Parents' Day

Tuesday was the bi-annual Parents' Day. It was originally scheduled for sometime last month, but was postponed due to lack of preparation. At the time I wondered how they could just change the date so flippantly, but as the new day approached I was glad they did. Having originally considered it as an excuse for a lazy day - just four half hour classes all day! - the prospect of having all the mummys scrutinising my classes and keeping count of how many times their darlings raised their hand suddenly became a little daunting, and it dawned on me that running through the day's events a couple of times beforehand might not be a bad idea.

One of my co-teachers suggested that I ran a post office themed class. With this in mind I got the kids to scrawl an "I love you mummy" note, complete with picture of mummy, which they could then 'send' at the 'post office' for Mary Teacher come Postman to deliver.

[On writing 'Mummy' on the board, I was ushered over by the boss who had chosen to sit in on one of my classes with her electronic dictionary out suggesting I'd spelt the word wrong. On explaining that we didn't use an 'o' in England, she then told me to write it both ways in case people got confused. I didn't.]

The day was generally a success. The mothers were embarassed as I asked them concurrently with their little ones how they were ("Oh!" they'd giggle. Making a big circle with my arms to help them understand I'd ask, "Tiger's Mummy, are you happy?" to which I might receive an embarassed nod, or if they were feeling especially brave a, "Yes, happy") and the children seemed to have miraculously learnt my simple post office roleplay dialogue overnight. Really, my fears were unfounded as my initial visions of an easy day came true.

Yesterday Lauren and I spent our morning at Children's Grand Park. Not a national holiday this time, but a whole school inspection by the board of education in Korea. When we arrived at school for our afternoon classes we came to realise that as we were enjoying the animals and gardens, the time off might not have been quite out of the kindness of their hearts but a ploy to hide us from sight. I know we're not technically employed by the kindergarten itself, but perhaps this English teaching is all a little more underhand than we'd realised.