"International Teachers Are Good-Will Ambassadors, Not Educational Revolutionaries!"

Link to full article.

I came across this article today and it really made me reflect about my experience. Being a first year teacher out of college, there are so many educational ideals floating around in my head. Ideals of how a school should run, how classes should be taught, how proper disciplinary actions should occur, and how communication among and between the various stakeholders should take place. These ideals are especially important for new teachers as we navigate our practice through the stormy waters of our first year. But as I read this I am reminded to take an international perspective. These ideals are my ideals. As Bobrosky rightly puts it, I am "a temporary guest teacher who will soon move on to another adventure." It's easy to be critical. And if I'm really honest with myself I have to believe that criticism goes both ways. I imagine my counterpart Korean teachers think it rather silly to see my posters everywhere, a rich-text environment, and a general bent towards authentic versus formal assessments. So what? So what if my boss decides that hiking up Mt. Sarak San and taking pictures to prove it is a just disciplinary action? So what if some students are disciplined by having to do the duck walk around school ten times? So what if other classrooms are bare? Different strokes for different folks. I used to really struggle with some of these foreign concepts. As foreign as some of these differences may be, that is exactly what they are: foreign. Every culture has its' own set of unique values and traditions. Who am I to make a judgement call? Who am I to criticize? Therefore, I have decided that I will try harder to be less critical the next time I observe something I don't agree with. I will attempt to see the reasons and values beneath seemingly foreign practices and not immediately make a "right or wrong" judgment on it. After all, "An international teacher is a good-will ambassador, not an educational revolutionary!"

Fall Road Races

So I am happy to announce that I've been training and running road races in South Korea. I've realized that the pain I put my body through in Cross/Track in college is not completely wasted. Although 5K's and 10K's are far different than a half mile, I can still feel the remnants of my fitness. I would say the hardest transition to these distances is mental. For the half, you know you can endure any amount of pain and black out at the line in less than 2 minutes. In 10K's, you have up to 40 minutes to think about how much pain you're in. There is a tremendous temptation to slow down to a pace where the pain is bearable.

Anyways, I have now run my first and second 10K road races. They were both extremely fun to compete in. I am so addicted to that nervous feeling before a race. My first race was really unexpected because I was not registered and didn't know I was going to run until the morning of the race. I hadn't got much sleep. That morning I went to the Asics store, which is thankfully in my city, and bought a nice pair of racing flats, hopped on the bus to Yeouido. I barely had time to warm up and stretch by the time I got my racing packet from the organizer of team dirt. Of course, the person whom I was running for was a girl, and the jersey did not fit. So I swapped with someone else. You actually had to wear the red shirts for the Nike+Human 10K Race. I made it to the front and felt pretty good. I just got myself mentally psyched and was excited to be in such light racing flats. During my warm up I felt like I was running on air. The gun went off and so did we. The first couple miles felt like I wasn't even breathing. About this time the lead pack took off and I was in the chase pack by the time we crossed the Han river the first time. While on the bridge, I was humbled when a girl steadily came up to us. I decided to draft her and see if she couldn't drag me out of the chase pack but I couldn't keep up. However, it was good because she helped me and a couple other guys get out of the pack and establish ourselves. On the second bridge, all I remember is trying to catch the guy in front of me. When I did, I decided he was going to be my running partner for the rest of the race. In his mid-thirties, this Korean dude was hauling. So I motioned to the guy in front of us and he got the hint: "let's pick him off." The last 5K was kind of a blur. Very painful. We ended up picking off 5-6 runners in the last 3K. I kinda felt bad for the guy because on the last bridge he motioned to his stomach but I didn't let him slow down. haha. I really needed him with me so he pushed through. On the last K I made a push for one more runner, got him, and realized I might be able to get the next guy too. I caught him with about 600 meters left but right when I came up to him he surged and I was mentally defeated. It was so depressing. It was like he was saving it. After the finish my running buddy ran over and gave me his business card. Don't know where he pulled that out of. But he was pretty cool. We couldn't really communicate, besides the little English he knew. 38:20. Not a great time, but considering I'm inexperienced in this distance, it leaves a lot of room for improvement.

