The best of this week’s quotes from my elementary students in South Korea (and some thrown in from friends too)

Two kids are calling each other names in Korean before class. Suddenly one of them stands up and screams, really offended, in English:

‘I am NO potato!!!’

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Me: ‘What’s your favorite holiday?’

Kid: ‘Children’s Day.’

Me: ‘Why?’

Kid: ‘I make Lego.’

***

Yesterday, I walked into class. A little boy is sitting among the 13 students I already have in my grade one class. I point at him.

Me: ‘Who are you?’

Other students: ‘New!! New student!!’

I sighed, having not been told I was getting a new student. I head to my co-teacher’s classroom next door to ask about him.

Me: ‘I have a new student?’

Her: ‘WHAT?! No!’

We both head back to my classroom where she beckons the little boy over and speaks to him briefly in Korean. The kid then goes to fetch his cell-phone and returns. My co-teacher looks at me.

Her: ‘He wants to try the class for today.’

Me: ‘Ok.’

Her: ‘He has to call his mom and let her know where he is.’

Me: ‘O..k…’

He goes off to call his mom to tell her he’s testing out an English class, returns and is perfect in class.

It’s worth noting, he’s 7.

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At The Canadian One’s kindergarten school, one of the other male foreign teachers has curly hair.

Kid: ‘Your hair is like ramen.’

Teacher: ‘So?’

Kid: ‘I want to eat it and make you bald.’

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The Canadian One while teaching about space shuttles and space stations: They’d just watched a video about a space station.

Kid raises hand.

‘But where’s mission control?’

He’s 6!

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The Canadian One and I make up tongue twisters on the way home from Costco:

‘I can’t believe how much I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter we own.’

Say three times fast…we were useless at it!

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