So it's been less than 4 weeks since I wrapped up the SE Asia backpacking tour. Since then, I've been unpacking my previous life as an ESL instructor in Korea.
They say that it takes 3 weeks to get to know your students. Today was the last day of the 3 weeks, and I am over it.
Week 1 is where you are suppose to set the tone; establish rules, set expectations, and hopefully create some kind of chemistry. Sounds like dating huh?
Week 2 is where you test the waters a bit. Perhaps you'll challenge them to see what they are capable of. Then, even relax a bit to start building that relationship.
Week 3 is where that bond solidifies and everyone understands what you want.
For the rest of the term, you're suppose to build the relationship, challenge them, and have fun doing it.
I'd like to think of myself as a hard working person who in the face of a challenge will challenge back. For some reason I feel like I have lost that feeling and I just don't care anymore. Is it because I left for 3 months realizing the beauty of being my own boss?
So far I have 50/50 good and bad classes. Good means we joke and laugh. When it comes to doing work, it doesn't seem like it because we're having a good time. On the other hand, my bad classes are those where I constantly have discipline problems like speaking too much Korean, not listening to me because they want to be the class clown, or playing with cell phones. Sometimes I just want to collect all their cell phones and give them back at the end of class, but of course that would hurt my student surveys, which mean everything in terms of bonuses. Why should I even care when I don't want to work here anymore? I can't be that bitter. I actually have two bad classes out of six.
Memory Tera Elementary Monday & Friday: These students didn't level up. They are all 6th graders who are too cool for this material. Sadly, they had a boring teacher before me, so therefore, they are boring and don't get my style. I have a student named Jaden and DK who are best friends from their past terms at Chungdahm. They want to be the class clowns and distract all the other students. They think going against what I'm saying is funny. Sophie and Janice never participate and only draw. Arica and Ann are the only two that ever answer and I'm sure the other students don't want to participate because they are intimidated by the brown-nosers. As for the rest of the students, they yawn or they are quiet because of the loud mouths who are more interested in each other than what I have to say.
Birdie Listening Middle School Thursday: These students must be the reject class. They all didn't level up from the last term. In fact, one student named Mickey has been in the same level since my co-worker Ben taught her in his first term --November 2008! Eighty percent of the class never finishes their online homework. Jordan and Peter always speak Korean and always speak when I'm talking because they think they can get a reaction by their quips. Interestingly enough, they have the most extensive knowledge of English vocabulary, yet they choose to speak Korean when their other classmates who don't have that English language arsenal actually try. Emily and Apple (yes, that's her name) seem like they are conducting arts and crafts time in the back. As for the rest of the class, they are too yawning or being eerily quiet because Jordan and Peter are taking too much of my attention.
I'm not the type of teacher to yell. I've already it done it this term. Jaden broke a desk because he wasn't working with his group and decided to find DK and jump on a desk. BOOM! Broken desk equals me screaming at him to get out and me bringing him downstairs. Of course he's smirking only fueling my fire even more. How dare these students smile when I bring them downstairs? I know why. Our office staff gives them lollipops and tells them to try better all with a smile.
My usual form of punishment is the older sister trick. I tell them in front of the class that I need to talk to them during break time or after class. Once outside, I level with them asking them questions like, "So why are we here right now?" Another good one is, "How do you think your behavior makes me feel?" It usually works, but these kinds must be desensitized. They nod in agreement. Then, they go right back to what they were doing. In one instance, I told Jordan that I need to see him during the break and voila! he was being the most attentive student trying to make me think he's actually being good now. Jaden, the clown desk breaker, has even been cleaning up after other kids. These students are smart. I'm not falling for it. At the same time, does it even matter?
They are kids. They didn't choose to come here. They were forced by their parents and the Korean education mentality. Every Korean parent believes that education is number one. They send their kids to after school academies till 10pm and expect their children to ace both school work and academy work in hopes to one day get into SKY (Seoul University, Korea University, or Yonsei University). They are creating and perpetuating the stigma of this elusive idea of "I can get a good job if I learn English."
