a room of my own

This is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time. There's something about middle-aged women with great legs singing girl-power songs that just tugs at my heartstrings. That, and the fact that it evokes fond memories of my mother singing this song at the top of her lungs in her strong Korean accent.

In Virginia Wolf's essay, A Room of One's Own, Wolf discusses the need for "freedom" in order to create, explore and invent. Most of her writing flies over my head at lightening speed as I am unable to retain let alone understand the bulk of it, but I do take the basic message quite literally to heart. I am grateful to my mother for the provision of my own room. That small physical space afforded me the opportunity to discover my own world, make my own mistakes and pave my own path. My own room not only meant the tangible four walls that enclosed my sleep, but the intangible privilege of living and learning in the states.

Various conversations with my students have revealed that even twelve-year-olds are acutely aware of their standing in life. As mentioned in previous entries, my school is located in Dongjak, a working-class area of Seoul. Dongjak district is among the lowest ranking school districts in this education-frenzied city. My students are quite sensitive to the fact that students in the Gangnam district (richest in the city) attend six 학원s (academies) after their mandatory public school time. 학원s cost money -- a lot of money -- money that my kids don't have. Things we take for granted so easily in the states: going to school, getting an education, attending college, getting a job... just seems so much more difficult here. As one student told me, "How are we going to compete with them [students in Gangnam]? How?"

I don't know, Audrey. But I will try to help.

Most fortunately, I've been given my own classroom. The other teachers must travel from class to class to teach their lessons. In my case, the students come to me, into my area with my rules. I hope my own classroom, this space carved out in a school of 900-plus students, will serve as an area for students to seek English opportunities that were so easily handed to me at their age. I hope they make it a room of their own.