The semester started February 11 and I went early to meet with the principal and went to the faculty meeting. I am the only one not Korean. Robert was laughing and making fun of me. Imagine an Italian teaching Taekwondo to Korean children! Well I am so ha, Robert! There was a ten minute meeting and the other teachers were very welcoming toward me. They greeted me with smiles and one started speaking to me in Korean. I nodded my head and smiled saying "Yes..yes..yes.." and then she said to me "You speak Korean?" I continued to smile and said nicely "No.." LOL!!
The entire meeting was in Korean and I know a little Korean from the many years of Taekwondo and oicked up a few things, but I didn't know enough to really follow the meeting. When the principal introduced me she spoke a little more English and the faculty applauded enthusiastically with a greeting. The principal was very impressed with my three page resume and made sure to tell everyone about it. Then I was given a little one on one with one of the Ph.D faculty members for a few Korean terms to brush up, because even though the children speak English, I am encouraged to speak Korean to them. This was a great opportunity for me to learn the language even better, but as always, I have something new to learn!
Then after a little tour of the school and showed the gym I will be teaching in, there was an opening ceremony presentation. I met with the pastor of the church the school is in who had informed me of one of the parish members who is a Taekwondo teacher. It just so happened to be the great Grandmaster Richard Chun who founded the USTA, the master of great Taekwondo author Doug Cook, who teaches my good friend John Vanderhee! What a small world! He offered to introduce me personally to Grandmaster Chun! How awesome!
The children began to walk in one by one into the auditorium. The rictor scale of cuteness was on overload to see these children. They were polite, kind, and just gosh darn cute! I saw one boy tap a girl on the shoulder who was sitting in front of him to get her attention, just to wave at her when she turned around. He wanted to say hi! Too freakin cute! Then we all stood up for the Korean national anthem. I just moved my mouth open and closed as they all sang. Imagine this auditorium of Korean children from ages 3 to 13 singing this national anthem in Korean. O.M.G. Then we sand the U.S national anthem. Then they sang the school song in Korean.
After the pastor and principal made their announcements (all in Korean mind you) the faculty members were to stand up in front and each was introduced. There was light, respectful applause for each teacher as they were being introduced, and a little more cheers for the favorite teachers. Then when Andrew Trento, the new Taekwondo teacher was introduced, they went crazy with the woo hoos! I didn't know anyone! But they were so excited to be learning Taekwondo! Oh, the pressure!
I returned to the gym and my first class was to begin. I kept speaking in Korean to myself for practice, and then I was getting nervous about the names I would here. Well three kids showed up to my class. Their names were Justin, Andrew, and Joseph. Phew. Got that fear out of the way! I didn't mind the class being so small. It was to get me started. Then after a few punches and kiaps, more kids began to come and join the class. I felt like Cary Grant in The Bishops Wife, where the angel Dudley had two boys singing from the empty choir and then all of a sudden one by one they began coming from different directions to form this beautiful choir singing! Well as I began teaching the blocks and kicks, one by one from different directions, more children joined the first class. I had about a dozen.
I spoke and counted mainly in Korean. And some by standers were really impressed with my teaching style. I don't give myself enough credit sometimes when it comes to working with kids. Then my second class came in and it was a good 16 kids I'd say. They were first and second graders. Before this class ended, the principal came and asked if I could do pre-school age children, ages three and four. I said I've done it before and no problem. She wanted me to do a little 20 minute class with the pre-school. NO sweat!.............
Then they came. THIRTY FIVE three and four year old pre-schoolers!! I gasped for breath for a second and then said "Okay Master Trento, figure this one out!" I put them into two lines. I had them stay in their spots. My teaching style had to be very different because 1) attention span is a lot shorter, 2) there were a large number of kiddies, and 3) I was overwhelmed by the cuteness. If Lisa were here to see this she would probably have died a little bit inside, I am sure of it.
I did a control drill where I had them move crazy in their spots and when I yell CONTROL they snap to attention (the teachers liked that). Then I had them make a lot of noise and when I yelled BUBBLES they shut their mouths and their cheeks puffed out as if they had a bubble in their mouths to keep quiet. We did like three blocks and a kick in place, a few froggy jumps and kiaps. And I changed it alternatively every 3-4 minutes until the 20 minutes were up. PHEW! I was pooped! But it was so much fun!
Then another teacher came up to me who teaches in Bogota and is having a culture day at her school and wanted to come in for Taekwondo demonstration for the school for their culture day. How exciting! So I was given many awesome opportunities that day! It really was a lot of fun and I will be continuing to teach these Korean kiddies for the remainder of their semester which ends in June. An awesome experience and an awesome way to continue doing what I love to do!
Yours in service,
ANDREW TRENTO
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