So I private tutor a 12 year old in addition to my SAT classes. It is good depending on whether or not she is having a good or bad day. On a good day I want to take her home with me and love her and buy her stuffed animals. On bad day I want to wring her neck.
I don't blame her for her bad days though. The girl is worked like a piece of dough as many kids here are. She is the typical korean student with 18 hours of studying and activities a day. This girl is more productive in a week than I have ever been in my life.
Her summer is as follows:
4 hours of tutoring by me in math and english from Monday-Friday, then depending on the day and time of day she has one of the following...
Squash lessons
ballet lessons
regular dance lessons (I don't quite know what this means but its non-ballet dance)
violin lessons
swimming lessons
golf lessons
pilates (why a 12 year old girl needs to go Pilates when she already swims, golfs, and plays squash is beyond me)
church
Before she came to my class she had already golfed and done pilates. Immediately after my class she had a violin lesson.
She is surprisingly upbeat despite all this half the time. A kid is still a kid though and towards the end of the week she can get really restless.
I couldn't even sit in a chair for 3 hours straight in the summer of all seasons when I was 12, let alone learn the meaning of the word coalesce. It's weird, I know she should respect me because I am the teacher but in many ways I am in awe of her.
Some gems from the mouth of my 12 year old:
When she found out I do not attend church:
"If you go to Church teacher I will study really really hard. I promise"
When asked about the difference between advanced civilizations and primitive civilizations
"People in Seoul are advanced and people in Busan are primitive"
(Busan is the 2nd largest city in Korea by the way for those who are unaware, Seoulites are so the New Yorkers of Korea)
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