searching

I teach a couple of phonics classes now. Last year I didn't teach any, but before that I had more than a few, and for the most part I liked them. Or at least I didn't mind them.


This year I really can't deal with them. A phonics class means younger students, and as a basic rule of thumb, the younger the kids are, the harder they are to control. Also, phonics books are the worst. One unit, or one class's worth or work, can be done in about 10 minutes, leaving me another 40 minutes to kill.

There are a few standard games or activities I usually use to kill those 40 minutes. Today, for one class, I used word searches. These are great because there's really nothing else for me to do other than stand there and make sure they don't get out of control. They also bring out the students' competitive sides, and I can watch these little Machiavellis cheat, deceive, and bargain with each other as they strive to be the first to finish.

Here's how it went. On the left, we had three boys, Peter, Matthew, and Daniel. They immediately teamed up and began working together. To the right of them were three girls, Jane, Bibi, and Rei, who likewise teamed up. However, it's important to note that Bibi and Rei are close friends, while Jane is a bit of a loner. And last, we had the class gamin, Chris, at the very end, forbidden to sit amongst his fellow boys because he's a maniac. What they were playing for, what was at stake, was 5 signs on the class ledger--think of it as 5 gold stars, but even more meaningless and intangible-- for the first student to find all the words.

They begin the word search, feverishly searching for any of the 25 words, hidden in all directions within the 15x15 grid of letters, while using their arms and a books to shield their papers from each others' view. Occasionally, one would let out an elated "I found it!" in Korean, alerting the class that another word had been found. If it was a girl who found one, the other two would huddle around and the information would be exchanged in hushed voices, as the boys ears perked up for a moment, before breathlessly returning to their task. If it was a boy who found one, the same scene played out, with the roles reversed. As we started, Chris seemed a bit nonplussed by the word search, but that soon changed.

Now, I already mentioned that Jane is a bit of a loner. But, she also had some prime real estate for this game. The kids were all seated in an L-shape. Her seat was one up from the corner, so whereas every other student had desks that lined up side to side, Jane's desk came out perpendicular to the desk on her right, which belonged to Daniel. As a result, although Daniel may have thought that his left arm was an effective shield, in reality Jane had a pretty clear top-down view of his paper. Jane also had a lot of leeway. By that I mean Rei and Bibi worked very closely together, pretty much using the same sheet, so they never really had their eyes on Jane, though they still allowed her to get answers off of them.

The minutes tick by and after a little while the boys clearly have built up a lead. Each delighted "I found it!" from the boys' side produces more consternation on the faces of Bibi and Rei. Jane, meanwhile, pretty much has carte blanche, as she poaches words from Daniel, while getting them from the girls as well. And Chris begins throwing his eraser in the air and trying to catch it.

Soon, the inevitable happens, as Daniel cries out, "Teacher! Jane hacking!" "Hacking" is Konglish, and means cheating. Jane plays dumb and I give her a stern glare and a warning in order to create the illusion that I'm maintaining a level playing field. Daniel reassess his defense system, and using his bag, books, and pencil case he constructs a new barrier.

This bit of drama seems to snap Chris out of ADHD-induced obsession with catching his eraser, and draws his attention onto the word search. Surprisingly, he aligns himself with Bibi and Rei, and proves to be a decent word searcher. The other boys pay no mind to this.

Now we have Peter, Matthew, and Daniel still working together, Bibi, Rei, and Chris in cahoots, and Jane a pariah forgotten and alone on an island. Jane probably realizes that she won't survive long on her own, so she makes the only move she has left. She starts furtively sharing the girls' words with Daniel, while getting his words back in return. However Daniel is clearly not sharing the words he's getting from Jane with Matthew and Peter. Just as I think the subterfuge has reached its peak, Chris's misogyny is awakened, and he switches allegiances and joins the boys, bringing with him the whereabouts of a particularly well disguised 3-letter word (eat).

Bibi and Rei bewail and protest, and I remind Chris that he's not allowed to sit with the other boys. He returns to the girls and brings back with him a 3-word cluster in the bottom right part of the puzzle, much to the delight of Bibi and Rei. It dawns on me that Chris was a Trojan Horse, a gambit played by the girls to gain ground.

As the class period is winding down, it's clear that nobody is going to finish the puzzle, because, well, I designed it that way. I intentionally made this puzzle way too hard for their level, because I couldn't risk anybody actually completing the thing. Like I said, I need to kill time; if somebody finishes the puzzle and there's still 12 minutes of class left, then what the hell am I supposed to do? Trust me, I've been in that situation before, and it is brutal. I tell them that since nobody found all the words, everybody will get 3 signs in the class ledger, much to everyone's delight. And with that, their puzzles, the cause of so much conniving and conspiring, were discarded and forgotten.

For all their treachery and artfulness, it was I who really won the day. I don't think any of them even got 15 of the 25 words. Although they may not have finished the puzzle, or improved their English ability in any substantial way, they did get to exercise and hone their abilities to manipulate one another, which is probably a more important skill to learn anyway.