Harry Potter

The day was fairly normal.  Grace thought she knew it all, telling the other students incorrect phrases, then when I corrected her, she wanted to hear a "full sentence" from me.  There are like a dozen "full sentences" that you could use with any single phrase!  The air conditioner in the Kiwi classroom wasn't working, so we moved to Pineapple (which is working now).  Then the CD player wasn't working and someone else had borrowed the only other working one, so I had to read the passage to them.  They prefer my voice, but it's better for them to hear a variety of voices. 
 
The kids were good.  Some of the classes were smaller than normal because the 6th graders are on a school camping trip.  The 7 PM class was particularly pleasant (5 students absent, including Brandon).  We spent 20 minutes talking about the Harry Potter movie--characters, plot, our favorite parts, and the similarities and differences between the book and movie.  We did one page in the book and spent the remaining 15 minutes of class playing 20 questions.  They need some practice with when to use "Is it" and "Does it." 
 
I started taking points away if they spoke Korean in class, so the students were much more careful to speak only English.  At one point, Jessy asked me if he could speak Korean.  No, this is English class!  He sighed, thought a moment, then said to Kane, "Down open" and it took Kane a minute to look down and see that his fly was open.  Kane embarrassedly zipped up his pants, then asked Jessy, "Why you look there?!"  Jessy tried to explain that he was looking at Kane from head to toe and happened to see his pants open.  Kane asked me if he could speak Korean.  I said yes, because I wanted to hear what else he was going to say!  He called Jessy 변태 (a pervert) for looking down there.  No, Kane, he was just trying to help you out! 
 
Over dinner the three foreign teachers got into a discussion about Harry Potter.  We wondered why the book is called "The Philosopher's Stone" in England and Canada but "The Sorcerer's Stone" in the USA.  I reasoned that it's because the whole idea of philosophy turns a lot of Americans off, but Matt guessed that it's because "The Philosopher's Stone" is something used in witchcraft, and it wouldn't go over well in the States.  Then we discussed how some people don't like the wizardry part of the books, to the point of wanting them banned.  My opinion is that most kids can see the books for the fantasy that they are, while real witchcraft and the like is dangerous.  When Tanya went to class, the discussion turned to religion. 
 
How can you believe that there's a God but also believe that He couldn't create the world or that He isn't all-powerful and loving and just, etc.?  Yes, there are a lot of bad things going on the world, but that's because of our sinful nature and our having free will.  The (conversation/debate/whatever you want to call it) stayed civil but we both had our own way of looking at things.  For someone who's confirmed in the Catholic Church to think that the Bible is just a bunch of stories and to "hope" that there's more to life that the 70 years we spend on earth, that's pretty weird.