Selected Writings by my Students

One of my regular duties as an English teacher is marking my students' weekly journals. Although it can be a little tricky when you have no idea what the student is trying to express or how to correct his or her grammar without crossing out every other word, I actually really enjoy marking journals. It's fun reading about what the children do outside of school, and you get to see their individual personalities shine through on the page in a way that isn't always possible in a classroom filled with lots of other colourful personalities.

I thought I'd spend this blog entry sharing some of the journal entries I've marked over the last three and a half months that I've been in Korea. These pages were written by a variety of different students, with ages ranging from five to nine years old, and with differing levels of English ability. Some of the entries are quite funny, others are very touching, and some are just plain baffling. I've written the main body of text below each image just in case they're a little difficult to read.

"I dreamed last night. I climed the ladder to the tree in a dream. One tree was happy, the other tree was upset. So I present the tree with a happy snowman." - Lisa, aged 5 

"Today is my grandfather's memorial ceremony day. So, I went to my uncle's home. My grandfather was dead before I was born. I am missing grandfather too much." - Lisa, aged 5

"Today is Monday. Spelling bee constest is open. The spelling bee test is very good and I have silver medal. I am excellent." - Danny, aged 5

"My best animation is Larva. They are fighting, laughing and they eat a sausage in the drain. They fight each other and hit with hip. I see that and I think I never hit or fight. They looks like a human but they are worms." - Jay, aged 9

"I play Cat's Cradle with my grandma. Grandma grandma'd "I'm very good at Cat's Cradle." But she lied. Because I'm gooder than my grandma. I like grandma because she tell me a jokes. My grandmother is great!" - Jason, aged 9

"My baby brother is cross-grained fellow. Because when baby brother eat snack and I take one and I eat, but he hits me, And I give him what for. And he eat snack with me. And I think my baby brother is a cross temper. I think mom will give him what for too. But I love him none the less." - Jay, aged 9

"I think hamster is very cute. But my father says "The hamster is very noisy!" but and I asked for dad, and he says ok. We bough hamster on presidential election day. one hamster is brown and one hamster is white. brown hamsters name is pig and white hamsters name is mole. because pig is eating many feed and white is making a hole in bedding." - Jay, aged 9

"There was a lot of snow. I did Snowball flight and made snowman (and snowapple) with my mom/dad. It was so fun." - Lisa, aged 5

"On sunday i read a book. The title is branch of winch. I't is really fun. This is not game, It is a just a book. coin is hiding. so we found coin. we saveing the coin." - Danny, aged 5

"I went to the market in the afternoon and bought the colored papers. plating the colored papers is very interesting. I made the rabbits." - Lisa, aged 5

"I have two hedgehogs. They are couple. Her name is Go-Sun-i and it has a big scare. She is pregnant with her second child. Because of it she sleeps all day and very sensitive. His name Go-do-ri. He has a bad habit. It bites anything. My mom was bitten. They have white quills on their back. They can roll up like a ball. They take care of themselves. I love hedgehogs." - Jay, aged 9

"Friday I'm moving house. It's very very fun. I love you Emily. I love you Cathy Teacher. and I love you Jimmy Teacher." - Jenny, aged 5

"I like to watch tv animation jjanggu but Dad say "Lucy read a book." I like jjanggu than reading a book." - Lucy, aged 5

"My dad read a book in bed. I like dad read a book to me. I said "Dad, read a book tomorrow." " - Lucy, aged 5

That's all for now. I hope these were as entertaining for you to read as they were for me!