1st grade....

I love Wednesday, because I teach my 1st graders! They are the sweetest little gems and are always so eager to learn and speak english! I took these 2 pictures in class this morning and thought they were worth sharing!!


On the first day of English class, I asked the students if they already had English names, or if they wanted to make one up for themselves. This adorable little ball of energy said "My name is chick." Obviously, I was confused by his name, so I asked "Chick? Jincha? (really) Whe? (why?)" His answer, "I like chicken!" :)



Today, we were making books. On one of the pages they had to draw themselves. Because this little girl's mom makes her wear a mask everyday to school, she drew herself with a mask! I thought it was hilarious!

신종플루 shots!

신종플루, pronounced "shin jong flu" is what Koreans call the swine flu. We have had soooo many students go home with fevers, and class sizes are getting smaller with each passing day. For instance, I only had 9 students in one of my 1st grade classes this morning.

Today, all of the students at my school were required to get vaccination shots on the 1st floor! From what I saw, none of them cried, and most of them had smiles on their faces, while they waited in line! Pretty impressive, huh?!


He was showing me the needle mark!


While I was down there, taking pictures, Stella sent one of her students to give me this note. I thought it was hilarious! :)

Happy Pepero Day!

Relationships and love are not taken lightly in South Korea. There are actually 20 holidays, throughout the year, devoted completely to celebrating one's affections for family and friends.

Today, November 11th, is one of these special days, known as Pepero Day! Pepero is a long, thin crunchy wafer half dipped in chocolate. Pepero day revolves around the exchanging and eating of these Pepero sticks with as many family, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, and acquaintances who are willing to accept your offering. This practice is extremely popular with children! Here are 3 of my 1st graders offering me Pepero after English class about an hour ago! (Lily, Hannah, and Jessica)

The date of November 11 was chosen because when written as 11/11, it resembles four, long Pepero sticks. The legend is that Pepero Day began in Busan when some middle school girls started exchanging the snack with the wish that they would become "as tall and slender as a Pepero." I'm not sure why they thought eating cookies covered in chocolate would make them slender, but whatever! I'm glad they started doing it, because now I have a desk full of these delicious little treats!

Happy Pepero Day!