Lemon Class ... :(

First of all, I'd like to point out that last week would have been nuts, even without my drama. After all, it was the end of the month. The end of the month issues with it a great deal of paperwork and stress. There are student evaluations, monthly plans, and various other things to fill out. But this wasn't just the end of the month; it was the end of a semester. So the whole week was spent finishing our books and lessons for each class. Plus, the administration was trying to figure out what classes everyone would teach next semester.

Everything’s changing because we had some people resign (as in sign again), so their contracts were negotiated and classes got swapped. Plus a large number of afternoon classes were getting completely restructured.

By the way, we started open classes (classes where the parents come to watch and judge your teaching) and the August show is on Monday. There was plenty for each of the teachers to think about. This didn’t exactly make for a happy work environment; there was enough bitching in the teacher’s lounge that I had to stay in my classroom between classes or risk despair.

Lots of things to worry about, right? Well, that wasn't enough. Because not only were we dealing with the end of the semester, but one of our English teachers ended his contract (this was planned), and one of our Korean teachers (let's call her O.) resigned (as in quit). We met the new girl on Wednesday.

If only that were the end of the drama. But alas, that is not the case.

Well, O. decided to leave our school, and she gave them a month's notice. They didn't find anyone until this week, and the girl began training on Wednesday. That's when all Hell broke loose. O. was my partner teacher for baby class. On Wednesday, she started calling all of the mothers to inform them of the change in teachers.

I'd like to take this moment to point out a couple obvious things:
1. Three days is not sufficient warning for mothers to adjust to the idea of a new teacher.
2. My school had told them that teacher switching isn't common.
3. The Korean teacher doesn't really have much to do with teaching (she's a liaison between the English teacher and the mothers. Very little interaction with the students).
4. Korean hagwon mothers are nuts.

Well, the moms weren’t happy. To demonstrate just how unhappy they were, they decided to have a meeting with the administration. I was working, blissfully unaware of this until 6:15 pm when a staff member interrupted my class to warn me, ala: "The Mothers are coming! The Mothers are coming!"

I had class until 7:00, and proceeded to get more and more nervous. Apparently they arrived at 6:30 (as was evident by the screams of my baby class as they and their mothers walked down the halls. I don't know where they learned that behavior, because they never screamed and ran amuck when I was teaching them.) They were there for an hour and I stuck around in case they wanted me to join.

Everyone was incredibly stressed by 7:30, and I was anxious to get out of school. The mothers got their kids and left, saying nothing to me (though the kids all said goodbye and whatnot). I had no idea what all was said in the meeting, but I knew that it didn't have much to do with me.

I tell you this long, long story because I want you to fully understand the situation that I walked into on Thursday morning. When I strolled in to work, I wasn't sure what exactly had happened the night before. If anything, I figured the moms might be mad for a while. But when I stepped inside, my boss waved me over to the front desk and said, "Janette, six of your students were pulled from Lemon class. You'll only have three today."

This is why I say Korean hagwon mothers are nuts. They were upset enough with a change in staffing that they pulled their kids out of our school overnight. I had ten minutes of warning before I had to go start my class. What a difficult thing to do! I had to go into the room, pretending everything was okay, being perky and cheerful and teaching vegetable vocabulary. The three kids kept on asking where everyone else was, and I just said that they were gone that day. I was so afraid of pissing off the remaining mothers that I felt like I couldn’t discipline or yell at them. By the end of the day, the remaining three were pulled (I don't blame the mothers for not wanting to have a three student class).

Lemon class is officially disbanded.

Obviously, I'm still kind of upset. I can't imagine something like this happening in the U.S. If U.S. private school moms were angered, they'd have a whole bunch of meetings, and if they couldn't agree after all of that, maybe they’d take their kids out. It would take weeks, or at least days. But hagwons aren't exactly the same as private schools. Plus, not to stereotype the mothers or anything, but these are very wealthy women, most of whom have never worked, and are very used to having their own way.

But it all happened so fast. It actually had nothing to do with me or my teaching (my coworkers have been telling me how much the kids have improved since I took over). However, that does leave me without a morning kindergarten, which is a five hour long class.

My school has been pretty good to me, considering. They told me that until December, when the next English teacher leaves, I can fill in my morning class times with workbook writing and paperwork. Obviously I'd prefer to have a class, but they didn't fire me or reduce my hours ... That’s something.

Anyway, aside from the pity from everyone, missing my kids (I was really attached to all of them), and general dismay at the situation, I'm doing fine. I've still got my job, I no longer have to be cheerful in the morning, and I can probably milk this for free drinks from my coworkers.

Hey, a girl's got to have her priorities.