A bunch of my students took the TOEFL exam this weekend, including one of my fave girls. I gave her my email address and asked her to drop me a line telling me how it went, as she’s not coming back to hogwan. It was a great way to start my day, and not just because she called me pretty. (Though…maybe it didn’t hurt.) She was nervous, but clearly has a great command of the English language.

For some of my students, like this girl, nerves are a much bigger problem than the language. And as someone who was sent to the school shrink (hey Mr. Wells) to deal with test anxiety, I’ve learned a thing or two about that ordeal. I spend a substantial amount of time with my classes working on how to chill out. We stand up, stretch, shake our heads back and forth (a nod to Dahn Yoga, though I don’t bill it as such), and focus on good, deep, belly breathing.

When they look at me funny — which they do, every time — I have them do one of the more amusing class activities. I make them all get into a hyper-tensed pose: shrug shoulders up to ears, round forward and hunch over, squeeze hands into tight fists, clench jaw. Then, without moving, take a good, deep breath, all the way into the belly. Impossible. Then we do it again, but this time they can move however they need to breathe deeply. They go into relaxed, straight postures. We talk about how breathing deeply not only calms you down, but helps you think more clearly by getting more blood and oxygen to the ol’ noggin. It might not work for everyone, but I’m glad it helped at least one student.

Also — check out the cute Korean take on emoticons. Being cute is a big deal in Korean culture.

————————-

Hi, olivia~ It’s xxxxxxx who took the TOEFL today. ^^

I first took deep a breath before I enter the computer lab. Wow, it really worked~

I was not freaked out!

Well, speaking and writing were quite easy… I think.. It was not that difficult like the one we studied… desalination.

But listening was quite hard to solve the problems..

There were some mean questions….like suggesting similar answer choices which are a little bit different.

But the test was quite manageable.

Ah, thanks for taking care about me and about my test.

The general information and skills that you taught to me were really helpful.

I hope to see you again. You were really nice and… pretty!!!^.^

Take care~