On November 29th, I raced another 10K. That was just this last Sunday. It started and finished at Jamshil Olympic Stadium. Which is way cool because it was where Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson battled for Gold in the 100 meter dash in 1988. Warming up and stretching where they ran, and on the warm up track inside the gate was a really cool feeling. Anyways, this race felt remarkably better in terms of fitness and aerobic capacity. I ran almost exactly the same time as my first 10K, a low 38. I ran by myself for pretty much 7 of the 10 kilometers, which tells me I'm in better shape because last race I needed someone to pull me to clock that time. This race I did it by myself. It was cold and drizzly. It started to rain during the last 5K but I don't think it affected me much. I couldn't find my watch before the race so I had no idea THE WHOLE TIME how fast I was going or what kind of splits I was turning in. Not even at the 5K, which by the way was really unorganized and I ended up losing about 7 seconds. I did feel a slight second wind on the latter half of the race but it was short lived because I was in a lot of pain most of the race. I kept telling myself that during the race I was going to feel really crappy, and at that time I will need to speed up my turnover and get into a rhythm because at that time the pain of going 5:30 pace and 6:00 pace is virtually undetectable. So why not just make myself go faster? The last K was tough. I really had nothing left and was emotionally spent from being alone and not having the chance to pass anyone. Overall I am really happy with this race. The time, blah. I am learning a lot every race and I just need to take each race and use it to build on the next. I have a lot of new things I'm going to try out and we will see how it goes next race!

Koreas Clash in Naval Battle

I thought I would post a significant current event. There has not been any such violence for about 7 years so hopefully this does not develop into anything worse! I attached a map to show how close it was to me. I currently live 12.82 miles from the North border. CLICK TO ENLARGE!

K-Pop

I suppose this wouldn't be a legitimate blog if I didn't make mention of Korean pop music. This is the music you will hear literally everywhere you go. Supermarkets, restaurants, department stores, walking down the street; your students will sing it, your friends will sing it, heck, your boss will even sing it. Because Koreans are fascinated with English, you'll find an English phrase in nearly every song. However, K-Pop is quite transitory by nature. Songs come and go. When a new hit song gets big, you hear it everywhere. You can't get it out of your head. Eventually, you'll feel like shooting yourself in the head to make it go away. But just before that point, a new song will emerge, and the vicious cycle starts once again. I feel like no one is neutral to K-Pop, you either love it, or love to hate it. Currently, 2NE1 (pronounced "21") is really big. I will attach their music video entitled "I don't Care" for your viewing pleasure. But, I must warn, view at your own risk. If you can't understand Korean, the girls are singing about their boyfriends who are seeing other girls, the girls are saying that they have had enough, that they can do better, and that they don't care anymore. But you can probably figure that out anyways. Enjoy :)

A Good Day!

So today I'm correcting my AP Students guided reading questions and the secretary of my school comes in and informs me that the mothers from my OBAMa A class (beginners) have come to visit me. So I clamber out from my pile of papers and stand waiting for Andrew to translate their questions. The main concern they had was that they think I'm not giving enough homework. I'm increasingly finding it challenging to give homework to absolute beginners. I mean, these boys didn't know a word of English a month ago. The mothers wanted their boys to develop faster, naturally. It's funny how parents think learning language is a quick, easy, and painless process. After one month of exposure to a language (4 three hour sessions), they want their boys to be reading juvenile literature. Anyhow, I'm not offended by their concern. In fact, I'm flattered because they think I'm that good of a teacher. They expressed that before, their boys had no desire to learn English. They thought learning English was hard and very boring. But now, in my class, their boys come home saying how much they enjoy learning English. In addition, that they can understand what we are reading. So, the moms were really happy with me and my school. I thought I would comment on my happy day, and also mention that TPRS truly works wonders in the classroom! Cheers

Avoidance

So...I've been avoiding this blog. I haven't written since the beginning of school for a couple of reasons, and so I should state them. First, school has been utterly and overwhelmingly busy. I'm the only licensed teacher among the handful of teachers here, only two of which are full time. As a result, I feel pressure to perform well. Second, so much has happened that I am at a loss as to how to put my experiences in words. Third, I'm not motivated to blog because I mistakenly think it's unimportant. And finally, because I feel torn with what to do with the little free time I have, thus neglecting my blog! Anyways, since I've failed to update my time hitherto, perhaps a snapshot into my daily life will suffice for now.

