I ran the gym class by myself today as the other teacher had to go close his bank account since he will be leaving as of next Thursday. I got a bit wild. I'm surprised by how much those kids can sweat, and then they always want to hug...
The kindergarten time concluded with air class where I got the students to my art for the departing teacher. I was really trying to turn up the feelings.
My elementary students showered me with gifts. I received three drawings of myself, a lolly pop, a thing of mini pancakes, and a yogurt drink. There were only five students in the class and they didn't even have anything to suck up for. They must just know that I'm their favourite teacher, haha.
My order elementary students got to work on a poster project today as a nice easy lesson after their monthly test. The assignment was to draw and label and animal of your choosing. Our vocabulary words had been themed around trait mostly of dogs, so I was happy when my class through quite out of the box. We had an eagle, an ant, an elephant, and a blue eyes white dragon. They were all working so well and talking in English as they worked that they convinced me to do one, so I did an octopus. They insisted we hang it on the wall with the others. I said we would act as though one girl, who was absent, did it. Including were all gonna tell her "You did it. Don't you remember?"
The food today was great. Lunch was curry -my favourite. To celebrate the end of the week we went out for rice balls for supper. Each lovingly stuffed with delicious meat, yum yum.
Friday, September 30, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Thursday's Seven
1. First day of the giant word search for the kindergartner class. They found six words, I helped with three of them. Among the other things found were "RYSUNG" and many single letters circled. Thankfully know one noticed the randomly generated swear words that we only noticed after printing.
2. The kindergarden class has also requested that Rio, a parrot puppet I used for one subject, comes in for the other subjects too. I find this hilarious after two students claimed they hated this song because it's for babies. However they both passionately speak to Rio, and even give him hugs.
3. We cleaned out part of the playroom, Only in my adult life can I now appreciate how filthy those places are.
4. One of my elementary students wrote her name in Korean for me and I read it and she was so impressed. The Korean teachers were even more impressed when I started calling her by her Korean name while we were playing.
5. My social studies class has been requesting to see my Pokemon Go Pokemon for weeks now. I finally had a chance to show them but the app needed to be updated before it could open. I bet they all think I'm a liar now.
6. In between classes I fixed a student's ring with a hot glue gun. She was impressed.
7. One of my kindergartners is a daydreamer. She had actually changed schools before I started but came back after she was placed in a lower level. She can't read or follow instructions well. When she does put her hand up for a question her answers make it clear she has no idea what the question was. "Which animal has fur, the snake or the dog? Teacha! Rainy." She often tries to answer statements "Good work everyone, we have 5 minutes left so if you're finished you can put your books away! Teacha! Skating." Then today she just decided to read, not once but many many times. Simple three letter words, sounding them out, and saying them with no help. It was like, was the last month one bug practical joke?
2. The kindergarden class has also requested that Rio, a parrot puppet I used for one subject, comes in for the other subjects too. I find this hilarious after two students claimed they hated this song because it's for babies. However they both passionately speak to Rio, and even give him hugs.
3. We cleaned out part of the playroom, Only in my adult life can I now appreciate how filthy those places are.
4. One of my elementary students wrote her name in Korean for me and I read it and she was so impressed. The Korean teachers were even more impressed when I started calling her by her Korean name while we were playing.
5. My social studies class has been requesting to see my Pokemon Go Pokemon for weeks now. I finally had a chance to show them but the app needed to be updated before it could open. I bet they all think I'm a liar now.
6. In between classes I fixed a student's ring with a hot glue gun. She was impressed.
7. One of my kindergartners is a daydreamer. She had actually changed schools before I started but came back after she was placed in a lower level. She can't read or follow instructions well. When she does put her hand up for a question her answers make it clear she has no idea what the question was. "Which animal has fur, the snake or the dog? Teacha! Rainy." She often tries to answer statements "Good work everyone, we have 5 minutes left so if you're finished you can put your books away! Teacha! Skating." Then today she just decided to read, not once but many many times. Simple three letter words, sounding them out, and saying them with no help. It was like, was the last month one bug practical joke?
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Testing Testing
Today and yesterday have been the student's monthly testing days. Not all the students undergo tests but pretty much all the elementary students will take at least one.
I was very impressed with my afternoon classes today and how well they all did. I don't have the marks yet but everyone did way better than I expected when I flipped through what had been handed back. I was pleased to learn that some of the more silent students had actually been knowledge sponges and knew the answers all along. Whereas some that I saw suffer in the multiple choice turn out to be the best writers! So everything worked out really well!
When the kids were finished they could word on word searches. The enthusiasm for word searches gave me another good idea. I had been thinking for a while that my kindergartners needed a project to work on for once they finished their workbooks. Specifically two boys who would not want to spend their time colouring a picture. Instead I worked with one of the other teachers to make a giant word search for them. The words are from their last unit in language arts and it even has their names!
But back to the elementary students...
Look at this beautiful example of sucking up (I got a hug for her too).
I was very impressed with my afternoon classes today and how well they all did. I don't have the marks yet but everyone did way better than I expected when I flipped through what had been handed back. I was pleased to learn that some of the more silent students had actually been knowledge sponges and knew the answers all along. Whereas some that I saw suffer in the multiple choice turn out to be the best writers! So everything worked out really well!
When the kids were finished they could word on word searches. The enthusiasm for word searches gave me another good idea. I had been thinking for a while that my kindergartners needed a project to work on for once they finished their workbooks. Specifically two boys who would not want to spend their time colouring a picture. Instead I worked with one of the other teachers to make a giant word search for them. The words are from their last unit in language arts and it even has their names!
But back to the elementary students...
Look at this beautiful example of sucking up (I got a hug for her too).
A little shout out to Nicole Teacher
I get Nicole Teacher a little less often than Niki Teacher, and a little more often than Niki Mouse Teacher.
The evening I used my spare time to make up a new sticker sheet for my suck-up class. I had asked them all what their favourite colour and favourite animals are, then I plugged that into this beautiful creation. They will love it more that Nicol is tecrs.
Beautiful.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Word Zone
At the recommendation of Saturday's conference I put in motion a plan to spiffy up my classroom.
My kindergarten students are pretty clever, but they aren't really where the should be at this point -and only a few can read. Granted, I didn't really ready until like 2010, so maybe it will be all Leo the Late Bloomer.
One of the ideas to help bridge the gap for kids is to have words and pictures displayed in one wall in the classroom. Since kids can know the answer without knowing how to say the word this would make them better at communicating, maybe giving them a bit more confidence to try. Especially sounding out the words.
My partner Korean teacher and I laminated some pictures and words to put on the board in the late afternoon. I'm excited for the kids to see it tomorrow. It's the beginning of some great plans I have for the classroom!
My kindergarten students are pretty clever, but they aren't really where the should be at this point -and only a few can read. Granted, I didn't really ready until like 2010, so maybe it will be all Leo the Late Bloomer.
One of the ideas to help bridge the gap for kids is to have words and pictures displayed in one wall in the classroom. Since kids can know the answer without knowing how to say the word this would make them better at communicating, maybe giving them a bit more confidence to try. Especially sounding out the words.
My partner Korean teacher and I laminated some pictures and words to put on the board in the late afternoon. I'm excited for the kids to see it tomorrow. It's the beginning of some great plans I have for the classroom!
Monday, September 26, 2016
Bananas and Tuna
I had a good day, at least the first part.
I tried out a teacher tactic from the conference for when students finished their work early. Instead of the usual "Teacher! Finished!" they put their hands in the air to make a banana shape, and I come by to peel the banana. The peeling is just me splitting their hands to their sides and checking the work. If it's all right then the banana gets eaten. Which they all loved.\
So many bananas. They just started marking a banana in the middle of a lesson hoping I would fall for it. They are pretty clever.
The second part of the day was not good.
I order my dinner by myself for the first time at our regular restaurant. I pointed to the kimchi cheese fired rice. I was charged 2000 won less. I got kimbab (like Korean sushi), which was fine.
Unfortunately after 5 bites in, I tried to identify the cheese and realized I had been eating tuna. With my weird tuna allergy the clock was ticking and it would be coming up soon, which is honestly better than the alternative.
I rushed home trying not to puke on the way. Vomit, rash... Ugh, no further details for your sake. I will hopefully be fine in the morning. It's been while since I have accidentally eaten tuna.
I tried out a teacher tactic from the conference for when students finished their work early. Instead of the usual "Teacher! Finished!" they put their hands in the air to make a banana shape, and I come by to peel the banana. The peeling is just me splitting their hands to their sides and checking the work. If it's all right then the banana gets eaten. Which they all loved.\
So many bananas. They just started marking a banana in the middle of a lesson hoping I would fall for it. They are pretty clever.
The second part of the day was not good.
I order my dinner by myself for the first time at our regular restaurant. I pointed to the kimchi cheese fired rice. I was charged 2000 won less. I got kimbab (like Korean sushi), which was fine.
Unfortunately after 5 bites in, I tried to identify the cheese and realized I had been eating tuna. With my weird tuna allergy the clock was ticking and it would be coming up soon, which is honestly better than the alternative.
I rushed home trying not to puke on the way. Vomit, rash... Ugh, no further details for your sake. I will hopefully be fine in the morning. It's been while since I have accidentally eaten tuna.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Obliged
I do feel obliged to write a blog every day, since I have not missed a day yet. However it becomes a bit more difficult after a lazy day like today.
My lazy day did involve some laundry and clean up. I check out some programs for learning Korean. I had a nice video call from mum in the morning, and Michelle in the evening. I'm really excited because Michelle has book some flights to come visit over Christmas!
The only real Korean thing that happened today was me shaking a bag of dried seaweed onto my rice and curry. This seaweed just tastes good on everything.
But I will not be having it with my cereal tomorrow morning.
The next two days of school should be interesting as we have some standardized testing coming up!
My lazy day did involve some laundry and clean up. I check out some programs for learning Korean. I had a nice video call from mum in the morning, and Michelle in the evening. I'm really excited because Michelle has book some flights to come visit over Christmas!
