Father's Day
October 20, 2007
My kids and I have been working our tails off practicing for the biggest social event of the season -- Father's Day. For the last month we have been practicing basically non-stop for Eagle Class Father's Day. We have practice every free second you can imagine, and even cancel regular lessons sometimes in order to have extra practice. I love my kids, but can you imagine trying to organize 20 five and six year olds into a broadway worthy production? No? OK, then try imagining herding cats while simultaneously showing all the cats' parents just how smart and unique their particular cat has become over the last 3 months. I actually don't think a production like this lets the parents know even half of what their child is capable of, but it's still a great glimpse into how hard we have been working, and how amazing their children are.
On Tuesday school was canceled and I spent all afternoon finishing up decorations and wrapping the presents we'd made. (Their hand print in clay, painted gold, a construction paper angel/dad they made and an adorable handmade card.) The week before I'd cut out 20 huge yellow stars and had the kids decorate them on one side, and then on the other I wrote "Starring XXXXX" and then glued on a picture of them. I curled pipe cleaners (they come by the yard here!) and hung them from the ceiling. It looked so cute, and a lot of the other teachers copied me. :)
I moved all the desks into an empty classroom and then arranged all the kindergartener size chairs into a semi-circle for the dads to sit in. (Moms were not allowed to come. They had to stay in the kitchen and prepare dinner... how typical for Korea.) Dads and children starting arriving around 5:30pm, and I really enjoyed meeting the dads. Most didn't speak much English, but some did. Clare and Jihwan's dads were totally fluent. I think Clare's dad went to Georgetown and Jihwan's dad went to Harvard. They were both such a pleasure to talk to, and I really loved that Jihwan's dad would speak to him in English. I wish that Clare's dad would speak to her in English. She is one of my most advanced students, but she could improve ten fold if her dad would speak to her at home in English.
We mingled for a while, and then at 6pm I said, "OK Eagles, let's show our dads what we have prepared for them! Line up!" Instantly they all got in their two lines. I said, "Welcome to Eagle Class, Fathers! We have worked really hard to prepare you a very special Father's Day." Then I stepped back and let the Eagles take the show. :)
"Welcome to Eagle Class! Happy Father's Day!" they said in perfect unison. Then they sang and danced to The Beatle's 'Here Comes the Sun', recited the poem "Daddy, I love you" and then sang, 'Tomorrow' from Annie .. I think after all the practice we did I will remember the lyrics and the words to the poem for years to come.
When the performance was done we did a Jeopardy like game with the kids and their dads, dividing them up into two teams. It was actuall pretty staged, because we'd played the game like 30 times before so they would know the answers to the questions, but they LOVED the game, and had a great time. Finally, we gave them their gifts and headed down to the cafeteria to do the chicken dance with all the other classes, and to have dinner with the moms. All the moms were SO cute, and I was so happy to meet all of them. Only a few spoke even a little English, but they very sweet, and loved taking their child's picture with me. They had prepared a feast, and I was SO happy to eat yummy homemade food. Some of it was actually gross and I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, but there were sandwiches and kimbap!
In the words of Louis Johannot, headmaster of my school in Switzerland, "The only reason I always try to meet and know the parents better is because it helps me to forgive their children."
On Tuesday school was canceled and I spent all afternoon finishing up decorations and wrapping the presents we'd made. (Their hand print in clay, painted gold, a construction paper angel/dad they made and an adorable handmade card.) The week before I'd cut out 20 huge yellow stars and had the kids decorate them on one side, and then on the other I wrote "Starring XXXXX" and then glued on a picture of them. I curled pipe cleaners (they come by the yard here!) and hung them from the ceiling. It looked so cute, and a lot of the other teachers copied me. :)
I moved all the desks into an empty classroom and then arranged all the kindergartener size chairs into a semi-circle for the dads to sit in. (Moms were not allowed to come. They had to stay in the kitchen and prepare dinner... how typical for Korea.) Dads and children starting arriving around 5:30pm, and I really enjoyed meeting the dads. Most didn't speak much English, but some did. Clare and Jihwan's dads were totally fluent. I think Clare's dad went to Georgetown and Jihwan's dad went to Harvard. They were both such a pleasure to talk to, and I really loved that Jihwan's dad would speak to him in English. I wish that Clare's dad would speak to her in English. She is one of my most advanced students, but she could improve ten fold if her dad would speak to her at home in English.
We mingled for a while, and then at 6pm I said, "OK Eagles, let's show our dads what we have prepared for them! Line up!" Instantly they all got in their two lines. I said, "Welcome to Eagle Class, Fathers! We have worked really hard to prepare you a very special Father's Day." Then I stepped back and let the Eagles take the show. :)
"Welcome to Eagle Class! Happy Father's Day!" they said in perfect unison. Then they sang and danced to The Beatle's 'Here Comes the Sun', recited the poem "Daddy, I love you" and then sang, 'Tomorrow' from Annie .. I think after all the practice we did I will remember the lyrics and the words to the poem for years to come.
When the performance was done we did a Jeopardy like game with the kids and their dads, dividing them up into two teams. It was actuall pretty staged, because we'd played the game like 30 times before so they would know the answers to the questions, but they LOVED the game, and had a great time. Finally, we gave them their gifts and headed down to the cafeteria to do the chicken dance with all the other classes, and to have dinner with the moms. All the moms were SO cute, and I was so happy to meet all of them. Only a few spoke even a little English, but they very sweet, and loved taking their child's picture with me. They had prepared a feast, and I was SO happy to eat yummy homemade food. Some of it was actually gross and I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, but there were sandwiches and kimbap!
In the words of Louis Johannot, headmaster of my school in Switzerland, "The only reason I always try to meet and know the parents better is because it helps me to forgive their children."
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