Samantha's Winter Story (Video), 12 Years Old, Seoul, 2011

I'm a Santa detective. I'm trying to find out if Santa's real or not through a series of tests. I wrote a letter to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. In the morning, I received a reply letter from Santa Claus! In my letter, there were things I wanted to get for Christmas. I also made a ticket to Santa Claus and told him to bring it next year to check to see if Santa Claus is real or not. It's a little rectangle shaped ticket. There are my address, cellphone number, e-mail and my name. If Santa Claus brings the ticket this year, Santa Claus is a real person because I know my father is forgetful. At night, I put cookies and milk at the front of the door. In the morning, the cookies and milk are all gone. Sometimes I think Santa Claus is my dad so I tell him to write “Santa" to see if the pattern that Santa wrote in the letter is the same. All sixth graders think Santa Claus is not real even my best friends. But I want to believe in Santa Claus. I know Santa's e-mail, address, and phone number. I will try to call him or e-mail him. And when I'm older, I will try to go to Santa's house. When I go to his house and find him then I will know exactly if he's real or not. Just until I'm old enough to go to Santa's house, I will find some more ways to find out the mystery. I'm the real Santa detective, and I will work on it every Christmas!

Samantha's winter story: A day at home (Video) , 11 years old, Seoul, 2010

Teacher: Christie

My Winter Story: A Day at Home

One day I imagined that there was a huge snowstorm during winter break. On this day we could not go to the academy because of a huge snowstorm. All students you would think would be very happy if this actually happened. But if you really thought about it more deeply it would not be so good. It made me question myself about what I would do if I got a snow day. At first you would think that you can play a lot, but I could not go outside to play soccer, baseball, or basketball. You would probably say "We can also play in the house". Maybe the young children can play in their house but if you’re older, you do not have as much to play with in the house. Older kids like visiting with their friends. If they can't visit with their friends than they are not going to be very happy. I do not want to spend my time bored and of course I do not want to study in my precious time off. If I were to have a snow day I would probably put on a concert for my parents. My sister Judith and I would play a song on the piano called “Canon D”. I would play the right hand and Judith would play the left hand. My parents would love it and tell us how awesome we did. This idea that I just talked about is good because my parents can take a rest and we can have fun, too! It is like killing two birds with one stone. I think I might actually like a snow day.  I could do whatever I wanted to do and have fun doing it. Would you like a snow day, too?

Samantha, Born in 1999, Bucheon (Video), 2009

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