The only real Korean thing that happened today was me shaking a bag of dried seaweed onto my rice and curry. This seaweed just tastes good on everything.
But I will not be having it with my cereal tomorrow morning.
The next two days of school should be interesting as we have some standardized testing coming up!
Saturday, September 24, 2016
A High Concentration of Foreigners
Today was the big conference for all the private schools in the same franchise as mine. I didn't realize how big this would be and how small my school is. We were just a party of three since others couldn't make it. So we had the director, a Korean teacher, and me. In comparison other schools had about 50 people attending, and I'm told this time was the fewest number of attendees from my school.
There were five workshops to attend based on what your role is, and which classes you are involved with.
My first workshop of the day was all focused around asking the right questions. After taking in information you need to check to make sure your students understand it. The questions start simple, with limited answers, then build up to comparing and contrasting, explaining why, applying it to real life, and the most complex questions come last with the biggest range of answers. For a story you could ask the students to, say, make up an alternative ending. That can be a pretty steep order depending on your student's abilities. I found this to be on of the most useful of the workshops.
Then there was a massive all you can eat lunch. The director was pushing me to break the record of a teacher from the last conference who ate 6 plates of food. Naturally, I would be all over that, but I was actually trying to pace myself a little so I didn't just fall asleep in the next workshop.
The next workshop was all about getting the kindergarten kids to really remember words. It turns out that action things I've been doing is called a Total Physical Response (TPR) and it an amazing way to remember words.
After that I had a very good workshop on classroom management for kindergarten students. This covered how to keep order without resorting to bribery or punishments. There's a couple good tips I will take from this. One such tip was about how to handle students who finish their work early. The put their hands together straight up above their head and they are now a banana. When the teacher sees a banana, the banana must be peeled. Apparently the peeling was supposed to be the end, but the children convinced this teacher that you must eat the banana -which is essentially fake eating and tickling. Other students might see this and finish their work quicker since they want that attention. i know that my class would love this and they will all want to be bananas.
Next was an actual grammar and pronunciation workshop. This felt a lot like everything I have covered in my TEFL course, but maybe a bit more specific to Korea.
Lastly, I had a workshop on how to teach Social Studies. I thought for sure they would address the whole super American textbook thing. In fact I overheard the people sitting behind me talking about it before the presentation began. The facilitator gave a pretty half-ass-ed response claiming it was fine because they are learning North American English. When I did turn around to discuss strategies with the people behind me, as per the workshop, we got on this subject. It turns out they were Canadian too, and couldn't properly answer their students questions about the Pledge of Allegiance. I told them about googling the liberty bell, and how the students had struggled with many of the concepts.
The way I make sense of the American textbook problem is reflecting on my own learning. In Mr. Dooley's grade 6 and 7 classes we learned about Peru and Japan. It didn't go as politically deep as this book, but nonetheless gave us a brief chance to think about the world outside of Canada. These kids haven't been as worn out by Americanization as their adult counterparts, so it is still just learning about a new place for them. Then by the time they're 12 or 15, they can be sick of it like the rest of us.
The whole thing was supposed to wrap up with a group photo, and maybe it did, I don't know. I escaped out the back door with the Korean teacher and we hopped in the directors car to beat the traffic home.
There were five workshops to attend based on what your role is, and which classes you are involved with.
My first workshop of the day was all focused around asking the right questions. After taking in information you need to check to make sure your students understand it. The questions start simple, with limited answers, then build up to comparing and contrasting, explaining why, applying it to real life, and the most complex questions come last with the biggest range of answers. For a story you could ask the students to, say, make up an alternative ending. That can be a pretty steep order depending on your student's abilities. I found this to be on of the most useful of the workshops.
Then there was a massive all you can eat lunch. The director was pushing me to break the record of a teacher from the last conference who ate 6 plates of food. Naturally, I would be all over that, but I was actually trying to pace myself a little so I didn't just fall asleep in the next workshop.
The next workshop was all about getting the kindergarten kids to really remember words. It turns out that action things I've been doing is called a Total Physical Response (TPR) and it an amazing way to remember words.
After that I had a very good workshop on classroom management for kindergarten students. This covered how to keep order without resorting to bribery or punishments. There's a couple good tips I will take from this. One such tip was about how to handle students who finish their work early. The put their hands together straight up above their head and they are now a banana. When the teacher sees a banana, the banana must be peeled. Apparently the peeling was supposed to be the end, but the children convinced this teacher that you must eat the banana -which is essentially fake eating and tickling. Other students might see this and finish their work quicker since they want that attention. i know that my class would love this and they will all want to be bananas.
Next was an actual grammar and pronunciation workshop. This felt a lot like everything I have covered in my TEFL course, but maybe a bit more specific to Korea.
Lastly, I had a workshop on how to teach Social Studies. I thought for sure they would address the whole super American textbook thing. In fact I overheard the people sitting behind me talking about it before the presentation began. The facilitator gave a pretty half-ass-ed response claiming it was fine because they are learning North American English. When I did turn around to discuss strategies with the people behind me, as per the workshop, we got on this subject. It turns out they were Canadian too, and couldn't properly answer their students questions about the Pledge of Allegiance. I told them about googling the liberty bell, and how the students had struggled with many of the concepts.
The way I make sense of the American textbook problem is reflecting on my own learning. In Mr. Dooley's grade 6 and 7 classes we learned about Peru and Japan. It didn't go as politically deep as this book, but nonetheless gave us a brief chance to think about the world outside of Canada. These kids haven't been as worn out by Americanization as their adult counterparts, so it is still just learning about a new place for them. Then by the time they're 12 or 15, they can be sick of it like the rest of us.
The whole thing was supposed to wrap up with a group photo, and maybe it did, I don't know. I escaped out the back door with the Korean teacher and we hopped in the directors car to beat the traffic home.
Friday, September 23, 2016
Five Things on Friday
1. The art class I taught today was interesting. The prompt was to draw a snowy scene, but the kids have been so psyched for Halloween that three out of five drew monsters instead. The background is provided so there will be a picture of a kid throwing a snowball next to two pink zombies a ghost and an orange skeleton.
2. Report cards got submitted today and I had immediate regrets. I rated one child as advanced in personal hygiene and then witnessed both fingers n her nose at once. Ugh.
3. My afternoon classes will have a standardized test next week that I kind of tailored their entire lesson around. I reviewed some stories I knew would be on the lesson just to make sure they knew what was going on. The class where I have been doing the actions for words have been accomplishing great things.
4. Today gym class got a little messy when I lead the kids in their stretching exercise. I like to do the butterfly stretch at the end and then have them walk around like crabs after. As I walk around like a crab I usually get a hitch hiker climbing on my belly. I had ten today. I was drowning in giggling children.
5. My oldest class today was so quite and tired until I got them talking about their favourite TV dramas at the end of the day. If you think people explaining dramas is confusing, it's even more confusing in their second langauge. Something like "The king has a son,, and the king's son like that woman. That woman is the daughter of the king's friend's enemy. The woman that the king's son likes is with a guard who is this" *shows me picture of the character she was talking about in the first place*
2. Report cards got submitted today and I had immediate regrets. I rated one child as advanced in personal hygiene and then witnessed both fingers n her nose at once. Ugh.
3. My afternoon classes will have a standardized test next week that I kind of tailored their entire lesson around. I reviewed some stories I knew would be on the lesson just to make sure they knew what was going on. The class where I have been doing the actions for words have been accomplishing great things.
4. Today gym class got a little messy when I lead the kids in their stretching exercise. I like to do the butterfly stretch at the end and then have them walk around like crabs after. As I walk around like a crab I usually get a hitch hiker climbing on my belly. I had ten today. I was drowning in giggling children.
5. My oldest class today was so quite and tired until I got them talking about their favourite TV dramas at the end of the day. If you think people explaining dramas is confusing, it's even more confusing in their second langauge. Something like "The king has a son,, and the king's son like that woman. That woman is the daughter of the king's friend's enemy. The woman that the king's son likes is with a guard who is this" *shows me picture of the character she was talking about in the first place*
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Canadians at and Indian Restaurant in Korea
My neat thing from today had to be the great globalisation moment of dining at an Indian restaurant in Ansan.
If you read the number five thing about Tuesday I can clarify that this was an Indian restaurant with a cuisine from India.
Ansan also has a surprising number of Japanese and Russian restaurants.
The Indian one was looking fairly empty. I thought I saw another table before we left but then a guy got up to help us process the payment. It was delicious food, and the tandoori chicken must've have been made in a real tandoori oven.
This seemed appropriate as I spoke with the other Canadian teacher about a new student from India who will be join us soon.
Tomorrow is Friday but the week does not end. The biannual conference for the school will be held on Saturday. It actually sounds pretty cool and I'm guaranteed to learn some cool stuff.
If you read the number five thing about Tuesday I can clarify that this was an Indian restaurant with a cuisine from India.
Ansan also has a surprising number of Japanese and Russian restaurants.
The Indian one was looking fairly empty. I thought I saw another table before we left but then a guy got up to help us process the payment. It was delicious food, and the tandoori chicken must've have been made in a real tandoori oven.
This seemed appropriate as I spoke with the other Canadian teacher about a new student from India who will be join us soon.
Tomorrow is Friday but the week does not end. The biannual conference for the school will be held on Saturday. It actually sounds pretty cool and I'm guaranteed to learn some cool stuff.
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
I Have Created What I Hated
Today was my first day attempting to write a report card. As a former hider of report cards I felt like I had become a monster.
This was especially true since I decided to go alphabetically through my students and it just so happens that the first two students are the two that need the most help. After writing comments on both of them I realized that I was both of them.
I sort of had to write in as a compliment sandwich. One nice thing, one critical, but finish on another nice thing. Simply, "Great artist! Distracted easily. Can't really read or write very well. Is well liked by other students."
