Two students wanted an extra credit assignment but the cutoff for extra credit was Friday.

"Come see me at Krispy Kreme at 1 p.m. in Daejeon and I'll listen to your proposal then."

Later that evening one of the students sent me a text asking why they had to go to Daejeon--why couldn't I just travel to Kongju on Sunday.  When i tell this to my Korean friends they all ask "Are these students stupid or disrespectful?  It has to be one or the other."

At 1 p.m. I was there but the two freshmen were nowhere in sight.  I was meeting some old students there at two o'clock and I didn't want the appointments to cross.  The two middle school students I was going to meet were students that I used to teach in the hagwon, or afterschool academy, and we still meet every couple of months so I can hear about their lives and schooling.  Their English is excellent and professionally it is very interesting to see how their minds and their thinking develop.

My two freshmen came at 2 p.m., after the first middle-school student came and after my other friend, she's a teacher at a local TESOL certification school, arrived.

All they had was a "We're sorry we're late."  No apology to anyone else and, looking at their faces, a full expectation that we were going to discuss their extra credit assignment.   To balance the scales and involve the student that I was with, I had the freshmen explain their plan to the middle school girl, a bit of a demeaning act for them in Korea but the girl, despite her youth, had a bit more going on in her brain the the two university students.  They had a sample of their work and Cathy, the first middle school student said sheepishly "No. Can I see the plan?"

They didn't have their plan with them.  They said "It's in the cloud."  Allison, my Canadian teacher friend, said "There are PC rooms all over the place; go print it!"  Off they went--for forty minutes.  It was obvious that they were writing their plan.

When they returned, the first kid had left and another kid replaced her.  The second kid, Helena, was there when they returned; Cathy had left (she had a pile of science and math homework).  The two ditzy boys presented their plan and Helena said "It seems a bit short for six percent of their grade."  Helena then proceeded to tell them how to fix their assignment and give it more content and depth but they had stopped listening, she was too young.  They even rolled her eyes at her.

Allison suppressed the urge to smack them.  They never did square away their assignment. When they left, they neglected to bow.

I was probably like that when I was a freshman.