Slippery Slope is a logical fallacy I teach my kids. It goes like this:
If you fail your Review Test, you will fail Chungdahm.
If you fail Chungdahm, you will not learn English.
If you don't learn English, you will not go to a good university.
If you don't go to a good university, you will not get a good job.
If you don't get a good job, you will be poor.
If you are poor, you will die.
Therefore, if you fail this Review Test, you will die (probably by your mother's beatings).
Sometimes I believe this country whole-heartedly believes this logical fallacy. It's upsetting that their time with me maybe their only time away from their mother's glare. Perhaps their time with me is the only time they can be kids because they know I couldn't seriously do anything to them. Either way, I have to remember that they are only kids. They want to play, have fun, joke, be silly etc. and I have to throw in some English in there once in a while while keeping my sanity.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Back to Seoul. Back to Teaching.
*Before I begin this blog, I want to apologize to my followers (I don't mean this in a deistic way). I try to post at least 4 times a month, and I slacked for the last 3 months. I blame my lack of Internet usage and proximity to a computer since I was backpacking.
Week 1 is the toughest week for any teacher to face. For this particular teacher, it was exceptionally tough. First of all, I've been gone for the last 3 months backpacking. If you haven't done it, I urge you to save all your money and do it! Backpacking means that the only worries you have are:
How low can you get ______?
Where is your next destination?
Where are you sleeping tonight?
What day trips are you doing?
What are you going to eat?
Each of these questions takes very little decision making. For instance if you are in Thailand, a "hard decision" would be green curry or pad thai? Another good question would be $7 room with A/C or $5 with fan?
Furthermore, backpacking means hours of laying on a beach, bus, or hotel room. It also means hours of strolling and sightseeing. With all this in mind, you can guess I had it pretty good for the last 3 months. Now that I'm back in Seoul, it is time to work back all that I had spent and let go of all the r & r.
I was lucky enough to have a generous FM that gave me a schedule of 24 hours being shifts of 6 hours per day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I have 4 different classes of which I have already prepped 3 from past terms. Easy enough in my mind. When I actually stepped into the classroom, old habits came into play; arranging desks, writing a welcome message on the board, setting out name tags and take home papers. Each day I had to meet and memorize a new set of students. Besides 2, I had not met or taught any of the other 150. Thankfully, my icebreaker worked. I would make the entire class stand in a circle to play Categories. This game involves passing a ball to the person next to you after you've named an item in the category. Colors: red, blue, yellow etc. If a person repeats an item already said or goes "uhhh", that person is the loser and I can ask them anything I want: "What's your hobby?" "Have you traveled outside of the U.S.?" or my favorite, "Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend?" It's pretty empowering until they decide on categories like Korean companies, singers, or pencil case brands. Eesh! The icebreaker surprisingly went well even with middle schoolers. Afterwards was the hard part; teaching.
It is naturally easier for me to teach middle school students. For some reason, we get a long well. I'd like to think I'm like a big sister or maybe the middle school boys are crushing. Just kidding! So the Eagle and Birdie middle school classes went smoothly. The students listened to me, took notes, and even acted during the end of class project. Surprisingly, memory elementary was the hardest for me to get back into especially since I had trained new instructors in this program. I forgot how much energy it takes to "teacher-tain" the class. Yes, that's a combination of teach + entertain. The responsible and caring part of me also threw in as many grammar lessons as possible to ascertain their level of understanding. This attempt at actually teaching left me with elementary school students yawning during the story and participating very little. I later found out that this class was a repeat class of Tera students who were bored of the structure. At our next class I decided to focus on fun letting the teaching part weave into the lesson and it worked! We actually stopped in the middle of our story and had a relay race to demonstrate how spies used runners to transport messages during the Civil War. The more and more I have fun with these students, the more and more I remember how fun and good I was at teaching Memory English level. I can already tell which classes will be the bad ones (speaking too much Korean, not listening to me, or bored). Nevertheless, I love a good challenge. I'll be ready for Week 2 throwing in so many YouTube clips, anecdotes, and energy that these kids won't have a chance to even yawn or distract.
