Friday, Aug. 06, 2004 - 11:21 p.m.

Wow. I never thought I would like teaching teenagers, but my class with the oldest students, about 14 years old is my fav class by far. And tonight it got even more interesting.

Overall this class was the hardest to get going. They were very cautious of me in every way. They were slow on thier work and words with me. But somehow over the course of a few months they loosened up, and now its almost as if we are hanging out, with that pesky grammar shit in the way of true fun. lol.

There is a particularly friendly and fun small group of girls in this class that are playful with me during the break and after class. There is

* K.- the smart beyond her years and cute Tomboy

* L.-the every girl with an easy going manner and mom haircut

* K.(who I always get confused with J. cause they look alike soooooooo much!) who is cautious at first, and then when she smiles the whole world lights up. She also has a laugh that is pure sunshine.
* C.-who mostly sits in her seat when all this is going on, but makes noises and giggles. Shes not shy, just not in your face either.

There is also a very wanna be bad ass boy, T, I may have mentioned him before. Him and I have had our moments, and I had to get nasty on his ass about a month ago. His smart assness was working against my credibility in the class, not good. I dont care what the kids think about me as a person, but when they start challenging me as a teacher, it really slows things down in class. And the nature of cram schools (Bushibans) is so fast that this is affect is death.

I thought I got too hard on him, but ever since then his smart assness seems to be complimenting my own, and he even does stuff when I ask him to. What a change.(I am sure that the assistant teacher tore him a new asshole after class the day that things were their worst.) He is cute for a young man, and I found out tonight that there is interest for him in the class.

During the break L. walked up to me and oh so coyly whispered in my ear that C. likes boy T. haha. She sits right in back of him, and I had a feeling that there was a liking one way or another due to their joking around all the time. And he sits a bit farther back in his chair than is needed. hmmmmmmmmm.

It gets better though. Then L. asks me if I would ask boy T. if he likes C. I had to laugh. I remember passing notes similar in content to this myself years and years ago. I told her I would not ask him, but that she should. She just laughed. The girls came up to me after class again and were chatting about T. and C. There was such a buzz about it, they were really excited about the possibilities of it. I think they ALL secretly have a thing for boy T.

How cute is this? I told my assistant teacher about it, thought she would get a kick out of it. And she did. She also thinks that a lot of the girls have a thing for boy T. I also told my boss (man,do I sound like a gossip, oh well!) and he said he never heard of a teacher being told things like this. Mostly due to bushibans being young ones. But I also he was impressed that the girls confided in me.

You know what? So am I. I didnt think I was more than a clown to these kids, making their English lessons a bit more fun than with a boring teacher. But maybe they actually are starting to relate to me as a person. Whoa! I DID NOT see that one coming. Feeling icky sweet right now.