Study Hall

We have study hall every night for two hours. The kids are required to go, so that means that the teachers are also required to give out a lot of homework! They always whine when I do that and say "ohh teacher, you don't want us to have any fun? you don't love us?", but I'll get in trouble if I don't give them very much, so I try to think of a lot of things for them to do. Last night it was my turn to oversee study hall, and they were not completely silent, but they were fairly quiet. I only had to talk to a couple of kids about being quiet. About 2/3 of the way through the class some of the Korean male helpers came in. They started taking the boys in the hall one by one. I peaked out and saw that they were making them exercise. They made them do pushups, sit ups, squats, and jumping jacks. A lot of our helpers have been in the army because every Korean male is required to do two years. I was so confused as to why they were in trouble, and it was making me very upset. Then after class was over, I had them organize the desks and pick up papers. After they left the room I started sweeping, but the men came in again and said "no teacher you need to leave!" very loudly. Then they brought in all of my students to clean the room. So I waited outside the building and thanked each of them as they came outside. They looked so tired because they are in class from 9am to 9pm. Please be praying that I will find a way to show my students love in the midst of all of this. Also pray that I can understand their form of discipline and get used to it. I know that this is because they are trying to get them to show me respect, and help prepare them for the army, but it still is so so different from what I am used to in a classroom.