By the end of the week my voice was hoarse and my throat was sore. My back and feet ached too. The worst part is I introduced the bad habit of eating after 10pm, when my shift is over. Thankfully, I joined a gym the week I got back to Seoul and am running again. I'm also a little scared of how cold it still is in Seoul. I already have a runny nose, a slight cough, and the polluted air is drying out my skin. I'm losing my beach bumming tan!
Despite all these negatives, I'm happy I could sublet my co-worker John's apartment while he goes on a term-break. I don't have to put down a 5 million won deposit, and I am sharing rent with Dave. John even left us a massive apartment with an entertainment system. All I have left to do now is catch up on How I Met Your Mother and Gossip Girl so I don't have to think about "teachertaining".
Week 1 is the toughest week for any teacher to face. For this particular teacher, it was exceptionally tough. First of all, I've been gone for the last 3 months backpacking. If you haven't done it, I urge you to save all your money and do it! Backpacking means that the only worries you have are:
How low can you get ______?
Where is your next destination?
Where are you sleeping tonight?
What day trips are you doing?
What are you going to eat?
Each of these questions takes very little decision making. For instance if you are in Thailand, a "hard decision" would be green curry or pad thai? Another good question would be $7 room with A/C or $5 with fan?
Furthermore, backpacking means hours of laying on a beach, bus, or hotel room. It also means hours of strolling and sightseeing. With all this in mind, you can guess I had it pretty good for the last 3 months. Now that I'm back in Seoul, it is time to work back all that I had spent and let go of all the r & r.
I was lucky enough to have a generous FM that gave me a schedule of 24 hours being shifts of 6 hours per day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I have 4 different classes of which I have already prepped 3 from past terms. Easy enough in my mind. When I actually stepped into the classroom, old habits came into play; arranging desks, writing a welcome message on the board, setting out name tags and take home papers. Each day I had to meet and memorize a new set of students. Besides 2, I had not met or taught any of the other 150. Thankfully, my icebreaker worked. I would make the entire class stand in a circle to play Categories. This game involves passing a ball to the person next to you after you've named an item in the category. Colors: red, blue, yellow etc. If a person repeats an item already said or goes "uhhh", that person is the loser and I can ask them anything I want: "What's your hobby?" "Have you traveled outside of the U.S.?" or my favorite, "Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend?" It's pretty empowering until they decide on categories like Korean companies, singers, or pencil case brands. Eesh! The icebreaker surprisingly went well even with middle schoolers. Afterwards was the hard part; teaching.
It is naturally easier for me to teach middle school students. For some reason, we get a long well. I'd like to think I'm like a big sister or maybe the middle school boys are crushing. Just kidding! So the Eagle and Birdie middle school classes went smoothly. The students listened to me, took notes, and even acted during the end of class project. Surprisingly, memory elementary was the hardest for me to get back into especially since I had trained new instructors in this program. I forgot how much energy it takes to "teacher-tain" the class. Yes, that's a combination of teach + entertain. The responsible and caring part of me also threw in as many grammar lessons as possible to ascertain their level of understanding. This attempt at actually teaching left me with elementary school students yawning during the story and participating very little. I later found out that this class was a repeat class of Tera students who were bored of the structure. At our next class I decided to focus on fun letting the teaching part weave into the lesson and it worked! We actually stopped in the middle of our story and had a relay race to demonstrate how spies used runners to transport messages during the Civil War. The more and more I have fun with these students, the more and more I remember how fun and good I was at teaching Memory English level. I can already tell which classes will be the bad ones (speaking too much Korean, not listening to me, or bored). Nevertheless, I love a good challenge. I'll be ready for Week 2 throwing in so many YouTube clips, anecdotes, and energy that these kids won't have a chance to even yawn or distract.
