Waterworks.
On the whole, I think I am doing ok on this whole teaching lark. I think I'm engaging enough and I have pretty good classroom control. However, yesterday I had an incident which made me feel as impotent a sixty five year old who has dropped his viagra down the sink.
I was sitting with a class letting them finalise their speeches for the debate I was about to watch. They had messing around a little as kids that age will. Now suddenly, one of the boys James seems to be sniffing. Hmmm. Under closer inspection I see these are the sniffs that accompany tears. I investigate and it seems one of the pesky youngsters made him cry with a comment. I'm not sure whether he swore, or was especially nasty, but he made some comment about James not doing the right work. Anyway, I asked young Brian to step outside so that I can have a little word with him. Now, I had no intention to shout and bawl at him, nor even chastise him. My honest intention was for a polite chat about the importance of respect and manners in class. Now as I get him outside he starts crying and I do mean crying. Tears stream down his face as he breathes in frantic gulps. I try to calm him down, but he inconsolable. The process of being asked outside for what he must have assumed was a telling him off has unleashed this dam of emotion inside the little guy.
Well, I manage to pacify him a little, if not damming the whole flood and bring him back inside. However, James our original sniffler, who had only been crying a little in the first place sees Brian and suddenly kicks off big style. Brian is then triggered again and starts crying like he's an anorexic at an all you can eat buffet. The rest of the class, observing this bizzare Freudian nightmare start laughing their heads off. I mean you can hardly blame them.
Eventually, I managed to restore order and have the debate. At the end of the class, the two boys trudged off glaring at me like I was the Demon Headmaster. I think I gave a boost to the Korean psychology community yesterday.
On the whole, I think I am doing ok on this whole teaching lark. I think I'm engaging enough and I have pretty good classroom control. However, yesterday I had an incident which made me feel as impotent a sixty five year old who has dropped his viagra down the sink.
I was sitting with a class letting them finalise their speeches for the debate I was about to watch. They had messing around a little as kids that age will. Now suddenly, one of the boys James seems to be sniffing. Hmmm. Under closer inspection I see these are the sniffs that accompany tears. I investigate and it seems one of the pesky youngsters made him cry with a comment. I'm not sure whether he swore, or was especially nasty, but he made some comment about James not doing the right work. Anyway, I asked young Brian to step outside so that I can have a little word with him. Now, I had no intention to shout and bawl at him, nor even chastise him. My honest intention was for a polite chat about the importance of respect and manners in class. Now as I get him outside he starts crying and I do mean crying. Tears stream down his face as he breathes in frantic gulps. I try to calm him down, but he inconsolable. The process of being asked outside for what he must have assumed was a telling him off has unleashed this dam of emotion inside the little guy.
Well, I manage to pacify him a little, if not damming the whole flood and bring him back inside. However, James our original sniffler, who had only been crying a little in the first place sees Brian and suddenly kicks off big style. Brian is then triggered again and starts crying like he's an anorexic at an all you can eat buffet. The rest of the class, observing this bizzare Freudian nightmare start laughing their heads off. I mean you can hardly blame them.
Eventually, I managed to restore order and have the debate. At the end of the class, the two boys trudged off glaring at me like I was the Demon Headmaster. I think I gave a boost to the Korean psychology community yesterday.
posted by Special_K at 4:25 AM
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