The actual comments still need to be refined to be framed as to not make me look like a total asshole and the children as hopeless. I understand Korean parents can take this criticism quite seriously, but I still want to highlight the areas where we need improvement. Even my best reader got the lowest possible mark for hygiene because sometimes one hand is in his pants and the other is in his nose, and, I swear, they must get mixed up sometimes.
The report cards will need to be finished by Friday, but I should have lots of time tomorrow. Hopefully I can find a nice way to say certain things....
-He always knows the answer, but he can't keep it to himself for a second
-Works very fast, and very poorly
-Always answers my questions, with made-up words
-Quite talkative, in Korean
-Always shares her crayons, and her harsh criticisms of people
-Great at reading, when she isn't crying
-Excellent work, copied from other students books
-Amazing at drawing, but we were supposed to be writing
But really. They are great kids and they try hard.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Tuesday in Six Points
My Tuesday in six quick points:
2. I tried using the parrot puppet for the first time today. I was like wielding the most powerful weapon, but instead of hurting people it makes them insanely happy.
3. One of my social studies classes had a lesson on "Symbols of Our Country" from the really American textbook. It was difficult to teach because the kids didn't know my examples, I don't know the Korean examples, and I didn't even know all the books examples. Must go Google what the liberty bell actually is other than 'a symbol of freedom'.
4. A student in my other social studies class asked about if kings are in charge when we were talking about presidents and governments. Then, another student says "Canada has a queen, she is on the money". I was so impressed, because there are Canadians that don't know that.
5. My last class of the day had to do a fill in the blank. They had read two stories, an Objibwe story about dream catchers, and another about celebrating Dawali. This is because we've been discussing culture. The correct answer for the assignment was "The students did a presentation on traditions in Indian culture" and they had to draw a picture of this. Maybe it was the whole American textbook thing but I was really surprised to see everyone had drawn 'Indian culture' as indigenous, not from India. I was a bit shocked that they must've learned that native Americans are called 'Indians', when in fact that is a mistake that a big chunk of humanity needs to let go of. It's 2016, we're pretty damn sure now that the America's are not India, so let's stop calling these people Indians. My class however is far from ready for that conversation.
6. I went out after work to fix the data on my phone. It turns out I have the wrong phone plan, no data. I can't get the data plan until I have a bank account, I can't have a bank account until I get my alien resident card, I won't get that card until the 4th of October. Oh well. In my experience the best phone plan I had was in Ghana, then Indonesia, then maybe China, next Australia, then probably Canada, last would be here, quite disappointing really. But, the guy who helped me tried really hard and was super nice. Unfortunately his store will close at the end of this month, before I get my card.
Monday, September 19, 2016
What Hatched From The Egg?
I just want to dedicate this blog post to one exercise that one of my classes did today. Since a lot of days will follow the same format, I think it's cool to hone in on some of the details.
This is the class that has been doing all the actions to correspond with words and studying vocabulary about pets.
This assignment was that you have received a colorful egg -it's 'colorful' because we must use American spelling. This egg will hatch into a baby animal of your choosing. draw the animal, then write a description of how you take care of it.I really try to encourage this class to think outside the box a little and choose unconventional animals.
Two of the boys, who are really high achieving, took a sort of blah path and wrote about puppies. Their drawings were incredible, mostly because they tried to draw based on dogs in the book.
Two of the girls (one has just returned and today was her first day back since I started teaching) got really competitive with each other in writing and in drawing. The student whose been in my class longer drew a baby chick. She described the chick first as ugly, and then explained how she had hoped for a cute one but an ugly one had hatched. I was so happy to see her writing with some humour. The other girl had a pet gecko hatch and wrote about how he sleeps with his tongue out and to take care f him she must put it back in his mouth -again funny! She also used one of the vocabulary words we covered while she wasn't even there and wrote "it is not a mammal".
One of the boys in the back, who usually doesn't preform as well as the others, wrote about a baby eagle. Which was quite unique!
Probably most unique was my most disengaged and low preforming student thus far. He finished first with time to spare after writing about a baby elephant that is cute, but strong, and will fight for him. To take care of this elephant he must feed it grapes. I don't think that last part was meant to be funny. I helped him write that part and I asked him what elephants eat. Dead serious, he says "grapes".
Other highlights from today include, my daily hug from my youngest student, wearing a sticker of a pig nose on my nose and waiting for students to catch on, getting all my students to go 'oooooo' whenever someone enters the class late, and finding a walnut pie on my desk from a student's mother.
This is the class that has been doing all the actions to correspond with words and studying vocabulary about pets.
This assignment was that you have received a colorful egg -it's 'colorful' because we must use American spelling. This egg will hatch into a baby animal of your choosing. draw the animal, then write a description of how you take care of it.I really try to encourage this class to think outside the box a little and choose unconventional animals.
Two of the boys, who are really high achieving, took a sort of blah path and wrote about puppies. Their drawings were incredible, mostly because they tried to draw based on dogs in the book.
Two of the girls (one has just returned and today was her first day back since I started teaching) got really competitive with each other in writing and in drawing. The student whose been in my class longer drew a baby chick. She described the chick first as ugly, and then explained how she had hoped for a cute one but an ugly one had hatched. I was so happy to see her writing with some humour. The other girl had a pet gecko hatch and wrote about how he sleeps with his tongue out and to take care f him she must put it back in his mouth -again funny! She also used one of the vocabulary words we covered while she wasn't even there and wrote "it is not a mammal".
One of the boys in the back, who usually doesn't preform as well as the others, wrote about a baby eagle. Which was quite unique!
Probably most unique was my most disengaged and low preforming student thus far. He finished first with time to spare after writing about a baby elephant that is cute, but strong, and will fight for him. To take care of this elephant he must feed it grapes. I don't think that last part was meant to be funny. I helped him write that part and I asked him what elephants eat. Dead serious, he says "grapes".
Other highlights from today include, my daily hug from my youngest student, wearing a sticker of a pig nose on my nose and waiting for students to catch on, getting all my students to go 'oooooo' whenever someone enters the class late, and finding a walnut pie on my desk from a student's mother.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Naminara Republic
My visa is only single entry, but I left South Korea today.
I went to visit the Naminara Republic, formerly known as Nami Island, before it claimed cultural independence in 2006. This island is situated in the Eastern part of the Han River, which flows through Seoul. It used to only be accessible during the drier seasons when the water ran low, but since the placement of the dam it can be visited after a short ferry ride.
But first you most get your entry visa and go through immigration. Unlike any tourism destination ever, the price for foreigner is cheaper, weird right?
After going through customs, my Malaysian friend from yesterdays tour and I boarded a very global looking ferry.
One of the main pulls to the island in this time of year is the rows and rows of poplar and chestnut trees with their changing autumn colours. However, it has been a long hot summer and the leaves are only just starting to change. Since Vancouver is wrapped with evergreen trees, Australia has no fall, and St. John's just didn't seem to have a lot of trees, I can't say I have been desensitized to the fall colours.
The other big pull to the island has been it's infamy as the filming location for Winter Sonata. This famous Korean drama has tributes to it all over the island including a gift store, photo boards, mapped locations of filming, and this statue that is very common to pose with despite is always looking really awkward. Maybe give them some space.
The island's status as culturally independent is clear by how it celebrates art. There are many craft shops, statues, fountains, and they even have a children book fair annually. The artists come from all over the world, and that is reflected on the island. For instance, this exhibt is a tribute to how happy Danish people are.
The island is more than just kid friendly, it's kid crazy! They actually donate a lot of money to unicef, and in return unicef has their own gallery on the island. Nami is very accessible for anyone in a wheelchair. The global tolerance gets better, my friend was happy to see a prayer room by the library and the restaurant we had lunch at was completely halal!
Naminara Republic is animal friendly too! There are bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks, and deer that run wild on the island, and check out these ostriches who came to the party too!
One of the things I really liked about the island was it's creativity recycling the old into art. There were fountains, and even buildings, shaped around used glass bottles. Also a statue made from bicycle wheels! Had I chosen the art life, I would aspire to come here.
It was a really cool spot! It reminded me of the oddity that is Coombs, but no one was really trying to sell me anything. You might think tourist trap, but it's most popular with Koreans (who pay more to get in!). I would totally love to go back in the summer and take advantage of the pool.
We wrapped up the day with a bit of street food just outside of Seoul. What a good day. It's back to school tomorrow! I would never have thought I would type that with any positivity, as someone who hated school, I really do like teaching.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
SeoulMate: Back to the Past - Bukchon Hanok Village Tour
Every Saturday a collection of university students in Seoul put on free walking tours in English. The group that puts this on is called SeoulMate and they are all about having fun.
I met up with the group a little before 2pm and we first went to see the secondary palace to the one I visited yesterday.
I met up with the group a little before 2pm and we first went to see the secondary palace to the one I visited yesterday.
They stopped often to take photos, share information on the site, and just rest because it was pretty hot out. From hear we ventured through the streets that mostly closely resemble 1970s, pre-rapid-development Korea.
Eventually our tour culminated in a nice dinner! The photos will be posted later, and I will add them once they're ready.
They have a great system where after going on several tours you can receive a gift! I will definitely be back for more!
I had no plans for tomorrow so I'm going along with one of the other tour-goers to Nami Island or the micronation known as Naminara Republic. Should be exciting!
Friday, September 16, 2016
Jjimjilbang: A Story of Rest and Relaxation
Today was awesome, now I'm sitting on my bed feeling amazing because I spent today at Seoul's most famous Jjimjilbang.
A jjimjilbang is basically a sauna. 'Bang' refers to room, other poplar bangs include Norae, or singing, basically kareoke rooms, and PC which is like an internet cafe for gaming. I went to Dragon Hill Spa, large and touristy. Most importantly it has a noraebang and a PC bang inside it. So this place was the real deal.
I didn't spend much time focusing on how to get there, and my data on my phone still isn't working. I was attempting to forage for wifi when I emerged from the train station, and BAM! There was the sign. Not very subtle.
