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.