Graduation

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. For the last week or so blogspot wasn't working so I could write anything. What I've been meaning to do is write about Graduation. Graduation was on February 22nd. I was preparing for Graduation since December. Each class had to perform a song and dance. For my class I chose I'm On My Way by The Proclaimers. I taught the kids the words, and made up a dance. We practiced every day. My kids were one of the oldest classes too so they each had to give a speech (which I wrote). I used their ideas for the speech but it was definitely outside anything they could come close to writing. Their speeches were about what they wanted to be when they grew up. I had two pilots, an artist, a nurse, a chef, a energy scientist, and a police officer.

Graduation was on a Wednesday but the Director's wife didn't check the dances until the Monday and Tuesday before. I didn't get it because she mostly looked disappointed and made changes to a lot of the dances. Luckily mine was okay (but she still didn't smile). I also taught an afternoon Drama class so I was preparing their performance too. The class is loosely called Drama because while we did read a play, there was no acting involved. They just had to memorize their lines and step forward at the right time.

Before Graduation there were no dress rehearsals. We picked out the costumes from a magazine a couple weeks ago and they ordered them. The magazine/book had some of the most ridicluous costumes. Half the time the boys looked like girls. I'll try to find it and take some pictures... The day before Graduation we had one last rehearsal and the Director's wife looked stressed and upset the whole time. At that point though, there was nothing we could do.

Graduation itself was held at a community center nearby. There was a small auditorium with a stage and maybe 150 seats. The costumes came, in all of their ridiculous glory, and graduation went pretty well (I thought). Not all of my kids knew their speeches entirely, but I was told that the parents would work on them at home. The costumes were a little small but my kids still looked adorable. Even drama went pretty well. Here are some pictures from Graduation (getting ready backstage):

 Ready to accept their diplomas!

Ready to accept their diplomas!

 In their costumes for I'm On My Way.

In their costumes for the school song We're All in this Together from High School Musical. 

The beautiful flowers my kids gave me! (I don't know what the one in the middle exactly is)

Graduation was a great day, but also it was sad. My kids were 7y-2 so they were actually graduating and going on to Korean First Grade. I was very proud of how hard they had worked. Luckily, they all came back for afternoon classes at LCI so I still get to see them!