A jjimjilbang is basically a sauna. 'Bang' refers to room, other poplar bangs include Norae, or singing, basically kareoke rooms, and PC which is like an internet cafe for gaming. I went to Dragon Hill Spa, large and touristy. Most importantly it has a noraebang and a PC bang inside it. So this place was the real deal.
I didn't spend much time focusing on how to get there, and my data on my phone still isn't working. I was attempting to forage for wifi when I emerged from the train station, and BAM! There was the sign. Not very subtle.
I employed my go-to tourist strategy: fall back, watch what the others do, act accordingly. The entrance is the same as the car entrance. I saw the door on the right and broke from the pack, everyone else followed the guy who stopped to smoke. Realizing their mistake they followed me through the doors and I let them ahead of me. I knew I would be paying the holiday rate, which is the same as the weekend rate, but when am I ever gonna be able to go on a week day? It would be a long wait. It was only two dollars more making the entrance price about 14$.
I knew when I got the key that there were two lockers. The first is actually just for your shoes. What I didn't notice was that all woman were to take the elevator up to the woman's only area. I awkwardly stared at claw-machine games until that became obvious.
The elevator lead to a big locker room, oddly enough with a small desk selling everything from underwear to hard boiled eggs. The key has a number, I think mines was 333. So my shoe locker and my clothes locker had the same number. I knew that at some point there was going to be some getting naked, what I didn't account for was the placement of my locker in all this. It seems that the keys may have been given out in numerical order because everyone in my elevator seemed to have our lockers clustered together and everyone was getting naked really close to each other. I felt like that weird foreigner trying to use the tiny towel to cover everything.
Again I followed the other naked women down the stairs to what was only labeled in English as "Sauna" -when actually there has to be at least a dozen saunas in this place. There were showers and pools, so many pools. I got only my foot in the first pool before reading the sign that said no adults -not like anyone was following these rules, but I don't want to be the one to get caught.
The first pool I found was like a Jacuzzi with very power jets and 40 degree water. You lie back in a reclining position and the water will actually massage your back, legs, and feet if mine weren't so damn ticklish.
My routine for trying the baths went as follows:
Ooh what's this?
It's hot.
Really hot.
Let's press this button.
Ooh a jet.
Too hot.
Cold shower.
Ooh what's this?
The only exception was when I finally found the cold bath! Which was kept at 23 degrees and was amazing. I spent a lot of time in the cold bath. It had two very powerful jets at one end, a woman was holding onto a rail and letting it pound at her stomach. I swam up next to her and tried the other one. I recall reading this was a stomach flattening thing. I stayed there until the woman eventually exited to pool and I saw her spine was curled like a 'c' and I couldn't shake the thought that it might be from the jet pounding her stomach into her spine. Swim away...
There were two saunas downstairs. One was a kid's one, but again no one cared it was always full of adults. I snuck in when it was empty and was disappointed to discover it was probably the best one. It had a cold tub for your feet so you could stay in longer.
I spent a lot of time in the Himalayan Salt Sauna -for adults, Korea, adults. By a lot of time, I really mean 1-2mins, cold bath, repeat. I read the info board outside the sauna, it suggested to rub the salt onto your skin for maximum benefit. I went in the first time looking for a dish of salt or something, nothing. The second time, I saw the lights were those Himalayan Salt rock lamp things (I think mum has one) so maybe it's just already in the air? It was much later I realized the sauna itself was like McDonald's fries: completely salt. What I thought were bricks, were made of salt, and the white mortar was just more salt! It was like Charlie and the Salt Factory (less exciting, I suppose)!
My favourite bath was probably the herbal medicine bath, kept at 38 degrees, it felt like bathing in herbal tea. It smelled amazing and there was a TV right in front of the bath. I think it was playing a Korean version of celebrity chef, but what do I know.
I spent most of my time downstairs rotating between baths. I emerged to check out what else was going on in the spa. Outside of the bath you wear a very comfy set of t-shirt and shorts. The rest of the spa is co-ed, it has a pool, an arcade, a place for sleeping (since it's open 24 hours), a restaurant and a garden on the roof! The other saunas were for sharing.
First shared sauna I went to was the cold sauna. Which claims to be -11 degrees and is home to two snowmen. It was really refreshing and you could actually spend a lot more time in there -especially compared to the salt one.
The traditional Korean kilns were not only my favourite but probably my go to "happy place" from now on wards. They were warm and dry and came with a nice little pillow to rest your head on. So yeah, I fell asleep in there.
Everything I red suggested that the only way to where your towel at a jjimjilbang is like a sheep. So here I am. Baaa...
Today was great. I would love to check out some other jjimjilbangs in the future, and definitely come back to this one and try the fried chicken!
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Accidental Palace
It funny how nothing went to plan today, but everything turned out better than expected.
I had planned on waking up early, catching the train in Seoul. Visiting the National Palace Museum for the 11:00am English tour then walking to the Museum of Contemporary History for the 2:00pm tour. Nope.
I arrived at the National Palace Museum at 11:12am, so catching that tour wouldn't happen. Instead I thought I could kill time in the park and go on the 2:30pm tour. I only assumed it was a aprk because it was green on the map, it wasn't. It was actually the palace itself. A massive massive palace right before my eyes.
I had planned on waking up early, catching the train in Seoul. Visiting the National Palace Museum for the 11:00am English tour then walking to the Museum of Contemporary History for the 2:00pm tour. Nope.
I arrived at the National Palace Museum at 11:12am, so catching that tour wouldn't happen. Instead I thought I could kill time in the park and go on the 2:30pm tour. I only assumed it was a aprk because it was green on the map, it wasn't. It was actually the palace itself. A massive massive palace right before my eyes.
As you can see from the photo, this is not the isolated experience like yesterday, in fact today was particularly packed. I suspect it's because of the traditional nature of this site. At least 1 in 10 people here came dressed in their traditional clothes for Chuseok making it all-the-more authentic.
This is Gyeongbokgung Palace, a guaranteed stop on any tour bus style trip of Seoul and the centerpiece of the Joseon Dynasty. It reminded me of Beijing's Forbidden City, both in architecture and layout. The streams of people culminated at the Folk Museum where there was a Chuseok Festival going on with music, dancing, and various booths. So I wound up at visiting the Folk Museum quite extensively and checking out the festival.
I found these stone statues right outside museum. They are the animals of the zodiac, but with human form, which is quite popular in Korea. Here's my year of the Monkey.
I wondered back to the Palace Museum to see the 2:30pm tour but I got distracted. Again everyone was funneling out the front gates. The voice on the loud speaker spoke in English and I learned there would be a presentation of sorts. Everyone was crammed against the exit, stopping immediately to see the traditional guards. I followed a semicircular path around the crowd to a fron row seat of to the right. Then, by miracle, one of the palace workers called people to move in closer, and I got probably the best spot available.
This lasted just long enough for me to make it to the Palace Museum for 2:30pm. Only to discover there was no English tour during the holidays. Oh well. I opted to do the whole tour another day.
I left to walk around Seoul with a delicious stick of meat and a smile on my face.
I think I found the embassies of the US, Finland, Romania and Australia. I thought I had found Canada's, but it turned out to be the Four Seasons Hotel. I did some exploring, signed a petition, took some pictures, and found some heavily guarded government buildings (that I did not take pictures of). All and all, a busy day. Over 15,000 fitbit steps later I'm happy to be lying down.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Knowledge Bump at the Museum
I am spending Chuseok being a tourist. I am such an obvious tourist, it might as well be a Halloween costume. I even had my Korean phrasebook on my lap while I rode the train into Seoul.
It takes about an hour or so from Ansan to get to Seoul. However, the bulk of the journey is above ground and quite scenic, so no complaints here.
When I got off at my stop I could already tell things were different, there were way more foreigners, which is crazy because this wasn't even Itaewon.
Also interesting: there was hardly any people. For a city as large as Seoul you would expect a flood of people. I'm told that this is because Chuseok is meant to be spent in the countryside, away from the city, probably more like what Michelle tells me about Swedish midsummer. So, I had everything to myself.
After a bit of a leisurely walk to explore and have a bite to eat I honed in on my target: The National Museum of Korea. Not everyone's idea of a fun time, but! I enjoyed the National Museum of Hong Kong and the National Museum of Singapore and I figured let's see how this goes. Plus, it was guaranteed to be open despite the holiday and admission is free.
I caught a guided tour for an hour provided by the museum in English. I will now share with you some cool things I learned on the tour.
The first exhibit we went to was about the tomb of a king from one of Korea's earliest dynasties. They had some artifacts from the tomb, but not many and little hope to get anymore. This is because the tomb is just outside of Pyongyang. It is a UNESCO world heritage site but it's believed to be in pretty rough shape for obvious reasons. Instead the museum houses exact replica paintings of what the walls of the tomb looked like. Those paintings were done awhile ago, so it's expected to have deteriorated further.
This site is of Korean heritage, but it is claimed by North Korea. Perhaps even more unfortunate are the Korean heritage sites claimed by China and Japan since borders have fluctuated over time.
It takes about an hour or so from Ansan to get to Seoul. However, the bulk of the journey is above ground and quite scenic, so no complaints here.
When I got off at my stop I could already tell things were different, there were way more foreigners, which is crazy because this wasn't even Itaewon.
Also interesting: there was hardly any people. For a city as large as Seoul you would expect a flood of people. I'm told that this is because Chuseok is meant to be spent in the countryside, away from the city, probably more like what Michelle tells me about Swedish midsummer. So, I had everything to myself.
After a bit of a leisurely walk to explore and have a bite to eat I honed in on my target: The National Museum of Korea. Not everyone's idea of a fun time, but! I enjoyed the National Museum of Hong Kong and the National Museum of Singapore and I figured let's see how this goes. Plus, it was guaranteed to be open despite the holiday and admission is free.
I caught a guided tour for an hour provided by the museum in English. I will now share with you some cool things I learned on the tour.
