Weekly

N/B, Longest blog to date. Length wise, yes, word count, maybe not.

Conversation/Quote of the Day: Congratulations to Sara, aged 8.
Toby Teacher: Sara, hurry up please. Come on!!
Sara: I’m comeon-ing.

Genius. She knew right away her mistake, as did the entire class. It made for a very amusing couple of minutes as the class heckled and rolled around in laughter.

Last night I had my first one on one Korean class. I was a little nervous, but more excited than anything. Starbucks was the chosen location, and general discovery of my ability was the chosen agenda. It brings you back to reality when someone actually sits you down and nit-picks at things (pieces of language) that you have been using, somewhat casually, over the last few months. However, it was refreshing to hear some constructive and sensible criticism. Our first class didn’t really have any structure, so I’m not going to be assessing whether or not her style of teaching is compatible to my style of learning. Time will tell.

Currently, I have one class a week, which falls on a Wednesday. I’m tempted to up the tempo to two classes a week and possibly a third. If I do this then I want to do it properly. I want to put in the hours and get some reward. The, once before, hobby of mine is slowly turning into an obsession and a serious contender for the biggest achievement of my life.

Further to beginning my 1-1’s, I have also downloaded the Korean script for my laptop. I feel it will definitely help me with reading and remembering vocabulary, as typing at a painfully slow pace will force me to digest each and every sound and word on its own, again and again. This is my homework for the week. Memorise all of these.

저는 일주일 세번 운동해요
I exercise 3 times a week

저는 일주일 네번 공부해요
I study 4 times a week

오늘 요리 해요
I’ll cook today

매일 한국말 연습해요
I practice Korean everyday

저녁 식사해요
Tonight, I’m having dinner

매 토요일 쇼핑해요
Every Saturday, I shop

노래 재미 있어요
Singing is fun

내년 여행해요
Next Year, I’ll travel.

누구하고 식사해요
Who are you eating with?

어디에서 일해요
Where do you work?



The picture you can see is of Steve. His artwork will help you understand his personality. He’s unique. He came into Red class six months after they started. Jeremy, Sarah and Cherry had been rolling around Red Class, learning their ABC’s and 123’s, turning their It’s a ball’s into That is a big blue ball, etc etc. Then Steve rolls in, head first. His first 4 weeks were painful to watch. He was so nervous. He would loiter in the corners of every room he entered, occasionally cracking open a huge, but limited smile. His smiles didn’t last long. They were big and quite scary, but would fade with any slight adjustment to atmosphere. Everyone was tip toeing on broken egg shells.

As time passed by I discovered that he had a tremendous bag of vocabulary tucked into his brain. When he spoke, it was English. He never spoke Korean. His movements were slight. His trademark was to shake his head at the simplest of orders. “Steve, get your Student Book please, then come sit down”. He would start the notorious head shake, and back off into his chosen corner. This went on for a long time, and even now, six months later, the shake comes back accompanied with a shattering of uncontrollable tears. His confidence has grown greatly. But every now and then, he will burst into a fit of tears over something very trivial.

To summarise so far, you’re probably thinking he’s a little delicate and probably a Mummy’s boy. Far from it. This kid is a hard-nut. He has two older brothers that obviously use him as some kind of toy. An incident occurred about a month ago. We were playing football in Red Class. Simple football, “pass the ball”, “kick the ball”, “goal”, “miss”. He started to get a bit confident and attempted to tackle another kid. He slipped and tripped and fell. He smashed his forehead into the corner of a sharp bookshelf. The sound was revolting. The bump on his head was instant and slowly rose to the size of a couple of Cadbury’s mini-eggs. A small crack appeared and the blood started to trickle. He got up and stood there. Not one shed of a tear. Not even a quiver in his upper lip. He was whisked away to the teachers office for a clean up. Two minutes later, he came running in and demanded me to give him the ball. Solid, solid kid.

It’s Thursday, on Saturday I go to Tokyo. Can’t wait.