I don’t know how it happened.  I was in the office while the teachers were discussing their plans for the school festival.

They were planning a dance routine.  I wasn’t really paying attention because I was being a good and productive teacher, working on lessons for the next week.  They turned to me and said I should dance with them.  There were six teachers all staring anxiously at me, wondering if I would take part in the public embarrassment.

I said yes.

Every Korean school has a festival for one day out of the school year.  It is a chance for students to play games, show off their class work to visiting parents, and put on a talent show.

There are no classes during the day, and students go around to different class rooms to play games and work on arts and crafts.  In the evening, there were guitar, singing, and dance performances.  My only complaint was that the talent show was outside on the soccer field, it was freezing cold!

Many of the students performed awesome dance routines, but no one was expecting a bunch of old teachers to dance well so it took the pressure off us.  The kids loved seeing their teachers dance around like dorks.  They cheered and went nuts for us, making this probably the only time I will feel like a rock star.

Yes, we wore matching outfits.  There were four guy teachers total, but three of them were off practicing when we took the picture.

We danced to a song from a Korean movie and the guy teachers also performed an extra dance to a song called “I’m so sexy“.  Yoo Jae Suk is a super famous TV host and every year he and his cast members of the variety show “Infinity Challenge” create something like an album or calendar for sale and give the proceeds to a charity.  This year he teamed up with an equally famous singer and producer named JYP for a goofy but slickly produced song.

students working on a banner for their class for the festival

Every class created a banner with all their dreams painted on them.  In my class, the students wrote down Shel Silverstein poems and drew pictures to go with the poster.

The English table

pretty fans made by the students

a beautiful painting by some 2nd grade students

the stage and cheering students

I wish I could have actually been on the field to watch the performances but I was getting ready with the teachers.  We settled for the window view.  At least we weren’t cold.

Good times were had by all.  Participating in the festival has been one of my favorite perks of working at a public school.