The Story of the Peach Boy

It is summer in a village in Japan. An old man and woman eat dumplings. Yum! Nice little dumplings. Then the old man goes to cut wood. And the old woman goes to the river.

Suddenly the old woman sees something. It's a peach. A very big peach!
"What a very big peach!" she says. "Why is it in the river?"

The very big peach smells nice. It smells of summer in Japan. The woman catches it.
"Mmm, this peach smells wonderful. I'm taking it home with me." she says. So, she went home and showed it to her husband.

"What a big peach!" says the old man. "Let's eat it right now!" he says.
But then they hear something inside. It's a baby!
"Stop! Don't cut me!" says the voice in the peach.

There's a baby in the peach! A baby boy- a peach boy!

He is a wonderful baby, and he is happy. The old man and woman call him Momotaro - Peach Boy. They give him nice little dumplings. So he grows big and strong.

The old man and woman are good to Momotaro. So Momotaro is good too. He helps his mother and father. He is a good boy. And he is strong. He is very strong!

Then one day ogres come. They come to the village. Stamp! Stamp! Stamp!
They break things. They take things. They take the people's treasure.
Then they stamp off into the sea.
Stamp! Stamp! Stamp!

Momotaro climbed up the tree. He can see the ogres. They are going home. They are going home to Ogre Island. Then Momotaro runs to his parents.

"Mother, Father," says Peach Boy. "I want to fight the ogres. Give me some dumplings please. And a big stick."

So his mother gives him some dumplings. His father gives him a big stick. "Goodbye," they say. "And goodluck."

Momotaro walks along. Then he sees a big dog. "Hi, dog!" says Momotaro. "I want to fight the ogres. Have a dumpling and come with me!"

So the dog eats the dumpling. Then it goes with him.

They walk along. Then they see a pheasant. "Hi, pheasant!" says Momotaro. "We want to fight the ogres. Have a dumpling and come with us!"

So the pheasant eats the dumpling. Then it goes with them.

They walk along. Then they see a monkey. "Hi, monkey!" says Momotaro. "We want to fight the ogres. Have a dumpling and come with us!

So the monkey eats the dumpling. Then it goes with them.

"My friends," says Momotaro, the Peach Boy. "Let's go to the Ogre Island. Let's fight the ogres."

Then he saw something. "There it is!" says Momotaro. "There's Ogre Island! Look at the big castle!"

Momotaro arrived at the Island and lookep up the castle. They look up at the big, big castle. The castle door is closed. But the pheasant flies up. It flies up into the castle.

The pheasant fights the ogres. The ogres are afraid. "Help!" they cry. "Help!"

Then the monkey goes up. It goes up into the castle. It opens the door. Then Momotaro and the dog run into the castle.

Momotaro fights the ogres with his stick. The dog, the pheasant, and the monkey all fight. They all fight the ogres.

The ogres are afraid. "We are sorry," they say. "Please go. Take your treasure and go."

Momotaro takes the treasure. "Hurray!" he says. "Good work, my friends!"

Momotaro and his friends go home. They go home with the treasure. All the people shout, "Hurray! Hurray!" Everybody's happy.

Since then, the ogres never come back!

Note: The story is taken from the book Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs of Oxford University Press (www.oup.com/elt). There are some sentences that I've been changed. It's much better if you can get your own book because of the beautiful and colorful pictures. Cd is also included in the book. What I do for my students is to let them listen to the story everyday before taking the lesson. And after a month, it's amazing that most of them can memorize most of the content of the book. Some can even memorize everything.

The Greatest Bridegroom

Once upon a time, a mole couple's daughter, Mollie, was ready to marry. In the mode village, Moler was the best available bridegroom. However, Father Mole and Mother Mole were not satisfied with him.

"Isn't there a better bridegroom?" asked Mollie's mother.
"Our Mollie must marry the greatest bridegroom," said her father.
Father Mole and Mother Mole discussed the matter.
"Who do you think is the greates of all?" Father wondered aloud.
"I think the sun is the greatest," Mother answered.

Father Mole went to the sun. "Gosh! It's so hot here! Sun, are you the greatest of all?" he asked.
"No, Im not. When the cloud comes and covers me, I can't even show my face. The cloud is the greatest," the sun replied.
"Oh, I see. Thank you." said Father Mole.

Father Mole went to see the cloud. "Oh my, it's so dark! Cloud, are you the greatest of all?" he asked.
"No, I'm not. When the wind comes, I'm blown away in seconds. The wind is the greatest," replied the cloud.
"Oh, I see. Thank you." said Father Mole.

Father Mole went to see the wind. "Oh my, I'm about to be blown away! Wind, you are the greatest of all, right?" he asked hopefully.
"No, I'm not. There is someone who doesn't blow away even when I blow my hardest," said the wind.
"Is that true?" asked Father Mole.
"Mr. Mole, if you are looking for the greatest, go to the Buddha statue," advised the wind.

Though Father Mole was tired, he went to see the Buddha statue. "Finally, I've found it. Buddha statue, you are the greatest in the world, right?" Father Mole asked.
"No, I'm not. If a mole dug a hole under my feet, I could not stand for even a minute," the Buddha statue answered.
"Do you think the mole is the best bridegroom in the world?" asked Father Mole.
"Definitely! Ha-ha-ha!" the Buddha statue answered with laughter.

