Birthday Party Day

The third Friday of the month is a special day at SLP. We hold a giant birthday party for all the preschoolers whose birthday was in the month. So, this means we get to take a break from teaching for 1/2 an hour, bring our kids to the gym. First they sing some of their favorite Kid's Pop songs. Kid's Pop is one of our afternoon activities. They actually learn some decent songs. For example, we've learned 'Hello, Good-Bye' by the Beatles, 'All Together Now' by someone else famous... can't remember his name. We also learned 'Apples and Bananas' and 'It's a Small World'. Anyway, here you can see one of my coworkers leading the kids in song.


Then the MC introduces all the birthday boys and girls.


The kids have to stand on chairs (isn't that dangerous?) and introduce themselves. Most kids were so shy, not to mention that their English skills right now are SO low because they've only been here for 3 weeks, that they might not even understand the question "how old are you?" and "What's your name?". But... I hate to brag, but my kids answered loud and clear and put the other kids to shame. Then again, my class is a much higher level than most of the other classes. Two or three of the kids either went to an English hagwon before coming here, or had private tutors, so, they actually can make basic (though incorrect) sentences... and the other kids learn faster from each other than they do from me. I never taught them "How old are you", but they could all answer!

This is Woo Yong in the pink hat, Ji Yoon in the blue hat and Han Ju in the yellow hat. They are three of my Fornax students, the birthday boys and girls.

After everything is over, we all have to pose for some group photos with our classes. I actually have two classes. Fornax, my favorites, and Jupiter, the loathed ones. The other grown-up in the photo here is Marley Teacher. She is my partner teacher. She teaches one class (Jupiter) and I teach Fornax for the first 80 minutes in the morning. Then we switch for another 80 minutes. They come to my classroom, and my kids go to her classroom. Then after that 80 minutes, we switch back for lunch and play time. Then they have their 40 minute afternoon activity, then they go home. Next month, I will be teaching in Jupiter, and she will be teaching in Fornax. I'll have Jupiter students as my homeroom and I'll eat lunch with them. NOT looking forward to that day... which is quickly approaching! Ahhhhhh.