Spring and the new semester

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FINALLY! The temperatures are starting to rise and the days are getting longer. Winter in Korea has been no fun whatsoever. It's still a little chilly in the mornings but then by the time the afternoon arrives it's around 50 degrees. I'm looking forward to traveling around Korea to some of the spring blossom festivals and getting out of town for a bit.

The new year has started and the kids from elementary school came up to the middle school and I am surprised by how good their English is and also how well behaved they are (although it's still early). The first week I spent introducing myself to the 1st graders and going over rules and punishments with all the classes. I decided this year I wanted the classes to be smoother and hold the kids accountable for their actions. I got some pretty funny rules and punishments such as; no killing, drinking, smoking, sleeping in class, no paper airplanes, no swearing, and no guns/knives. Some of the punishments were pushups, hands up in the air, planks, electric shock, writing sentences, clean the bathroom, duck walk, call the police/parents, spank, sing and dance in front of the class, and jail. So it was pretty fun to come up with the rules and punishments with them. And so far they have actually been abiding by the rules. It does help that they are in new classes and haven't really formed their cliques yet. When I came to Korea in early September it was already halfway through the year so they had their groups and knew that I wasn't able to really discipline or control them all that well.

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted a blog. Sorry everyone! Everything is going fine and dandy over here. We are pretty much halfway through the semester with mid terms coming up in about 2 weeks so now it's time for review games and a fun lesson as they prepare for their exams. As I stated above it has been getting warmer and everyday we seem to be hitting the mid 50s. I was pretty busy earlier in the semester making lesson plans and I have a new writing class on Thursdays with some of the kids who are interested in majoring in English so that is a nice, low key class with about 12 students. I was also asked by another teacher to help with her English skills once a week so we read over an English test and I help with her pronunciation. So keeping pretty busy with school. I also have to have an open class with the principal and vice principal where they observe my class and film it to send in to the Office of Education. And apparently if I do good then I need to do an open class for my peers and if I do bad then I need to take a remedial teaching class or something. That will be sometime in May.

A lot of you have expressed concern with North Korea and all their threats. Honestly, no one talks about it over here. I've asked my co teachers about it and they have been threatened for the past 60 years so they are used to all the threats and nothing happening. Plus I imagine with the whole world against NK, they aren't too nervous. Plus after seeing pictures of the North Korean technology from the late 1990s, I'm not sure they could even hit Korea with their missiles. Although it is interesting reading the news articles about what's going on with them and the newest threat every week.

I will write more later. Got to get back into the habit of updating everyone on what is going on over here. Take care everyone!

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