I'll give you an example of a typical wednesday for me: Alarms sound at 7:40, I pray for grace, roll out of bed, and stumble around getting ready to show up promptly at 8:00. I walk to school, which takes all of 3 minutes, and catch the elevator to the 9th floor. I do the usual awkward bow to the new secretary on my way out the elevator and give a half smile since my face is still half asleep. We acknowledge each others exhaustion. I hockey check any unsuspecting students who have the unfortunate luck of passing me down the hallway in the morning. It's my way of saying good morning and wake up. I turn on the air in my room and set up the computer before grabbing a double espresso with no sugar to push me through the morning. I prep first hour. Then, teach A.P. World, followed by prep depending on if it's a chapel day. Lunch. Next I teach reading and writing 2, followed by middle school geography, and finally reading and writing 3. The international school day is over.

Here begins the after school program which I pretty much singlehandedly operate. My OBAMa A class (One Book A Month) comes in for three straight hours of teaching. I'll note that the A class is the lowest level, so I get these kids coming in with ABSOLUTELY NO ENGLISH, whatsoever! Imagine teaching these poor youngsters for three hours. Conversely, try being 7 years old and sitting though three hours of a foreign language class when all you want to do is play video games at the PC bang. We take breaks. I've advanced the current A class to the Magic Tree House series from the Nate the Great series. Which is unfortunate because I was beginning to really get into Nate the Great.

My class usually starts out with pre-teaching vocabulary on a powerpoint. I accompany the word with numerous pictures, using gestures and simple english to semantically hardwire/drill meaning into their little brains. In the meantime, I make them write the word, Korean notes, or any pictures they may desire to help them remember the words. This takes 15-20. It's fun and the kids love it when it's dark in the room. It "feels" like you're watching a movie. One of my tricks. They also have this weird obsession with waving any part of their little bodies in front of the projector. I suppose I would too if i was 7.

Next I do TPR (Total Physical Response) to get them up and out of there seats. If you are informed on TPRS you can stop reading this paragraph. I basically have them perform actions based on the words we just learned. It's fun and the kids have so much energy. I differentiate with the high achievers by trying to trick them going fast and repeating commands. Eventually I stop modeling the actions and they respond to my vocal instructions only, which shows they understand the meaning. Break time.

I serve up a couple nice slams on the ping pong table to assert my dominance and ten minutes later we're back to begin the book. As I read I make sure to fluctuate my voice because I'm matacognitively aware that I've a bad case of monotone. I'll often stop before the last word in the sentence, while intonating the last word I speak, and they know it's their cue to say the word out loud.

For example, Hiding behind the bushes, Jack and Annie crawled silently to get a better view. "That giraffe has a long neck," 'SAID' _____. "ANNIE!!!!" cries my class who I've brainwashed to be little English learning machines.

It'a an informal assessment that tells me they're listening and paying attention. Plus they like to feel involved and it keeps them on their toes. We read a few chapters until I feel they need a break and I give them an activity. Usually I try to keep them busy so I can focus on the ones that need help. Activities may include, but are not limited to, such things as drawing and coloring a cartoon summary, making a poster, or playing a game. We'll use the cartoons to write a nice summary later on. They love doing crossword puzzles and crisscrosses so I use websites to make those sheets where I just fill in the vocab words. I make it a race to see who can finish first...another differentiation :). Break time.

Usually my boss provides some sort of snack or treat for everyone since it really is more of a business than a school in Korea. So we make the kids happy. Of course, as a teacher I'm more concerned with education. The last segment of this class usually consists of a cloze activity or heading over to the writing lab if the students are capable. Class ends at 6:50.

I now have ten minutes to grab dinner and clean up the tornado that went through my room before the highschooler's come in for TOEFL. I teach two classes and am finally done "teaching" at 9:00pm. I usually stay for awhile longer to organize and prep for thursday. I get home and convince myself I can squeeze in a quick 5 miler before bed. I get back, shower, and perform my sumo-wrestler diet which consists of eating copious amounts of food and then passing out which metabolizes everything into fat while I'm sleeping :). It's a good thing food in Korea is very healthy.

School Field Trip

A lot happened this week!

Where to start?? I guess I'll just start out by saying that this week at GIS International School we went on a three day two night kickoff excursion. I think it was a really smart of my employer to plan this bonding/team building time before the school year got underway. I'll tell you what happened in order from the least important to the most important. First, the trip entailed paintball, ATV riding, and whitewater rafting. I could talk at length for each of those events but for sake of time I will just say it was a good time. I will say that the whitewater rafting was absolutely gorgeous, high stone bluffs on either side of the river with hanging vines and water trickling down the sides. Basically it would be like if pocahauntus and lord of the rings had a baby....it would look like this! Very nice views: aparently kings from the old dynasties used to visit there often.

