Our first two days at school have been successful!
Nursery School went very well! My two students, Maria and Jade, are precious! Maria is Russian and only knows a few words in English like colors and numbers. Jade is a very quiet and shy little girl. We combine a lot with the Pre-K class, which has 7 kids. Our day consists of a few times apart for literacy and math lessons (which we really aren't starting until next week), and then we are together for all of our centers, lunch, recesses, and story time. I already feel like we have been in school longer than two days, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing! The kids are great and for the most part speak English very well.
Justin's class has gone well too! It was a bit crazy the first day, but today was better. He enjoys his kids, but his class is about to go up to 21! He has the largest class in the entire school. He has mostly been doing introductions and pre-tests for subjects, so he is really excited to get into real content starting tomorrow.
Thursday night is Meet the Teacher Night, which we are a bit nervous about because we have heard that many BFS parents can be difficult or overbearing, in good and bad ways. I have already met Jade's parents, and they were very nice. Justin has met one Mother, and she even gave him a bottle of wine that cost 60,000 won (roughly $60)! We are not allowed to keep gifts over $25, so we gave it to the Vice-Principal. He said if it's a gift we really want, they'll just hold it until the end of the year for us so it doesn't influence how we treat students. We have heard stories about parents giving purses that cost thousands of dollars!
All in all, we have had a very good first two days of school! We are definitely tired and ready for the weekend already, but that's okay. I know that I am enjoying my days more than I anticipated at times. This whole teaching thing was so new to me, but my kids are just so cute! We don't want to post pictures of them on our blog or anything, but you can look forward to seeing some of their faces at Christmas!
Thanks again to all of you who prayed for us as we geared up for this week! God is so faithful and has provided such wonderful opportunities for us here in Busan. It is so easy to find things to complain about, but we just can't get over how amazing this experience has been, even in just the last three weeks. From finding a great Church and meeting friends, to a great apartment, to great students, we are incredibly blessed. Our prayer request right now is for continued strength and wisdom in how to best teach our students. They range from very bright to not knowing English, so that balance can be difficult, but it is so rewarding at the same time. Pray that this coming weekend will be relaxing but that we will also be able to get things done, and also that Thursday night would go well as we meet parents. We are blessed to have so many of you praying for us!
1 Chronicles 16:8 Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done.
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