The first exhibit we went to was about the tomb of a king from one of Korea's earliest dynasties. They had some artifacts from the tomb, but not many and little hope to get anymore. This is because the tomb is just outside of Pyongyang. It is a UNESCO world heritage site but it's believed to be in pretty rough shape for obvious reasons. Instead the museum houses exact replica paintings of what the walls of the tomb looked like. Those paintings were done awhile ago, so it's expected to have deteriorated further.
This site is of Korean heritage, but it is claimed by North Korea. Perhaps even more unfortunate are the Korean heritage sites claimed by China and Japan since borders have fluctuated over time.
In other forms of Buddhism, such as Japanese, the Buddha has a stern face. In Korean Buddhism they see him more as a jolly-father type, all Korean Buddha's have a least a little smile.
Since Buddha was a teacher some of his hand signs are actually grades for your learning.
The bump on his head is for extra knowledge, unlike this hairstyle.
I also rented a headset to get some audio while I walked around the other exhibits. It was a really cool way to spend the day indoors!
Tomorrow there may or may not be a Chuseok dinner for the teachers at the director's home. I'm looking at another area in Seoul that has some more cool museums for tomorrow, or I may possibly try and find this Jjimjibong fabled to be in Ansan and chill out there until dinner. We'll see!
Chuseok Tuesday
This Tuesday was a Friday, the last day before the long weekend. A weekend so long I spent most of Sunday planning what to do.
Three cool things about today:
1. We all got dressed up in traditional Korean clothes for Chuseok. Mine was like a hospital gown: it left my Bum out. One of my students hid in my dress.
2. The students made songpyeon. Traditionally this is a treat made from glutinous rice with sesame seeds and honey in the middle. But the one the students made had raisins instead -and we're also at least 5% booger. The kids made them, but then we swapped them out with some that were made in line with food safe. They will never know the difference. Except possibly the girl who claims to have made one in the shape of a Pikachu.
3. We also played some games with the kids including Tug-of-war! The last round was teachers vs students. I asked quietly if we were going to let them win -NO! But, with some help from one of the Korean teachers, the children overpowered us. Definitely a better ending than watching them all topple directly onto their faces as I assumed would happen.
4. The director gave us wine and cool chuseok snacks! Her and I left in the afternoon for the immigration office and, good news, my card will arrive on the fourth of October -the day the new teachers should arrive. I asked her when I would be moving to the new apartment. "mmm, maybe end of this month or beginning of next?" I jokingly said "Why not the fourth of October? Get it all out of the way". I hope my joking about it means it won't actually happen -not all on the same day.
5. We went out for a BBQ pork dinner after school. Where they used an honest-to-god flamethrower to cook the meat -incredible.
Looking forward to Chuseok!
Three cool things about today:
1. We all got dressed up in traditional Korean clothes for Chuseok. Mine was like a hospital gown: it left my Bum out. One of my students hid in my dress.
2. The students made songpyeon. Traditionally this is a treat made from glutinous rice with sesame seeds and honey in the middle. But the one the students made had raisins instead -and we're also at least 5% booger. The kids made them, but then we swapped them out with some that were made in line with food safe. They will never know the difference. Except possibly the girl who claims to have made one in the shape of a Pikachu.
3. We also played some games with the kids including Tug-of-war! The last round was teachers vs students. I asked quietly if we were going to let them win -NO! But, with some help from one of the Korean teachers, the children overpowered us. Definitely a better ending than watching them all topple directly onto their faces as I assumed would happen.
4. The director gave us wine and cool chuseok snacks! Her and I left in the afternoon for the immigration office and, good news, my card will arrive on the fourth of October -the day the new teachers should arrive. I asked her when I would be moving to the new apartment. "mmm, maybe end of this month or beginning of next?" I jokingly said "Why not the fourth of October? Get it all out of the way". I hope my joking about it means it won't actually happen -not all on the same day.
5. We went out for a BBQ pork dinner after school. Where they used an honest-to-god flamethrower to cook the meat -incredible.
Looking forward to Chuseok!
Monday, September 12, 2016
Top Three for an Easy Monday
What an easy Monday. It's basically already Thursday, maybe even Friday! I only teach three classes tomorrow, and there's a big party for Chuseok going on too! I'm actually leaving early with the director to go submit my application for my alien residency card at the end of the day.
Today had some interesting moments. Here's my top three:
1.Went out for a delicious Japanese-Korean fusion meal after work. It was amazing. Especially after having the girls in my oldest class talked about how good fried chicken is and how badly they want it.
2. Three more perfect marks on the vocabulary test today for the class who does actions for each word. This unit featured 'chew', closing and opening your mouth showing teeth, 'fetch', throwing an imaginary ball, 'coat', putting on a fake coat, 'canned', opening a can, 'mammal', miming a pregnant belly, and more.
3.Witnessed the beautiful irony of a student deck out with a "New York" branded hat and shirt come across the word "New York" in a book and find himself struggling and come up with "New Ort"
Today had some interesting moments. Here's my top three:
1.Went out for a delicious Japanese-Korean fusion meal after work. It was amazing. Especially after having the girls in my oldest class talked about how good fried chicken is and how badly they want it.
2. Three more perfect marks on the vocabulary test today for the class who does actions for each word. This unit featured 'chew', closing and opening your mouth showing teeth, 'fetch', throwing an imaginary ball, 'coat', putting on a fake coat, 'canned', opening a can, 'mammal', miming a pregnant belly, and more.
3.Witnessed the beautiful irony of a student deck out with a "New York" branded hat and shirt come across the word "New York" in a book and find himself struggling and come up with "New Ort"
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Lazy Day Planning
I took this Sunday as a total day of rest. Not that I need it, I got to work Monday and Tuesday then the weekend starts for Chuseok -basically Korean Thanksgiving.
I spent most of today attending to chores and researching cool things to do during the holiday. Thus, not much interesting happened for me today. I still feel obliged to put up a blog on something.
So here is a photo of a building in my neighbourhood. If this is a Rich Ville, I wonder how much the 'e' must cost.
I spent most of today attending to chores and researching cool things to do during the holiday. Thus, not much interesting happened for me today. I still feel obliged to put up a blog on something.
So here is a photo of a building in my neighbourhood. If this is a Rich Ville, I wonder how much the 'e' must cost.
I'm told the building I'm moving into is also a 'vill' of something. It appears to be trendy. There's also a Human Vill in the neighbourhood. I'm looking for one that's just called 'E vill' -I bet it's out there somewhere.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Curious Festival Goer
Today was supposed to be my productive day. I was going to do laundry, fix some things, stay in, and take the garbage out. Instead I got stopped at number one since I was out of laundry soap.
And I'm so glad I was.
I walked a weird new route back to Homeplus passing universities, mega churches, and even the park where the students went bike riding on Thursday!
I probably take four to five times longer to shop for anything in this country. Even though Homeplus has some English signs. After awkwardly through the adult diapers aisle multiple time I never did find garbage bags. I was lucky enough to have the checkout attendant who did speak English! I tried to memorise her face as to always come back to her till.
I was about to starting heading back when I heard music from the street, but not just any music -death metal. The death metal band was also a Beatles cover band, possibly the strangest mix of music to come across. Had it not been for the dark cover of 'Come Together' I probably would have wound up in the middle of this street festival.
I visited some of the other stages where I saw a school play, a ukulele band, traditional dancing, a K-pop boy band, and -my personal favourite- a group of retirees decked out with green sequin vests playing the harmonica. There were probably 200 different booths with everything from make your own cake, to computer parts, and even one booth that seemed to just sell fancy mushrooms.
It was a great day for going out and getting distracted, maybe a bit on the hot side.
On my walk back I paid close attention to garbage bags, and I learned that I did in fact see them. They were just really expensive. As I experienced in Sioux Lookout you pay for garbage pick-up by purchasing a sticker -or in this case a special bag. Regular bags probably just don't get picked up? I don't know, it feels like there is always garbage waiting to be picked up outside my apartment. Maybe those are the same bags that I've been looking at every time. I probably will save my memories for the English-speaking cashier and not the details of garbage bags.
And I'm so glad I was.
I walked a weird new route back to Homeplus passing universities, mega churches, and even the park where the students went bike riding on Thursday!
I probably take four to five times longer to shop for anything in this country. Even though Homeplus has some English signs. After awkwardly through the adult diapers aisle multiple time I never did find garbage bags. I was lucky enough to have the checkout attendant who did speak English! I tried to memorise her face as to always come back to her till.
I was about to starting heading back when I heard music from the street, but not just any music -death metal. The death metal band was also a Beatles cover band, possibly the strangest mix of music to come across. Had it not been for the dark cover of 'Come Together' I probably would have wound up in the middle of this street festival.
I visited some of the other stages where I saw a school play, a ukulele band, traditional dancing, a K-pop boy band, and -my personal favourite- a group of retirees decked out with green sequin vests playing the harmonica. There were probably 200 different booths with everything from make your own cake, to computer parts, and even one booth that seemed to just sell fancy mushrooms.
It was a great day for going out and getting distracted, maybe a bit on the hot side.
On my walk back I paid close attention to garbage bags, and I learned that I did in fact see them. They were just really expensive. As I experienced in Sioux Lookout you pay for garbage pick-up by purchasing a sticker -or in this case a special bag. Regular bags probably just don't get picked up? I don't know, it feels like there is always garbage waiting to be picked up outside my apartment. Maybe those are the same bags that I've been looking at every time. I probably will save my memories for the English-speaking cashier and not the details of garbage bags.
Friday, September 9, 2016
Welcome Dinner
The highlight of today had to be the welcome dinner for myself and another teacher who came a week after me.
The school director took us all out for Korean barbeque -it was amazing. We had cold glasses of soju brought to our busy table. We cooked perfectly thin marinate pieces of the softest beef I've ever eaten. Finishing with rice and soup. All the while talking about school and the kids and even sharing face-swaps.