Anyways, we stayed in American style housing, except for the minute fact that there were no beds and we had to sleep on a hard wood floor. So obviously that was great fun. Between the snoring of an undisclosed person and the hard wood floors I didn't get much sleep.

We played BASKETBALL!!! So there was this ghetto outdoor basketball court, you know the kind where the court is made of dirt and there are random natural obstacles. Unfortunately, breaking a sweat and the concept of basketball was the closest thing I could get to the real thing. I wouldn't describe my students as the most athletic peas in the pod. Anyways, I pretty much enjoyed dominating them.

We stayed in Northeastern South Korea, about 10 minutes from the DMZ. It was really cool to see patrols throughout the weekend. There was constant shell blasts and machine gun fire which was kind of ominous though it was obviously just for practice not the real thing. The last day we actually visited the DMZ. Our bus driver had to navigate through about 3 checkpoint stations with armed guards holding machine guns...that was pretty cool. We finally got to the wall and descended on foot down through one of two North Korean infiltration tunnels built in the 1970's. Apparently the one we trekked was discovered in 1975. Basically the north tunnelled underneath the DMZ in an attempt to invade. It's now heavily guarded and patrolled by the south. So the really cool thing is the tunnel took me under the DMZ and within 500 meters of the nothern entrance. I will say that this tunnel was not dug with North Americans in mind. I had walk the whole mile or so pretty much hunched over to avoid the ceiling.

And finally, the best part of this entire trip was the food. And when I say food I don't mean actual physical food, although it was delicious and in abundance. I feel like I had a huge breakthrough spiritually this weekend. I have always followed John Piper and Chuck Swindoll. I love what they have to say and I really enjoy their preaching. So one thing that has really helped me is listening to their free podcasts through itunes. Before I left for the field trip I downloaded about 8 new sermons and I listened to every one! It was weird, but I just couldn't get enough and I can only describe it as that I was just hungry for the word of God and couldn't get enough. Which is always a good thing, of course, because sometimes one does not always feel so inclined to get in the word, am I right??? So that is a huge praise. And I'm thinking I will need Jesus in abundance as I'm planning this school year and all its' unforseen obstacles. Anyways, listen to John Piper and Chuck Swindoll! "Do it NOWWWW!!!" (in reference to arnold shwarzenegger in predator)

I had two interesting experiences yesterday. The first occurred at Costco, the second while on my run that night.

1. I decided to visit Costco yesterday. It's only two subway stops away and I figured they might have some good deals on western food. So I get there and this Costco literally has 7 floors. Enormous. Anyways, usually when I'm out I just listen to music and get in my zone, it also helps to alleviate the fishbowl effect: Basically Korean's just stare at you. I'm browsing the home section, turn the corner, and what do I see? I see a little boy (age 3?) pissing into a plastic water bottle. Fortunately, I was there just in time to witness his mom shaking it off in the middle of Costco. So as I walked passed I nearly burst out laughing at the "shaking sight." As I walked away I thought to myself, "This is normal in Korea." So now I never leave home without my nalgene.

2. Running in Korea feels like running in a smokey sauna. On a scale of one to hot...it's SO HOT! So I run at night. Koreans are a nocturnal people. They're afraid of getting a tan because it means that you're a poor rice farmer who works in the field all day. But luckily I've found some great running paths and trails around where I live. Koreans love their public park and recreation areas. Every sidewalk and pathway is covered in this soft green matted material. Basically, it's like running in heaven. Or, like that feeling you get when you get a new pair of running shoes. Anyways, it's great for runners. Last night I was running through this park area where there were people doing their typical Korean speed walking. I'm going about 6:40 pace. All of a sudden I hear this pounding come from behind me and immediately realize someone is trying to race me. The only reason I don't think anything of it is because this is not the first time a Korean has tried to race me on my evening run. So I look over my shoulder and this little boy looks up at me with a wild craze in his eyes. Once he passes me he immediately drops from exhaustion. End of story.

