Comics

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Whatever Works

Comic15_SheSpeaks

As an EPIK teacher, I have to teach two weeks of English camp every summer and winter. This isn’t the type of camp that I was used to growing up as an American kid, though. There are no blobs, there are no campfires, there are no s’mores (unless you’re a glutton for punishment. Made that mistake once), and there’s definitely no sleeping here–contrary to what my students believe about me. I think they call it ‘camp’ to make it sound like something the kids will want to do.
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Iron Man Teacher

Comic14_tonystark

This is a conversation I had between myself, my coteacher, and a very disappointed 3rd grader around the time that “Captain America: Civil War” came out in Korea. The amount of thought he put in before he sighed and said he wished he could have Iron Man instead of me was adorable, even though he was basically wishing I could be someone else.

3rd graders are wonderful.

Jack-o’-Lantern Soup

Comic12_JackoLanterns

Last year, during Halloween, I had a really good idea to carve pumpkins with my English club. It took us the larger part of one afternoon to find them, but we finally gathered enough from the market behind our school for what I thought would be an awesomely successful lesson. After getting my students really pumped with an explanatory PPT, my coteacher and I handed out carving tools (tiny utility knives *shudder*) and the kids went to town. About halfway through the carving, most of the kids had given up because the blades kept breaking off inside the pumpkins. Not to be beaten by those tiny problematic blades, I finished carving each of the pumpkins for them. The kids were all really happy with the results, and were able to take them home to show their families. I even seasoned and baked the seeds and brought them to school the next day.
+10 teacher points

Needless to say, I was a little surprised to hear that one of my students had eaten his jack-o’-lantern that same night.

I guess that’s one use for a really wasteful pagan tradition. Hobak soup is pretty delicious, so I don’t blame him one bit.

Teachers in the Wild

Comic11_TeachersOutside

Sometimes I forget how strange it was as a kid to see teachers outside of school and in normal clothing. Maybe I’m using the word “normal” incorrectly here. Whatever, those pants are ridiculously comfy.