Monthly Test

Every month in South Korea we get to conduct a standardized test for the children of this school. It tests what they have learned over the last month and tends to send some children into panic mode. Most of the kids however are used to the monthly testing so they will buck up and bubble in the scantrons. My favorite part of the test is when they are all finished and they argue over what movie to watch. Sometimes I give them options, but usually I bypass the most recent Madagascar/Disney/Pixar film and we watch one of the many classics such as Mary Poppins, Fern Gully or any of the other mid 1990 Disney animated films.
Next week we are giving the kids level tests, I told you they love tests in this country. Level tests send off a couple more whistles because they are only given every four months or so and determine if the child will move up or down a class. They were moved up a week this time, for God knows what reason.
The other reason I "LOVE" monthly/level tests are for the wonderful writing prompts that I have to grade. Here Poly can ruin a usually wonderful writer by demanding a response to prompts such as "What is your favorite time of the day or of the year?" The blase responses I get to grade, based on a standard scale, are often boring and do not show half of the talent most of my students have for writing. On monthly tests however there are occasionally a few students who understand the redundancy of such questions and write responses that said my in to laughing fits.


More to come!
-Ellen