Let's Play the Killer Game

I just had my first lesson teaching at an orphanage in Mokpo. I am the teacher for the children aged 7-8 and there are 7 of them. I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I made a memory game (with matching cards and you have to flip over two trying to find two of the same). I used simple, one syllable words and wrote them on the cards along with the picture. Every time they flipped over a card, they had to say the word. This was a HUGE hit and they were getting really into it. After about 4 rounds, they asked to play the "killer game". Luckily, I was a lover of this game (although I knew it as "murder wink") so they played that, too. There is no English in it, so I quickly decided to play pictionary with them using the cards from the memory. Another big hit, they just LOVE competition.

When the other teachers and I first arrived at the orphanage, we got a tour of the building. It's brand new and really amazing. It's very serene and equipped with a computer lab, library, therapy rooms, classrooms, outdoor playground and little houses where small groups of children live with their "mother" (a nun). One of the other teachers was explaining to me that some of the children were left on the doorsteps as orphans, some were taken from bad homes by hte government and some are simply children of divorced parents. The problem is that men don't want to be a single parent because they could never re-marry again and women can't usually afford to be a single parent because they don't make enough money or they are cut off from their own families because divorce is so scandalized in this country. Although being in a home with your family is usually the best option, I think that many of these kids are much better off. They are given a lot of opportunities that children with parents are not given. For instance, they do not attend the Hogwans (after-school academies) that most children do. The problem, in my opinion, with Hogwans is that they often run until about 10pm for children and midnight for teens. So the children in the orphanage have more of a chance to be children.

We also go there on Christmas day and throw them a party with dinner and gift giving.

I was really moved with the whole experience and I'm excited to spent more time there.