew no Korean. He really wanted to be able to talk to her, but right now, he felt like he really couldn't. Like Bess, his English wasn't good, but his confidence made up for it. Unlike her, though, he didn't get a good grade (he skipped a lot of class). When I told him this, he just shrugged, and thanked me for teaching him, then left with a smile. That'll always stick out to me.
--Jin 2 (the gal): Jin also made her name from her Korean name. She was far and away the best student in any of my Practical English classes. She spoke well and with confidence. I have no idea where she learned to speak English so well, but really, taking my class was a waste of her time. Aside from this, what made her stand out was something I never really figured out. She usually paid perfect attention during class, sitting calmly and attentively. But every class, I'd look over at her once or twice, and she'd have this odd scowl on her face, like the world had been treating her wrong. I'd look back in a few seconds and it would be gone, like she just shook it off or something. I never could quite tell what was happening there.
Anyway, those are the ones that stand out to me after a semester of teaching. There are many many more, but those are the best ones.
R
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