A little more about Susan...

I already told you that she's nervous about teaching the 6th graders. Considering our past teaching experiences, I have gone beyond nervous into a blank state of numbness.

Co-teaching the 6th grade with her is a comedy of errors, waiting to happen.

First issue: she doesn't speak English well. Out of the three Korean teachers, her English level is the worst. She speaks the instructions printed out in the teacher's guide, but every sentence that she tries to make by herself is a mangled mismash of sounds that have about a 50% correlation with the English language. To put it plainly: the students speak better English then she does.

This is even more of a problem because her students are 6th graders. Tiny homo sapiens, flirting with the beginning stages of puberty, swollen with confidence in their status as the oldest, the biggest, and the best. I love these kids, but the stage of life they are about to enter is best described as jackassery. Add in the fact that most of these kids are pretty bright, they're going to notice her inability right away.

Smart assery + jackassery - respect for teacher = EPIC disaster is imminent.

Second issue: Susan has a listening problem. Mainly, when we're teaching together, she blanks out. In theory, her job is collaborate with me, and provide discipline, or translation, or backup, or whatever. In practice, she puts on her "teacher face" and goes on a mental holiday in 40 minute chunks. I discovered this first semester, when I asked her to translate the rules of game for the students, in case they didn't understand.

She came up and whispered, "I'm sorry...I wasn't listening."

I managed to swallow the WTF expression before it surfaced, but only just barely.

"Could you explain it to me again, quickly, and then I will translate?" She asked.

I ignored her, and just played the game. If I had to explain her a second time in front of the students, it would have been obvious to them that she wasn't listening. And if she's not listening, why the heck should they?

Her utter lack of concentration was not really a problem when she was teaching the 3rd and 4th grade. I mean, they're tiny. If they are naughty, I can throw them out the window.

Just kidding, I don't do that.

But I am a lot bigger then them, and they are easily intimidated by my presence.

6th grade...not so much.

For the 6th grade, you really need a strong disciplinarian. And someone who's not going undo all of your teaching by filling the students heads with incorrect grammar and konglishy pronunciation every time your back is turned.

Third issue: Susan is afraid of the students. She keeps coming to me, chattering nervously.

"I'm scared" she says. "I'm afraid to meet the students."

Better buckle-up Susie. Could be in for a rough ride.