Afterwards, the other foreign teachers (who, I'm told by the Korean teachers, are sometimes mistakenly referred to as 'boring teachers' because of pronunciation difficulties) took me to what could be considered 'downtown Ansan' -to the arcade.
It was really busy all around the arcades! And some of the games we played were totally wild. The first one was a game where you raced crawling babies. One involved many mini games such as catching a cellphone before it drops, taking photos of the woman on stage(not the mushroom or the seahorse), picking a pineapple and not a grenade, and other weird, awesome things. We ended up at a shooting range on the street as well. The prizes shall hang in my room.
Finally we wrapped up the day at the bar and took the train home. Good full day -busy from 6:00am to 1:00am. I'm really at my best when I'm busy so this has been wonderful. Now the weekend awaits, hopefully I can keep being this productive!
The school director took us all out for Korean barbeque -it was amazing. We had cold glasses of soju brought to our busy table. We cooked perfectly thin marinate pieces of the softest beef I've ever eaten. Finishing with rice and soup. All the while talking about school and the kids and even sharing face-swaps.
Afterwards, the other foreign teachers (who, I'm told by the Korean teachers, are sometimes mistakenly referred to as 'boring teachers' because of pronunciation difficulties) took me to what could be considered 'downtown Ansan' -to the arcade.
It was really busy all around the arcades! And some of the games we played were totally wild. The first one was a game where you raced crawling babies. One involved many mini games such as catching a cellphone before it drops, taking photos of the woman on stage(not the mushroom or the seahorse), picking a pineapple and not a grenade, and other weird, awesome things. We ended up at a shooting range on the street as well. The prizes shall hang in my room.
Finally we wrapped up the day at the bar and took the train home. Good full day -busy from 6:00am to 1:00am. I'm really at my best when I'm busy so this has been wonderful. Now the weekend awaits, hopefully I can keep being this productive!
Bicycles and False Intimidation
The morning with the kindergarten kids was short an easy since the first two classes were eaten up as a part of our field trip to learn about bike safety.
We went back to the same facility where we learned about road safety to do some bike safety. Again, the first part was a presentation held entirely in Korean, ad this time the foreign teachers couldn't escape to ride the bikes. They were Frozen branded bikes that looked like they may be crushed like an aluminum can under our weight. Then there were the plastic tricycles that had arm rests, so you couldn't even physically fit in one unless you we're a child. I'm a bit thankful we stayed away from the bikes since it would've made the whole concept of bike safety look bad if teachers were just off flipping tiny bikes without helmets in the background of the presentation.
The kids took turns cycling around a track meant to replicate real roads. They had street lights, crosswalks, parks, almost everything. What they were missing was actual cars (for safety, I'm sure). Cars in Korea area bit interesting for a couple reasons, most notably they park everywhere, everywhere. Not just the sidewalk/grass parking I saw in Australia, but along the curved curbs in intersections ;thus enhancing blind spots. They line alley ways creating a maze formation for other drivers. In fact it is so tight in these alleys that drivers stick bits of foam on the sides of their cars to stop from being swiped up against.
So, really none of these kids are ready to handle the streets yet.
The highlight of the afternoon was actually just a relief.
The last classes of the day there is only one class of students at the school. Originally there was one class of 6 and one of 4, but scheduling changed it in one class of 10. Now the three foreign teachers take turns teaching that class. So two will finish teaching at 4pm and one will keep going until 6:30pm -tonight that was me.
The class was all high school age boys, and they weren't exactly easy to work with. I figured I got lucky since there were only 6 students in the class, the trouble makers must have been sick.
After the second class I learned that 4 students had dropped out s there actually were only 6 students. All three classes went really well. It's like I won the lottery or something.
We went back to the same facility where we learned about road safety to do some bike safety. Again, the first part was a presentation held entirely in Korean, ad this time the foreign teachers couldn't escape to ride the bikes. They were Frozen branded bikes that looked like they may be crushed like an aluminum can under our weight. Then there were the plastic tricycles that had arm rests, so you couldn't even physically fit in one unless you we're a child. I'm a bit thankful we stayed away from the bikes since it would've made the whole concept of bike safety look bad if teachers were just off flipping tiny bikes without helmets in the background of the presentation.
The kids took turns cycling around a track meant to replicate real roads. They had street lights, crosswalks, parks, almost everything. What they were missing was actual cars (for safety, I'm sure). Cars in Korea area bit interesting for a couple reasons, most notably they park everywhere, everywhere. Not just the sidewalk/grass parking I saw in Australia, but along the curved curbs in intersections ;thus enhancing blind spots. They line alley ways creating a maze formation for other drivers. In fact it is so tight in these alleys that drivers stick bits of foam on the sides of their cars to stop from being swiped up against.
So, really none of these kids are ready to handle the streets yet.
The highlight of the afternoon was actually just a relief.
The last classes of the day there is only one class of students at the school. Originally there was one class of 6 and one of 4, but scheduling changed it in one class of 10. Now the three foreign teachers take turns teaching that class. So two will finish teaching at 4pm and one will keep going until 6:30pm -tonight that was me.
The class was all high school age boys, and they weren't exactly easy to work with. I figured I got lucky since there were only 6 students in the class, the trouble makers must have been sick.
After the second class I learned that 4 students had dropped out s there actually were only 6 students. All three classes went really well. It's like I won the lottery or something.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Dodge Ball and Testing
Much of today was in line with the usual routine, but some parts of the usual routine are quite fascinating.
The "gym" class runs every Wednesday and Friday in the library. The library? Well, the shelves are flush against the wall leaving a big own carpeted space. Here is where we play dodge ball.
Balls are place on the top of mats in the centre of the room for teams to run to on our command. The kids playing have very little hand-eye coordination, so the results are always hilarious. Inevitably one team ends up being stronger than the other. When one team is getting destroyed a teach comes in to play for the losing team -but today was different.
But teams were almost perfectly matched. 6-6, 5-5, 4-4 .. until it came down to 1-1 and neither play could hit or be hit. We turned it into a sudden death round. Unless you caught the ball or picked it up off the groud a ball touching you would mean you're out. It ended pretty quickly after that.
Later in the day my older class went to do their vocabulary test. This was the class that got really into the action games and started yelling out the word -my proudest teaching moment yet. I'm pleased to say that 3 out of 5 students got perfect marks. We can expect good things from them.
The "gym" class runs every Wednesday and Friday in the library. The library? Well, the shelves are flush against the wall leaving a big own carpeted space. Here is where we play dodge ball.
Balls are place on the top of mats in the centre of the room for teams to run to on our command. The kids playing have very little hand-eye coordination, so the results are always hilarious. Inevitably one team ends up being stronger than the other. When one team is getting destroyed a teach comes in to play for the losing team -but today was different.
But teams were almost perfectly matched. 6-6, 5-5, 4-4 .. until it came down to 1-1 and neither play could hit or be hit. We turned it into a sudden death round. Unless you caught the ball or picked it up off the groud a ball touching you would mean you're out. It ended pretty quickly after that.
Later in the day my older class went to do their vocabulary test. This was the class that got really into the action games and started yelling out the word -my proudest teaching moment yet. I'm pleased to say that 3 out of 5 students got perfect marks. We can expect good things from them.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
My Democracy and my Dictatorship
Possibly the most entertaining part of today was teaching social studies to my older classes. Each class does the same lesson. The first class was older, but only started English recently. The second was younger, but quite experienced with English.
We were going over rules, laws and voting. The text said that sometimes people vote on what rules should become law. So I put it to the test. In each class I called on whoever had been the most disruptive and said "Should _____ sing for us? Hands up for yes. Hands up for no." I tallied the results on the board. The kids in both classes were kind and no one sang.
Next I picked two or three under performing students and asked the class if I should give them a star. This is the currency of the school, after 50 stars a student receives a gift from the director. "Should we give _____ and _____ a star??" In both classes they voted yes. Then I gave them a star. Only in my second class did one student say "But that's not fair." "Yes, but why did you vote for it." They all kind of laughed because now it was too late.
The last one was the best. "We should make a class rule that we vote on important things. Hands up for yes. Now hands up for no". Here's where the difference showed up.
The first class, which was more competitive, and less cohesive voted overwhelmingly against this. So I remain the dictator of the classroom. The second class was unanimously in favour of voting! Now I have a democracy too! But, I still set the agenda. We voted whether we would play hangman at the end of class; 7-1 in favour of hangman. I'm curious to see where this goes.
We were going over rules, laws and voting. The text said that sometimes people vote on what rules should become law. So I put it to the test. In each class I called on whoever had been the most disruptive and said "Should _____ sing for us? Hands up for yes. Hands up for no." I tallied the results on the board. The kids in both classes were kind and no one sang.
Next I picked two or three under performing students and asked the class if I should give them a star. This is the currency of the school, after 50 stars a student receives a gift from the director. "Should we give _____ and _____ a star??" In both classes they voted yes. Then I gave them a star. Only in my second class did one student say "But that's not fair." "Yes, but why did you vote for it." They all kind of laughed because now it was too late.
The last one was the best. "We should make a class rule that we vote on important things. Hands up for yes. Now hands up for no". Here's where the difference showed up.
The first class, which was more competitive, and less cohesive voted overwhelmingly against this. So I remain the dictator of the classroom. The second class was unanimously in favour of voting! Now I have a democracy too! But, I still set the agenda. We voted whether we would play hangman at the end of class; 7-1 in favour of hangman. I'm curious to see where this goes.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Road Safety
The most significant part of today was the most significant part of any school day I experienced as a child: a field trip day.
This was far from the Magic School Bus though, and I need to level up many more times until I can even aspire to be Ms. Frizzle. The field trip today was all about road safety.
Now much like the health centre field trip from my first day, this facility appears to exist for the sole purpose of field trips. I recall road safety being part of say, a police station tour. This was an educational facility for school children about road safety, period. Nothing else happens at this building.
