Saying the alphabet backwards...

A while ago I offered my second grade kids the opportunity to win a highly coveted, almost impossible-to-get shiny sticker if they learned the alphabet backwards, which several then did in a couple of days. I meant to film them at the time, but my camera broke. So today, with a new camera, I decided to document it. They were a little rusty - it had been a couple of months - but their memories are extraordinary at this age, so they had it down again in five minutes with a little bit of practice. Here are two videos.

Sue gets her N and M back-to-front, but this video makes me laugh, mostly due to Punky's determined efforts to derail the performance with the funniest silent comic performance since Charlie Chaplin.

Yeti and Jessica. Just adorable. Also another fine cameo by Punky.

I live in dread of one of them asking me to say the alphabet backwards. They think I'm so smart, my credibility would never recover.

I have a camera again!

Some photos of my students, mostly.

The adorable grade 3 girls. I love my grade 3/4 class. Lacking Emma (beautiful tomboy), a couple of boys, and the two grade 4 girls who are also lovely but painfully shy. Something seems to happen to them between grade 3 and 4 whereby the girls become extremely self-conscious.

Favourite students #1 and 2, not ranked in any order: Jin Hee and Son Hee. Twins. Geniuses. Poor Son Hee got clocked in the face during some rough-housing which I lacked the language to ever fully understand the details of.

#3. Dragon Man (his choice). Reminds me of River Phoenix in Stand By Me: good looking, muscular, a natural leader. Was a problem student until I appointed him my deputy in charge of smacking the boys into line. One of only two boys in my grade 1/2 class with any interest in English.

Grade two kids in costume dress rehearsal for a school play. They spent about fifteen minutes sneaking up to me then running away squealing when I pointed the camera at them, then decided they wanted to get their pictures taken.

Trouble: 1-2-3. Far right is Wolf, the other boy in my grade 1/2 class who is worth a damn, and two kids I don't teach. But I really like this photo.

Favourite student #4. And possibly my absolute favourite. Yeti (god knows who named her). Just like how she looks - really smart, sweet, happy, sensitive, funny, serious. Likes jumps, hitting me and laughing, and teaching me Korean. Drew a picture of me, which is on my fridge.

The grade 6 girls are too cool to pose for photographs, unfortunately.

Elizabeth, me, a French-Canadian girl whose name I forget, and Stella. Elizabeth and Stella are two of my best Gyeongbuk friends. Enjoying the Autumn on our hiking cultural experience trip last weekend.