This week of school was the most fulfilling week at Jiguchon. Because I knew we were going to leave, I felt like I had to do even more than my best. As always, it was very hard in the beginning because we had little information about the students. We ended up having 6 kids in each class, and there were kids who spoke Mongolian, Chinese, Russian, and English. There was a girl who was fluent in English, but many students who had almost no English ability. This disparity made it difficult to plan our lessons, but we figured ended up teaching the English-speaking girl Korean instead (all of the kids had little Korean ability).
At our meeting on Thursday, we talked about how it may be easier in the future to group the kids based on language spoken, as the students are more confident when they have a buddy. It also ensures that if one student is better at English, they can help the other by translating. This also helps the kids feel more comfortable. For example, towards the end of the week, we found out that one of the kids actually knew a lot more English than she let on, and at this discovery the English-fluent girl became so excited and immediately hugged her. This made me feel a little sorry for not having noticed earlier, but also hopeful because the fluent girl was happy to have a new friend.
The last day of school was so heartwarming. Everyone cried. Just kidding, almost everyone. We had a talent show with the elementary school kids, and the presentations/performances we prepared with each grade were lovely. Three younger girls started crying when we were giving our last words, and that broke my heart, but I also felt fulfilled in that we made an impact on these kids. In the afternoon, we saw another show by the middle and high school, and we also performed dances/songs were prepared. It was really amazing to see the older students’ personalities “on stage”. Following the performances, we had a samgyeopsal party where we cooked meat for our after school class. I bonded more with the kids during this time than in actual class, so I was sad that we hadn’t done an activity like this earlier. However, I still felt happy that I overall could bond with my students. I bought a lot of candy for all the students (elementary included), and I honestly felt so content handing it to them. It was a feeling of “I did it”. While Friday was a long day, it was so worth it. I will always thank Jiguchon for this wonderful opportunity, and I will never forget the students and memories we made.
– Angel Huang