Parent Presentation

So today I'm in the middle of teaching and my boss comes in and informs me that I will be giving a presentation to the mothers of my students at noon. The fact that they don't even speak English only scratches the surface of this conundrum. I've always been told that being flexible is an essential attribute for teaching, so I've been trying my hardest to be calm when I'm told to perform without warning. I know my boss understands that in the U.S. we aren't so last minute, but at the same time, we're in Korea. So the good thing about giving a presentation to Korean parents last minute is that as long as you smile and look nice it doesn't matter what you say. They can't understand you anyways. I had a translator field questions for me. It was nice having a lot of visuals in my room, so I could gesture to the pictures and other student work. I guess it went well because they were very happy and kept saying how much fun their kids were having in my class. A few minutes ago my boss came in and said they sent me really expensive cake. It was probably fanciest cake I'd ever eaten (besides maybe at Jon & Suz's wedding). It actually had a couple flakes of real gold in middle to adorn the frosting. We didn't eat the gold. But on the whole, I'm getting used to how Koreans in general are very last minute. It's actually kind of exciting, I get to come to work everyday and not know when I'll have to give a high stakes performance!

Chick Fight

So I had to post this right away while the memory is still fresh in my mind. Just a few minutes ago I was coming back from lunch break with my coworker Thomas and we see this girl fight underway. At this point, both girls (presumably mother Vs. daughter) are rolling on the ground, while it seems the mother has the advantage. Hammering forearms and insults on her daughter while they both scream. Actually, the daughter is the one doing most of the screaming. It's more of a shrill. A constant shrill still echoing in my mind. The funny thing about this kind of situation is that it seems in Korean culture that you kind of mind your own business, even if someone is being molested on the sidewalk. People just turned their heads and walked on by, pretending they were oblivious. The girl was screaming "kill me" in Korean. Hmm. I'm assuming the mother is ashamed of her daughters lifestyle, since she wasn't dressed very modestly. Anyways, not something you see everyday in Korea! On a lighter note, today it is a beautiful sunny day with a slight breeze in Korea, I shall go for a run later!

Hwajeong

I live in a city named Hwajeong. It means "Flower City" in Korean. I know, quite manly. But I'm told it's actually a very beautiful name in Korean. I'm in a northwestern suburb that was created to alleviate the population of Seoul. Hwajeong a small Korean city, yet it's population is approximately that of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I found out rather quickly how few people speak English here. I've decided that there are good and bad elements to this. Good because it forces me to learn Korean and I have job security, bad because it was a nightmare trying to do simple things my first week.

Exhibit A: doing laundry. "Ok, so the button with two chicken scratches over what looks like a temple next to a greater than sign means spin cycle?" WHAT?! Exhibit B: buying food. Supermarkets here have great customer service, almost too good. There is a little Korean lady in practically every isle to help you out. I'm thinking, "great!" As a side note, Koreans are very helpful. They will go to the ends of the earth to help you out. Just be a caucasion, look confused, and stand on a street corner with an open map and you will have a million Koreans trying to help you. Anyways, I learned to pretend that I knew what I was doing so that they would leave me alone. The funny thing about my supermarker encounter was that after explaining it to me and Korean, she proceeded to speak louder thinking I was merely hard of hearing. I've been here 3 days. No matter how loud or clearly you speak Korean, lady, I'm not gonna understand! So finally I just got this surprised look on my face like I had a revelation from above, and that I understood EXACTLY what she was saying. I smiled, nodded, said thankyou. End of conversation. That was a good lesson to learn.

Arrival

Ok, so this is it. I'm here! I'm actually living and teaching in a foreign country. I still wake up every morning, look outside, and get that weird feeling of being somewhere foreign and coming to the realization of where I am. Korea is wonderful. I'll try not to use ambiguous words such as amazing, incredible, and great since they do not aptly describe my experiences here. But that is often the case.

I've actually been here for a little more than a week, so I'll try to recount the main events since then. I arrived at the Seoul/Incheon airport at 5:25pm, grabbed my luggage, went through customs, and called my boss. Exchanging money was easy. 40 minute bus ride = $2. It's funny how exhaustion affects how you view the world. Like being there, but not really. The rolling mountains in the background reminded me of Tuscany in the summer time.

At 11PM I found myself in a supermarket of sorts desperately trying to keep up with a Korean man whom I just met. I made my first official purchase: bed sheets, blanket, pillow, pillowcase. That's all I needed and that's all I wanted.