The children were first ushered into a movie theatre for ...well, I have no idea. It was in Korean so the other foreign teachers and I left the theatre (apparently this was what happens every year). We actually found little racing pods like you would find at an arcade. Each one running Gran Turismo 4
for Playstation 2. How will that teach road safety? All the cars are set to move insanely slow. The fastest mine got up to was 104 km/h, but mostly they drop at 60-70km/h. The kids exited only to catch a row of foreign teachers getting frustrated at slow virtual cars.
They practiced exciting activity like: crossing the road, looking both ways, exiting a bus, wearing a helmet. But none were as exciting as watching them learn to call emergency numbers (119, 112). I'm sure right now, in an apartment in Ansan one of them is speaking to the operator about how their brother pushed them. The translated dialogue goes something like this:
Student: Hello
Operator: Hello, what is your emergency
Student: My friend is hurt
Operator: Where is he hurt?
Student: On the knee
Operator: Where are you?
Student: The park
Operator: We're on our way
The park. You know, the park. THE park. That one. Yeah, come check on his knee.
My students were not sure whether their favourite part was the driving slow cars or the phone call. I enjoyed the whole thing in my own weird way.
This was far from the Magic School Bus though, and I need to level up many more times until I can even aspire to be Ms. Frizzle. The field trip today was all about road safety.
Now much like the health centre field trip from my first day, this facility appears to exist for the sole purpose of field trips. I recall road safety being part of say, a police station tour. This was an educational facility for school children about road safety, period. Nothing else happens at this building.
The children were first ushered into a movie theatre for ...well, I have no idea. It was in Korean so the other foreign teachers and I left the theatre (apparently this was what happens every year). We actually found little racing pods like you would find at an arcade. Each one running Gran Turismo 4
for Playstation 2. How will that teach road safety? All the cars are set to move insanely slow. The fastest mine got up to was 104 km/h, but mostly they drop at 60-70km/h. The kids exited only to catch a row of foreign teachers getting frustrated at slow virtual cars.
They practiced exciting activity like: crossing the road, looking both ways, exiting a bus, wearing a helmet. But none were as exciting as watching them learn to call emergency numbers (119, 112). I'm sure right now, in an apartment in Ansan one of them is speaking to the operator about how their brother pushed them. The translated dialogue goes something like this:
Student: Hello
Operator: Hello, what is your emergency
Student: My friend is hurt
Operator: Where is he hurt?
Student: On the knee
Operator: Where are you?
Student: The park
Operator: We're on our way
The park. You know, the park. THE park. That one. Yeah, come check on his knee.
My students were not sure whether their favourite part was the driving slow cars or the phone call. I enjoyed the whole thing in my own weird way.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Hiking on 스리산
Today was unbelievable. Multiple times throughout today I thought -today's blog will be the best one yet.
I was committed to hiking up Surisan Mountain today. Yesterday I solved my money problem, now I can finally have some fun. I had read so many articles about different hikes and station to get off at that I figured it was better to just go suss it out for myself. I bought a snack and a bottle of water and headed off. I had a choice between two train stations to walk to in order to get to the trail head. I decided to walk to the one I hadn't been to since I ought to develop a better sense of place. But I got lost, which was a bad omen. Getting lost on the way to hiking in the mountains is a red flag.
Instead I wound up at the other station. Whatever, I'll still get to the right stop.
I loaded up my new transit card and got on the train. I was carefully decoding the Korean to find my stop when I noticed the English translations on everything -everything. So no problem getting to the right stop.
This was the map. Please note that based on my experience, the height of this mountain is obscenely exaggerated in this picture.
The trail began simply enough. Looked like it might even take me to the Wizard of Oz.
And it was hot and humid. So I took a nap on a cold rock half way up to refresh myself. And I'm so glad I did because of what happened next.
I made it to a staircase. Feeling a little tired I stopped to let the woman behind me pass and figure I should take a photo. Seeing me, she offered to take my photo. Not in English, but in Korean with gestures. This is that photo.
We got cleaned up from the hike. There were these spray guns that just sprayed air really fast that you could use to brush dirt of you, but also dry sweat -brilliant.
Then we bought some apples out of the back of a truck, and I asked Eun Hi about getting to the train station. She nodded her head after I showed her the sentence in the book. They walked over to Ansunbu's car and opened the door for me. Only looked back on it do I realize this could've been a very easy kidnapping. But these people were nothing but kind and wonderful to me.
Now you probably think that were going to the train station, but we're not.
They took me to a train museum! Not because of miscommunication but because there was a festival there! I remember mum once trying to explain 'those Korean dancers with the hats, you know' *rolls head*. Here they are...
I was committed to hiking up Surisan Mountain today. Yesterday I solved my money problem, now I can finally have some fun. I had read so many articles about different hikes and station to get off at that I figured it was better to just go suss it out for myself. I bought a snack and a bottle of water and headed off. I had a choice between two train stations to walk to in order to get to the trail head. I decided to walk to the one I hadn't been to since I ought to develop a better sense of place. But I got lost, which was a bad omen. Getting lost on the way to hiking in the mountains is a red flag.
Instead I wound up at the other station. Whatever, I'll still get to the right stop.
I loaded up my new transit card and got on the train. I was carefully decoding the Korean to find my stop when I noticed the English translations on everything -everything. So no problem getting to the right stop.
This was the map. Please note that based on my experience, the height of this mountain is obscenely exaggerated in this picture.
The trail began simply enough. Looked like it might even take me to the Wizard of Oz.
One of the first things I noticed was this trail was carpeted. That is a woven carpet on the right hand side, and it continued that way for most of my journey. Seems a little easy when there's carpeting, but it doesn't end there! Don't worry about bugs because many of the trees are wrapped in fly paper to take care of anything that wants to buzz in your face!
Better yet, take a look at the dangerous wild life. They were everywhere...
The first peak was supposed to have a Korean flag on it, and the second had a Buddhist shrine. I have no idea because I never made it to these peaks. Odd, since I hadn't seen a lot of other options for trails. Eventually I just started following the direction where most people were going to and from. It wasn't hard since the trail was actually quite busy.
Then I got to the bit that reminded me of the Grouse Grind. Already I was being to feel like the kind of hiker I used to shake my head at. I was new, I didn't speak the language, I read about this online, I probably wasn't following Korean hiker etiquette, and I wasn't reading the signs. Here is when the trail got steep.
And it was hot and humid. So I took a nap on a cold rock half way up to refresh myself. And I'm so glad I did because of what happened next.
I made it to a staircase. Feeling a little tired I stopped to let the woman behind me pass and figure I should take a photo. Seeing me, she offered to take my photo. Not in English, but in Korean with gestures. This is that photo.
Next flight of stairs she offers to take my photo again. Then starts talking to me. But in this mix of Korean, gestures, laughing and the occasional word of English. The message I got was "little girl", "Toronto" "3". I'm assuming she spent 3 years in Toronto as a little girl, it could've been 3 months, days, maybe even a 3 hour layover -no idea.
I follow her up past the stairs and the trail splits into two. She seems to be telling me something about where the go, but I have no idea I just keep laughing and miming. The only Korean I've been able to say to her so far is a half hearted 'kamsahamnida' (thank you) for taking my picture and a 'Nae' (yes) when she asked me to reposition myself for another photo.
Before the trail continues she passes me one of her two hiking poles. Now I have to follow her. At this point I'm a bit embarrassed about how little Korean I know, and I could seem to get across that I have only been here for ten days.
She continues on to take more photos...
With our broken communication I eventually learned she hikes in these mountains every week. Then I began to see her enthusiasm to guide me is kind of like many of the hikers I met at Grouse Mountain. There should be a stereotype about friendly hikers -because their just nice people.
She takes me off to the side to show me a place that -I think- she likes to have coffee and watch the sunrise. We take some pictures and she whips out the coffee, a peach, and some cooked purple potatoes! She invites me to share with her. So now were having a picnic.
I'm so thankful I brought along a Korean phrase book that we used to communication. Her name is Eun Hi, she grew up in the country and finds it boring, now she lives in Gunpo and hikes every week. She asked about where I lived, if I was a teacher, how long I would be staying in Korea, if I did much hiking in Canada and we talked about our favourite food and drinks.
Our communication had improved and she taught me little words along the way. I wish I had helped her a bit more, I'm pretty sure she was using the word 'kibble' to refer to all food, but I could be wrong. That peach was good kibble though.
She point out at the mountain range ahead of us and said "3" and pointed at her watch. "So it will take up three hours to get down?" At this point I was going to have to follow her. From out lunch spot we could see the peaks I was supposed to go and Ansan would be on the other side of that. I knew if I went down on any side the park was surrounded by the train tracks and I could easily get home from there. She was consistently nice to me, always laughing and smiling -finally I made a friend.
I followed her down the mountain and she told about the Buddhist temple nearby and the different flowers. She kept pointing at her watch saying three. "How is it still three hours to go? The ground is almost flat!" I thought to myself.
But then when we neared the bottom, a beautiful park setting with hikers resting on benches, she started to yell to her friend. She told me he was an "old woman" which had to be wrong so when I met him I used the phrasebook to ask "is this your husband?" ...after a lot of laughter, it appears no, that was not her husband. The were "mountain friends". He had been waiting, since they were supposed to meet at 3pm, duh.
I talked a bit to my new mountain friend, Ansunbu. He has a brother working as a dentist in Canada. I think, again, English is not so widely spoken here.
I talked a bit to my new mountain friend, Ansunbu. He has a brother working as a dentist in Canada. I think, again, English is not so widely spoken here.
We got cleaned up from the hike. There were these spray guns that just sprayed air really fast that you could use to brush dirt of you, but also dry sweat -brilliant.
Then we bought some apples out of the back of a truck, and I asked Eun Hi about getting to the train station. She nodded her head after I showed her the sentence in the book. They walked over to Ansunbu's car and opened the door for me. Only looked back on it do I realize this could've been a very easy kidnapping. But these people were nothing but kind and wonderful to me.
Now you probably think that were going to the train station, but we're not.
