I had one of those moments that hammers home just how long I’ve been teaching now, in Korea – and most of that time, in this same Ilsan neighborhood called Hugok. A 3rd grader in my Sirius반, who goes by Gina, mentioned that she had an older sister who goes by Sunny, and she and I talked about Sunny for a few moments – Sunny is in middle school now but doesn’t attend Karma for her English. I remember Sunny very well, as her personality matched her English nickname. She was a bright and always optimistic student. But then Gina mentioned mention that I had taught her “other old sister” too: Irene. I drew a blank for a short moment, and the realized who she was talking about. “Irene” is now a university student. She was literally one of the first students I taught in Korea, as a member of my first group of 7th graders when I started at Tomorrow School. Later, with Ella and some others, she became a member of the original “princess mafia” – a group of middle school girls that was, perhaps, one of the first groups of students to give me the impression I was actually learning how to be a decent teacher.
“Oh… that’s right. Irene is your sister.” I said to Gina. She nodded. “Does she remember me much?”
Gina shook her head. “No. Sunny does, but not Irene.”
Well, figures.
Actually, I had a really excellent class today, with the way-too-big combined HS반. 16 kids. Debate class. It went well. They actually formed teams and put in effort.
[daily log: walking, 5 km]