By the end of the week my voice was hoarse and my throat was sore. My back and feet ached too. The worst part is I introduced the bad habit of eating after 10pm, when my shift is over. Thankfully, I joined a gym the week I got back to Seoul and am running again. I'm also a little scared of how cold it still is in Seoul. I already have a runny nose, a slight cough, and the polluted air is drying out my skin. I'm losing my beach bumming tan!
Despite all these negatives, I'm happy I could sublet my co-worker John's apartment while he goes on a term-break. I don't have to put down a 5 million won deposit, and I am sharing rent with Dave. John even left us a massive apartment with an entertainment system. All I have left to do now is catch up on How I Met Your Mother and Gossip Girl so I don't have to think about "teachertaining".
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Globalisation At Its Finest
South Korea's GDP (billions) Over Time*courtesy of wikipedia.org
Korea has the 4th largest economy in Asia and 15th in the world. It is the 8th largest exporter because of its brands like Samsung, LG, and Hyundai-Kia. It is 1st in the education index in Asia and 7th in the world. It is now chair of the G-20 and will host it for the first time in November 2010. With Seoul being the 2nd largest city in the world and the 6th most powerful city in the world according to Forbes, no wonder the world is shifting its focus on South Korea.
As the idea of globalisation permeates the stratagem of business and political world leaders, I can't help notice the influence it has made in Korea. My life as a foreigner in Korea revolves around teaching and non-teaching, which leaves shopping, eating, and entertainment. Making my life as comfortable as it was back in the U.S., I'm happy to see what was familiar to me here in Seoul.
Kim Yu-Na
Winning Gold for Women's Figure Skating Winter Olympics Vancouver 2010
Sports is not only in American blood, but very much in Korea's. They won gold in baseball and swimming in Beijing 2008 and they continue to dominate the medals platform in speed skating and short track in the Winter Games. The biggest name in Korean sports comes from a 19 year-old girl who won gold in figure skating in Vancouver 2010; Kim Yu-Na. Everywhere in Korea she is the face of coffee, Samsung Electronics, banks, and Hyundai motors. The girls love her, and he boys want her.
Costing 400,000 Won to Free from KT
I-Phone in Korea
H&M Opening Weekend in MyeongdongKoreans love to shop. This city thrives on the newest fashions and are obsessed with foreign brands. Zara, Forever 21, and the Gap have all made their mark here. On February 27th, mega brand H&M opened up their first store in Korea at Noon Square in Myeongdong, the hectic and high trafficked shopping center of Seoul. I went on the 2nd day it was open and it was unbelievably packed. I felt compelled to buy something just because everyone else was. They had the check-out counter roped all the way across the store and even hired 5 guards to usher people through the store. JCrew and Victoria's Secret is missing out!
Green Tea Popcorn at the CGV Movie TheaterI caught Disney/Tim Burton's highly anticipated Alice in Wonderland in 3D at the IMAX CGV in Yongsan on Saturday March 6th. It reminded me a lot of The Chronicles of Narnia. I didn't like the story. I wish the movie was based on the original story, not when Alice is 19. Kiddy story, great effects nonetheless. This movie was sold out for weeks. We had to sit in the front row. Not bad though. I rested my 3D glasses on my forehead. What was striking though was the green tea popcorn at the concession stand. I didn't try it and I'm not sure if I will. I enjoy green tea and popcorn, but popcorn has to be buttered, at least at the movies. Perhaps when I go see Clash of the Titans, I'll try it out.
Taco Bell Coming Soon in ItaewonCourtesey of N. Ojehomon
This is the biggest news of all! Taco Bell is finally coming to Seoul! Randomly, the army bases in Itaewon and Yongsan have had Taco Bell for quite sometime now, but have been too greedy to share with the public. Itaewon is the foreigner district in the center of Seoul. Many foreign companies have introduced their products and have thrived. Quiznos, McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut have made their mark. However, the Hardrock Cafe didn't quite last. My favorite place and thank god it's here is Costco. All I need now is Chick-Fil-A and Sonic Drive-Thru.
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