holy middle school

in korea, middle school begins not at grade 6, but grade 7. last term, when my students told me they were in 6th grade, i thought there were in middle school, but they were actually in elementary. because of this, it came as a surprise to me when my coworkers told me that they felt like they had to pull teeth to get their middle school students to talk because my "middle school" students on the other hand, were so energetic and talkative, sometimes a bit too much! i couldn't understand the stark contrast. i realized my error about mid-term, about a month after i began teaching. still, i didn't fully understand what my coworkers meant, until...

hello new term. hello actual middle school students. hello holy awkwardness. now, i can see the full picture.

first of all, middle school students seem to intuitively know how to perfectly divide the room in half by gender. my elementary students also divide by gender, but they do so in clusters, so it doesn't seem so obvious. for my middle schoolers, it's like there's a line of tape on the floor to mark boys sit here, girls on the other. i find it pretty amusing.

secondly, their awkwardness makes me feel awkward too! yikes! i feel like i'm being harshly judged by their silence. however, first impressions can often be misleading. and thankfully, that has been the case for me...at least, so far. while my classes may begin quietly, i've gotten my classes to smile and laugh, at least once! phew!