Suspended?!

The constant bickering and petty fights between the boys in my class came to a breaking point yesterday. Imagine two boys who have a love-hate relationship. They can have fun and play together, but can also easily upset one another. And now add a new student to the bunch, who seems to egg each of them on. Well they went to art class and they were out of my hands. When I picked them up, I heard from other students that there was a big fight. Apparently the boys had been rolling on the floor fighting. I said "that's enough, I've had it with you too, we'll be talking to the principal about this." Of course they just said "Oh sorry JW" and "It's ok"...."Ok teacher, no problem now!" But that's what they try to get away with.

Anyways, I won't ramble too long....but, I told the principal what happened (and she knows what goes on between them, and she's dealt with them before), so she decided to suspend them for the rest of the day. They could not believe it! At least they know now how serious we are about this, and that we won't tolerate it. Unfortunately one of the boys took it so hard he was hyperventilating! When he wouldn't calm down for almost 1 hour we had to get the counsellor to talk to him. Part of the problem is that his parents are both in Korea (Dad is sick in hospital, mom visits him), and the two kids are here beging cared for by a driver and a nanny! So yes, he's unstable. That family needs to be together. It's actually quite normal here for families to be separated. Dad's working somewhere else, kids studying here. But somehow, it still seems better than all the divorce and broken families in N. America.

Well China is gearing up for it's New Year celebrations. Fireworks are already going off occassionaly. Most chinese schools are already out on holiday. We don't have any big plans. We'll just try to help the rabbits survive the fireworks :)

Happy new Year of the Ox!!!