And then, about two weeks ago, I got a new addition to my class. This little boy had been going to a Korean kindergarten (where they also spend some time learning English) and had had some problems there. His mom, who speaks fluent English, came and talked to me on his first day. She told me that she was really concerned about him because he was a little younger and slower than the other children.
Side note: I think I've mentioned before how Korean age works. When you are born, you are one year old. And then on January 1st, everyone turns a year older. So, if you are born on December 31st, you will be considered 2 years old on January 1st. And it causes problems for school. This little boy's birthday is in November. He is 6 years old in Korean age, but is actually only 4 in American age. If he were in the States, he wouldn't be starting kindergarten for another year. Here, he's already been in it for 6 months. Too young! End side note.
So I thought this mom was probably being over protective of her son and told her not to worry, I was sure he would be fine. Ohhh man was I wrong! I've dealt with some students that were a little younger and slower and nothing has been too bad. But this boy is seriously slow and behind. After spending about an hour with him I couldn't imagine how the next six months were going to play out. He knows some English, is able to respond to questions with one word answers. But he can't sit still, was all over the place jumping up and down and blowing spit bubbles and screaming. And that was just the first hour.
Since then, things have only gotten worse. It all kind of accumulated into a nightmare yesterday when he pooped his pants in the middle of class. I could tell he needed to go to the bathroom and sent him there, but about a minute after he came back he was pulling down his pants and motioning that he needed toilet paper back there. It was too much for me to handle. I got a male Korean teacher (who has 3 kids of his own, so he should be used to this kind of thing) and told him that I thought William needed some help in the bathroom. I didn't really appreciate it when William came back to class and tried to hand me his dirty underwear. Yuck.
He is so slow and so young, and I think he may have some learning disabilities. Not sure, but it just seems like the trouble he has might be more than just him being young. I've tried talking to the Korean staff, telling them that I think he is not ready to be in kindergarten, but they're hard up for cash so there's no way they're going to turn him away.
Beyond that, I got another girl last week. She's a little behind the rest of the class and cries easily, but other than that she'll be alright. And the one who went to the USA returned today, speaking great English in full sentences, but being bossier and harder to control than ever. So now my class is up to seven. It's so much more difficult to get them to behave, they're all so easily distracted. When I had the smaller class, they were really good. No Korean. Always payed attention. Followed directions. All of that is now down the drain. Even the best students follow the bad ones in misbehaving and they have all resorted back to speaking a lot of Korean. It's going to be a long six months with all of them.
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