Kindergarten Graduation and the New School Year

At school, nearly all of 2014 has been sacrificed to the demon-god that is kindergarten graduation at a Korean hagwon. I'll try not to make too many statements like the following, but I have to say at least this one: Korean culture puts a lot of value into presentation and performance. You see it in how people dress, how they whip out their phones to check their hair and their makeup, and I could tell when my six seven-year-olds spent the majority of their last month of kindergarten memorizing lines, learning a choreographed dance, and squinting in the blinding stage lights.

My kindergarteners are unbelievable. First of all, they speak two languages.  They come to school every day, where they sit quietly while we read and discuss stories, write journal entries, learn geography and math and facts about various classical composers. They speak in complete sentences, they practice beautiful handwriting, they get unpacked and packed up all by themselves, and they go home and do homework. Well, I have thoughts about all of this, as I always do, so I make a point to get the kids moving and coloring and laughing as much as I can. The school encourages us to do so, and I know my co-teachers all make similar efforts. Occasionally we do catch ourselves complaining, but we quickly remember that we asked a five year old to 'sit nicely and pay attention' for 40 minutes straight, and we manage our expectations.

Photo day was a perfect example of the Korean attention to presentation. Our children had three different outfits: fancy, uniform, and jeans with a white tee and bare feet. The Korean teachers were buzzing about fixing hair and MAKEUP yes makeup, and the photographer took series of photos to ensure capturing that cute kid smile. To top it all off, my coworkers preached of the promise of photoshop to fix any flaws, and the final product delivered! That was the second picture day of the year, and later that week the photographer came back to retake a few of the pictures. Presentation is serious business.

So fast-forward to graduation time. My 7A India Peacocks had to learn the ILS motto and give a little speech around a theme (some classes did a skit), we had to record a two-minute 'commercial', and we still had school. In the end the graduation ceremonies-- the nine classes were split over two days-- were orderly, impressive, and adorable. As expected. Still, the amount of times I used some variation of the phrase "Don't worry so much!" was much too high. Everyone was so stressed, and our students could sense it.  They felt the pressure, they worked hard at every rehearsal, even when they were sick and tired of doing the same routine for the 20th time that week. As for me, I still stand by my motto for those weeks.  No matter what happens, a group of kindergarteners on stage in little caps and gowns is always going to be charming and precious and perfect.  And they were!

We started the new school year on Thursday. The 7B1 Jungle Jaguars are five seven-year-olds who are in their second year of studying English. I have quickly become an expert on wild cats. And since now you're wondering...cheetahs have spots, while leopards have rosettes and jaguars have spots inside their rosettes. Also, there are only four 'big cats', the ones that can ROAR: lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard. Boom! Education! Here's to a year full of fun learning, for my jaguars and the Carolion.