They took me to a train museum! Not because of miscommunication but because there was a festival there! I remember mum once trying to explain 'those Korean dancers with the hats, you know' *rolls head*. Here they are...
From there we went around this beautiful lake, which I can't seem to locate on a map, taking even more photos. These are my favourites...
Eun Hi
Ansunbu
It gets better. We went for dinner in a traditional restaurant over looking the lake. Here's the view.
I can't begin to express how kind these two were to me given that I could only barely choke out a couple Korean sentences and probably only correctly answered a quarter of their questions. When Eun Hi wanted to look at my photos and sa my phone battery was dying, she actually got a charger from the restaurant staff.
In the phrasebook Ansunbu must've gone through every page trying to find the word for the food they had ordered. He said chicken at one point, in English. So when the dish came and I saw chicken in it, I asked "chicken", they both laughed and he said "No". Then Eun Hi begins to quack and I go "Oh duck!" or as I'm told 'ori'.
So we had duck and rice and kimchi. What I particuarily like is there was no salt on anything. Instead you were given a small bowl with salt so you could add as much as you like!
I thanked them profusely for the meal. We had a cup of coffee. Exchanged phone numbers (that could be a difficult call). And they dropped me off a the train station.
I was so delighted at the weirdity, the incredible experiences that come with going with the flow. So many of my favourite travel memories are made this way, by just trusting my instincts, seeing the good in people, and probably cashing in some of my good karma.
I thought back to that time I helped the German couple get on the right bus for Lynn Canyon and I ended up giving them a tour of the park, taking their photos, and helping them get back on the right bus. What goes around comes around.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
A Big Plus
The main journey of the day, before any weekend adventures can happen, was to acquire funds from the bank. Last weekend Kookmin Bank let me down as it was closed on Sunday. So today, a Saturday, I set out to try again.
I didn't use any mapping apps to get there, 100% from memory. I was proud of myself.
I used the atm, failed like every time before, and confidently took my error report upstairs to speak to a teller. Only, no tellers. The doors were closed. Despite Korea's long working hours here I am looking at sealed doors.
I checked my phone to find there were two other Kookmin Banks "nearby"; they didn't say they were open, but the one I was at did say closed. I decided I would go anyways, I would rather make the effort.
The walk was beautiful. I crossed an incredible river lined with gardens and framed by bike paths and stepping stones. I wondered through a park with a shrine, and outdoor gym equipment for public use. The sun came out by the time I got to the bank, it was not nearby. Once again sadly, the bank was closed. I tried the atm to be extra certain, and I'm glad I did -cause it worked.
After walking out of the bank with the kind of confidence that only comes from having money, I suddenly got my bearings. We had gone past this area between picking up my medical results and going to the immigration office. I was recommended to go to Home Plus -or Walmart on steroids. I had planned on getting money today and grocery shopping tomorrow, but seeing as I wound up where I needed to be, I went to Home Plus.
It a multi-level department store, grocery store, furniture store, electronics store and so on. I'm sure shopping here wasn't the cheapest, but it was easy for a foreigner like me. The layout of the store is like any western grocery store and with most of the same products. Most importantly, the checkout wouldn't require any knowledge of Korean.
With a backpack full of groceries, financial confidence, and the direction sense of salmon I return home, not the way I came, but in a loop. I passed through more parks and rivers -I even passed a mega church!
I had planned in my head what to do if I couldn't get money out this weekend, I was going to find a nice local hike to do. I got a recommendation from one of the other teachers and now I will have the freedom to go tomorrow!
I didn't use any mapping apps to get there, 100% from memory. I was proud of myself.
I used the atm, failed like every time before, and confidently took my error report upstairs to speak to a teller. Only, no tellers. The doors were closed. Despite Korea's long working hours here I am looking at sealed doors.
I checked my phone to find there were two other Kookmin Banks "nearby"; they didn't say they were open, but the one I was at did say closed. I decided I would go anyways, I would rather make the effort.
The walk was beautiful. I crossed an incredible river lined with gardens and framed by bike paths and stepping stones. I wondered through a park with a shrine, and outdoor gym equipment for public use. The sun came out by the time I got to the bank, it was not nearby. Once again sadly, the bank was closed. I tried the atm to be extra certain, and I'm glad I did -cause it worked.
After walking out of the bank with the kind of confidence that only comes from having money, I suddenly got my bearings. We had gone past this area between picking up my medical results and going to the immigration office. I was recommended to go to Home Plus -or Walmart on steroids. I had planned on getting money today and grocery shopping tomorrow, but seeing as I wound up where I needed to be, I went to Home Plus.
It a multi-level department store, grocery store, furniture store, electronics store and so on. I'm sure shopping here wasn't the cheapest, but it was easy for a foreigner like me. The layout of the store is like any western grocery store and with most of the same products. Most importantly, the checkout wouldn't require any knowledge of Korean.
With a backpack full of groceries, financial confidence, and the direction sense of salmon I return home, not the way I came, but in a loop. I passed through more parks and rivers -I even passed a mega church!
I had planned in my head what to do if I couldn't get money out this weekend, I was going to find a nice local hike to do. I got a recommendation from one of the other teachers and now I will have the freedom to go tomorrow!
Friday, September 2, 2016
Nicole's Days
Three cool things from today:
1. One of my students had a birthday party today that she has been, not-so-subtly, dropping hints about all week. We all gathered from a group picture of her in a pile presents with cake and trays of fruit and sung happy birthday. Her mother gave a the teachers a special box of 'walnut pies' which were really just walnuts and something like nutella baked inside pancake batter -amazing. The gifts continued throughout the day with orange juice from one mother, and sandwiches to finish the day from another. So I am well fed!
2. I had an awesome teaching moment with some of my older classes today. I was being introduced the website function that makes the tests for the students and I had noticed most questions were fill in the _______, using their vocabulary words. The class I had it quite smart with getting lessons from the book done and reading but they did not test so well. I tried some sample sentences on the board with the vocabulary words but no luck. To get a real picture of these words (already introduced in a story) I drew some goofy pictures on the board. For example, to explain the word row, I drew rows at a movie theatre. The drew students from the classes, one it the front row eating popcorn, one in the second row with his feet on the chair in front, one tossing popcorn at the screen in the third row, one actually watching the movie in the fourth. They loved it. For the words pointed and floppy we had gotten on the topic of unicorns and I drew a unicorn with a horn for pointed and then, based on one of the students ideas, a unicorn with a floppy horn dangling between his eyes. They loved it. We made p actions for all the words. Collar = two hands around your neck, cage = box around your head, straight = arms straight up in the air, curly=one leg curled up two arm curled over, pointed = unicorn horn, floppy = unicorn horn hanging down and many more. I first did the actions and all the students got into calling out the right word. Next they got up and had other students call out. Next class I want to focus on how the know which word to put in the sentence now that I am confident they know exactly what each word means.
3. I had a couple free classes where I finally submitted a bio and a photo to be put up on the school website. I submitted my bio like this:
"Hello, my name is Niki. I am from Canada and I'm so excited to be here. I love travelling, so I completed my university degree in Australia. I like learning and teaching languages. In the past, I taught English to children and adults in Ghana. I'm so happy to be in Ansan teaching at Poly School."
But it got edited to Nicole! They had talked about me as Nicole before I got there so it seems quite ingrained with the staff -the students however have been calling me Niki Teacher which is more important anyways.
1. One of my students had a birthday party today that she has been, not-so-subtly, dropping hints about all week. We all gathered from a group picture of her in a pile presents with cake and trays of fruit and sung happy birthday. Her mother gave a the teachers a special box of 'walnut pies' which were really just walnuts and something like nutella baked inside pancake batter -amazing. The gifts continued throughout the day with orange juice from one mother, and sandwiches to finish the day from another. So I am well fed!
2. I had an awesome teaching moment with some of my older classes today. I was being introduced the website function that makes the tests for the students and I had noticed most questions were fill in the _______, using their vocabulary words. The class I had it quite smart with getting lessons from the book done and reading but they did not test so well. I tried some sample sentences on the board with the vocabulary words but no luck. To get a real picture of these words (already introduced in a story) I drew some goofy pictures on the board. For example, to explain the word row, I drew rows at a movie theatre. The drew students from the classes, one it the front row eating popcorn, one in the second row with his feet on the chair in front, one tossing popcorn at the screen in the third row, one actually watching the movie in the fourth. They loved it. For the words pointed and floppy we had gotten on the topic of unicorns and I drew a unicorn with a horn for pointed and then, based on one of the students ideas, a unicorn with a floppy horn dangling between his eyes. They loved it. We made p actions for all the words. Collar = two hands around your neck, cage = box around your head, straight = arms straight up in the air, curly=one leg curled up two arm curled over, pointed = unicorn horn, floppy = unicorn horn hanging down and many more. I first did the actions and all the students got into calling out the right word. Next they got up and had other students call out. Next class I want to focus on how the know which word to put in the sentence now that I am confident they know exactly what each word means.
3. I had a couple free classes where I finally submitted a bio and a photo to be put up on the school website. I submitted my bio like this:
"Hello, my name is Niki. I am from Canada and I'm so excited to be here. I love travelling, so I completed my university degree in Australia. I like learning and teaching languages. In the past, I taught English to children and adults in Ghana. I'm so happy to be in Ansan teaching at Poly School."
But it got edited to Nicole! They had talked about me as Nicole before I got there so it seems quite ingrained with the staff -the students however have been calling me Niki Teacher which is more important anyways.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Bureaucrazy
Most of today was in line with the regular routine that I'm becoming accustomed to but it started out a little differently.
We went to the immigration office to submit the paperwork for my Alien Resident Card. The office opened at 9:00, we arrived not long after but it was too late. The seats were nearly full with people waiting. The director was told to book the time online instead of waiting. After all we couldn't afford to wait since class begins at 9:50am!
We raced back to the school to start lessons and the rest of the day whizzed by! Now that I'm getting used to everything, I'm really enjoying it. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, and here I am at home now massaging my feet about to sleep very well -and it's great.
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