middle schoolers

I've always prided myself on always giving a damn about how well my students do. It may seem like an obvious thing to care about, something not worth priding oneself on, but the fact is that a lot of people who have jobs like mine don't. However, lately it's been getting harder and harder to care.

It's because I teach a lot of middle schoolers, and middle schoolers are assholes. I'm sure it's true of everywhere in the world, and Korea is no different. That's not to say that every middle school class I teach is awful because some of them are awesome and I love teaching them, but the ones that are absolutely suck the life out of me.

In a couple of these classes, I'm literally the only person who speaks for the entirety of the 40 minute classes. I'd love to record one of these classes, because they always devolve into me rambling on like a madman, since nobody cares or knows what the hell I'm saying anyway. Like, I'll teach the lesson for 20 minutes and we'll get to the part of class where I ask them to answer questions in their workbooks. So I'll say, Alright, who can answer #1? Anybody? Come on, we just talked about this, you guys know this, this is easy. ~~~5 minutes go by~~~ For the love of god, people. If nobody gives me this answer, I'm going to have to jump out the window. Alright, here I come lord, I'm going to kill myself because none of these kids will talk to me...Fine, the answer to #1 is "What will he bring to the party?" Now, #2...


I might as well be teaching a mound of soiled diapers with a sad face painted on it.

Today I did actually manage to squeeze a sentence out of one of these kids. I was in the middle of one of my manic pleas for an answer, when I turned to a middle school girl called Ji-Su. Ji-Su, I know you can do this. What's the answer to #3? It's the same as #2. She looked up at me, glared, and mumbled, I hate you.


My joy at hearing one of them speak English was only slightly overpowered by the sense I got that she actually meant what she said.