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Published: October 28th 2008
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hard at work
before classes started, we prepare. I was sitting at my desk at school, on the first official day of classes, when I thought..."I'm going to be on the other side of that classroom." I wasn't nervous, or overly excited to start. I mean after 5 and half months of vacation, starting work, no matter what it is, is not going to be a heel clicking experience. I was ready though. If there was an emotion or a feeling, it was this sense of "lets go teach these kids some English! My first class of the day was a 5 year old kindergarten with a focus on phonics. I should explain a little bit of how the school works, There are multiple classes during the day and they all last 40 minutes. There are 4 different set of kids in the morning, all of them kindergarten, but broken up to levels. 5 year old preschool, 5 year old nursery, 6 year old preschool, and 6 year old nursery. The preschool and nursery are just symbols that the school thought would fit. Most of these kids (at least in my class) can say and write the entire alphabet.
So as I said early I started off my day
the school
this is what the outside looks like. with 5 year old preschool phonics. I have a whopping 3 students, Clara, Ben, and Lily. These are some bright kids, but tend to wear me out, and test my patience. I have come to the conclusion that Ben would rather touch my beard than learn that beard starts with the letter B.
After phonics I teach PE, I am the PE teacher for the school, and get a different group every Thursday and Friday. Ben, Clara, and Lily on Thursday's and Ronnie, Alex, and Pink on Friday. I was in charge of coming up with PE activities for the entire year before school started and chose to begin with yoga. Now being that I am very much a rookie teacher, a greenhorn if you will, I decided that kids would be willing to sit on mats and go through yoga positions and breathing exercises for a month. I laugh now at how foolish my choices have been and have rearranged my PE days. We still do yoga, and basic stretching, but playing monsters and animals is also fun and less stressful.
PE is over and I feel that aching pain for some food, LUNCH TIME KIDS...
"What's on the
school
a greek building in a sea of neon menu Daddy O?"
"Well...you got your kimchi, your tofu, strange mixture of gelatinous goo, and onion soup...hmm cold."
"Seconds please!"
I forgot to add rice, and this seems to get me through the day for either a quick run to the bakery or a break down and a big mac. We usually sit with the kids in a empty classroom since the cafeteria is not yet built, and stomach our grub while these walking bacteria magnets cough up matter that some what resembles tofu, kimchi, and whatever was sitting in there from breakfast. You could say that Lunch is not my favorite, but it is free, and the help are very nice and polite when you bring back a plate half filled with food you took.
After lunch I teach Ronnie, Alex and Pink. This class is called project lesson and it last for a month on a certain topic. This months topic is Animals. Each week we focus on a new set of animals, house animals, farm animals, and zoo animals. The last week is a combination of all three. I enjoy this class, the kids are smart and tend to listen. Alex is the exception, but a good
kid that feels a little left in the dust I think by the other two. Ronnie and Pink seem to soak up these lessons and vocab with flash cards. The class definitely favors those two, although after the past two days Alex has pulled ahead of those two the top of the class in correct answers. I have done my best to involve Alex and get him to remember and pronounce these animals correctly. He did better with farm animals, because he had been to a farm and it was hitting home with him in that way. At least that is my opinion, or how I would feel.
This is my last class of the kindergarten kids. They go home after this, and I take a break and regroup for my class in the afternoon. I only teach one afternoon class a day, so that is nice, and gives me time to prepare for both. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I teach afternoon kindergarten. This class is mostly subjects like my body and numbers and colors. A shorter quicker version of project lesson. The other class I teach Tuesday and Thursday, where I teach phonics to a brother sister combo
doorbell
this is the doorbell to my place...pretty cool huh who are 11 and 12.
The kindergarten class is great, 5 boys and my largest class I have. We are just finishing up our lesson on the body. We learned hands, feet, arms, etc. Good group of dudes that seem to listen and have fun at the same time. Great class.
The other class that I teach on Tuesday and Thursday is my favorite class so far. I enjoy teaching older kids because they seem to pay attention more and I can treat them more like adults than a 5 year old. Bob and Lisa we named them, I wanted and tried to get Bob to be Bart, but he liked Bob better, can't blame dude, he looks like a Bob. I am teaching them a more advanced version of phonics. They are nice kids and seem to be very bright. I always enjoy teaching this class.
That is my day, all summed up in a few paragraphs. I start at 10am and finish at 7pm, and walk to and from work everyday. When I come home, Yvonne has usually cooked dinner and it is always delicious, by the time dinner is done I am worn out. The day catches
school
lookin good up to me and I can't seem to keep my eyes open long past 12. This is my school week, so passes the days of reckless abandon and extreme laziness mixed with alcohol.
Yvonne has been trying to keep her self busy while I'm at school. She has gone to museums and palaces. Walked around fortress walls and shopped in countless markets. Well 5 markets, I guess you can count that, even on one hand. She just recently got hired to tweak a menu for a local Irish pub/restaurant. Her position is too create and take items on the existing menu and teach the staff how to cook it. She will be mostly overseeing operations in the back. This is an awesome opportunity for her, and will look great on a resume.
The weekends are when we get to spend some time together and we try and see the town or other sites around the Korea. We went to Pusan for the weekend, and walked around their international film festival that was going on. We have walked through markets and gone hiking to bukasan national park. Last night we visited Seoul tower and had a nice Italian dinner overlooking the
palace in seoul
Yvonne and I arrived here right as they were closing the doors. We got to walk around the outside a bit at least. city. Pretty class, I know. The other weekend I tried my best to organize a bball tournament that went sour starting with half the group too hung over to get out of bed Sunday to play. Still a good time, because the guys that did show gave a hell of a performance and got to beat up on some Koreans. Granted this was a close game and only pulled the win off at the very end.
There have not been any big trips or adventures since school has started. After getting a 3 month paid vacation, more time off is going to be tricky to come by. Luckily Korea is small, and with different areas of the country only a few hour train ride away, the possibilities for adventure and mayhem should be in the cards.
It has started to cool down here a bit, and pretty soon we might see a little snow. Supposedly the weather here is nice during the winter, but very cold. Sunny days with bitter wind and snow on the ground. I am looking forward to that, since we don't get much snow in Portland, and an escape from the rainny winters is always welcomed.
yvonne
yvonne and huge palace I hope everyone is doing good at home and it is always good to hear from all of you.
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Saam
non-member comment
awesome pictures! i love hearing about your blog. if you need some good PE ideas i know a lot of games! ill have to shoot you an email in the next few days! im glad that you and yvonne are having fun! we miss you guys! :)