Father Mole then went back to the mole village. "Honey! I've found someone who is the greatest," he declared to his wife.
"Oh really!" Mother replied.
Father Mole explained. "The sun said, 'The sun is the greatest.' The cloud said, 'The wind is the greatest.' The wind said, 'The Buddha is the greatest.' And then I found out who is the greatest of all."
"Who is that?" Mother Mole asked.
"It is one of us, the moles!" Father Mole replied.
"Well, then, we must choose the best bridegroom from among the greatest moles," Mother Mole said.

As a result, Father Mole and Mother Mole met with Moler. Soon, Mollie and Moler were married.

Couldn't the greatest in the world be right next to you?

The Banana Tree

Once upon a time there was a single banana tree in the jungle.
Two bunches of bananas were on the banana tree.
There were three children from a village.
They were watching the bananas grow.
There were four monkeys from the jungle.
They were watching the bananas grow.
The children looked at the bananas at five o'clock in the afternoon everyday.
The monkeys looked at the bananas at six o'clock in the morning everyday.
The three children and the four monkeys were very excited.
Soon the bananas would be ready to eat.
All seven of them wanted to eat the bananas.
One evening, the children ran to the banana tree.
There were eight colorful butterflies sitting on the bananas.
The bananas were almost yellow.
"Let's eat the bananas now." said one of the children.
"No, they are not ripe." said the other one.

The next morning, the monkeys looked at the bananas.
There were nine drops of dew sparkling on the bananas.
The three children ran to the banana tree for lunch.
The four monkeys swung from tree to tree to get to the banana tree.
It was 10 o'clock.
The monkeys and children wanted bananas for breakfast.
The children were very upset to see the monkeys.
The monkeys were very upset to see the children.
The children were very afraid that the monkeys would take all of the bananas.
So, they threw stones to the monkeys.
The monkeys were afraid that the children would take all of the bananas.
So, they threw sticks to the children.

The children were very hungry.
They were also very tired.
The monkeys were very hungry.
They were also very tired.
The children were too tired to throw stones.
The monkeys were too tired to throw sticks.
"I'm so hungry." said one of the children.
"Me, too!" said the other one.
"Let's share the bananas with the monkeys." said the other.
"OK! Let's share the bananas with the monkeys." they said.

The monkeys and the children enjoyed their breakfast.
They also learned that sharing is better than fighting.

I'm Finally Back After Three Years

It has been three years since I last updated here. I rarely think of posting about my experiences in teaching but too lazy to post and sometimes forget when I come home. I have lots of good and bad experiences about teaching. As you know, it's not easy to teach in other land specially when you have different language. Eventhough I love kids and teaching is my passion, there are times that I feel upset, terrible and irritated. Of course most of the time, I have to carry my patience with me or else everyone will be in trouble.

It's alright to hit the students in Korea which surprised me when I first saw the teacher hitting a student on his head with a stick. It wasn't too hard that could break his head but still it was against the law in my country. After seeing several times of spanking the children from the teachers and boss, I got used to it. I realized that it needed to educate the Korean students because they don't listen or follow the teachers easily. There are lots of hard-headed students that some of them even say bad words to their teachers. Saying good words or giving some advise to them is useless. They should be taught some lessons through a stick or rod.

In my case, I never hit a student in my 12 years of teaching but sometimes feel like hitting them or throwing them out of the window if it's just possible. But I always keep my patience because I understand that students are also moody. There are times that they don't feel like studying specially when they have a problem at home or school. I can't deny that I sometimes get irritated but most of the time, I enjoy my day with kids.

My cute new student

Vacation is finished. Some students said they were happy because they met their school friends and some said they had terrible day because class started today. But my topic is not about their ended vacation but about my new student. She was supposed to be in our institute by 2p.m. I thought she wasn't coming. I thought her mom changed her mind to send her in the academy either because she's young or she moved to another institute. But yes! She appeared at 2:37. The class has to finish at 2:50 but I couldn't do it because of her. I had to finish at past 3. The reason is because she came very late, it's her first time and I tried my best to finish two pages. In fairness, she's cute and smart so I like her. hehe..

It's not easy to teach Korean students

I'm tired of teaching so I'm planning to quit my job but that's not going to be easy. It's not easy to quit when you know that you are teaching because you want to help. I think i'm helping my boss because I'm doing my best so his business will become successful. I also believe that I'm helping my students because I always do my best so that they can learn even when they are sometimes rude and naughty. I sometimes feel like losing my temper but want to throw them away out of the window but I just take a deep breath instead. Sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode because of stress and anger that I always keep deep within me.

Oh well, it's not always easy to teach Korean students.

Students who always complain

I hate my 6 o'clock class. They don't do anything but to complain. It's very stressful to teach them. I remember when I first taught them, they couldn't read or write even a single word like "she" or "they". It always took us 30 minutes to read and learn the spelling of ten of the sight words. And now I can say that they improved a lot. They can't only read fast but they can also write and explain even hard words. Of course that wasn't an easy job. I always argue with them everytime we meet. They always say that I always give them hard works. We have to learn words, explain what they have read, study the pronunciation and give homeworks. They said they haven't studied like that before. I know that's why they were stupid. Actually, I also taught them phonics on my first month of meeting them because they couldn't read or write. But until now it's hard to correct their pronunciation because whenever I teach them the correct pronunciation, they get angry easily so sometimes I'd rather ignore them because I get much stress.

Before we start the class, they always tell me to study a little and leave early. That's everyday that I always want to put earphone on my ears before I start the class. I don't hate them but I hate their bad attitudes with regards to studying. I always want them to learn but they are not interested enough. Do I get more salary if they learn a lot? Of course not! Would my salary decrease if they don't learn? Absolutely not! I just want to do my job so I'm trying my best so that they could learn. They should know that! Yes, they should!