It's 1 AM here and I just got back from taking Luna on her evening walk by the Tanchon River. Normally we do go at about 9 PM, but I was busy doing nothing and didn't get motivated to take out the Luna-meister until midnight. Yes, midnight hit and I was thinking, 'Wow, better do it now or make Luna wait until morning' and I hate to make her wait when she doesn't have to. Aw, my sweet Luna.
So we went on our walk on this Saturday night after a rainy Saturday and there was NO ONE on the river. If you aren't familiar with city parks or living in Korea, you may not understand how unusual it is to see no one, at all. I think the closest I came to seeing a real person in that hour-long walk, was the sleeping guy who usually opens the gates to drive out of the parking area. He must have put it on automatic because someone was driving off when I was walking by and the gate came up despite the man in the box not moving a muscle. Strange. There was sort of an eerie feeling to it. I may have also see someone on a bicycle down by the river, but cannot be sure since it was sort of far away. This isn't the latest I've taken Luna out either. I took her out for a short walk at 3 AM not long after my arrival when I was still jetlagged and then there was at least 2 other people on the river, although we didn't go out to it. That night was stickly a chance for Luna to do her business given the late/early hour.
Seeing no one out there, no one in the whole hour, makes me think of Doctor Who. I know, weird. For some reason I think of the Doctor connected mostly to urban situations and there are a couple of really places down by the river that look positively alien invasion final confrontation worthy. There's the areas on the bridges and the pathways under the main streets. These are long, straight semi-confined areas where the Doctor and whatever nefarious ne'er-do-well he was up against for that week could have it out. Hmm. Strange the thoughts that occur to you when you are a little paranoid about the lack of people in your favorite walking path. I mean NO ONE. Totally weird and I feel the need to share it with you, my wonderful freinds and family. XOXO.
Another interesting thing about the Tanchon River Park, they play music in the mornings. Although not every morning, just some mornings. It seems to start between 7:45 AM and 8:15 AM and is just classical music. The first time I heard it, I wondered if something was wrong with my mp3 player, but the sound kept getting louder and then I saw the speaker. Hmmm, really makes you think. Also, I went out at 6:30 one morning last week and found people doing some form of Yoga or Tai Chi or something practicing not down by the river, but in the area nearer the street. Okay, here's a description, the river flows down the middle and on either side are these bike and walking tracks and some flat mostly grazzy land and several footbridges now the river and these paths are recessed into the ground and you have to take stairs down (there are a few paths down for bikes from the street too) Now, in my area, you take the stairs from this thin strip of wooded area between the street and the stairs and there's woods, paths, and those music speakers in this strip. It's not that narrow. How's that for my description? Can you picture it? I'll see what I can do about getting a picture and I can guarentee the pic will not be nearly as deserted as what I jsut saw. NO ONE I tell you. Strange.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
An Easter Egg Hunt and Some Pizza School
Well, the kids got to go on an Easter egg hunt on Wednesday and they seemed to enjoy it well enough. Actually they enjoyed it a lot. Those kids never get ouside time at PSA except for special occaisions. The only play time a gym time is inside. I really wish we could have 30 minutes of outdoor time a couple of times a week when the weather is good. So here are some pics.
Some of the kids
Rachel and Teacher Jinnie
Class Photo
Oh, and on the way back, I noticed this somewhat odd and random seller.
Yep, I've never seen this here before, but they see underclothes near my school. Odd thing is that this is the only seller right there and the only one except the food vendor who is out in the area at this time of day. Later, there are several vendors further up the road.
So I got to meet the parents of my kids on Thursday. They came in to school and met with the principal and vice principal. Basically, me and my coteacher came in to introduce ourselves and say how wonderful the children are. At least, that's what I said. My coteacher talked to them in Korean. It was really interesting to see the moms of the kids and try to see how they can raise the kids they raise. I wish I could speak to them. During our staff meeting this morning (weekly staff meeting) we were told we could and should send messages home with the kids once in awhile. I'm thinking I'll try for Tuesdays. It'll be difficult to do it though because most of them time I would think to do it, my coteacher is writing in them. Of courses, she has to write in them every day, poor thing.
We had some injuries this week too. Those kids have had a lot of energy with the beautiful weather we've been having. We had one girl who fell and broke her front 2 teeth on Thursday and that same day another boy got a scratch under his chin. It's hard to stop them running pell mell into things and people and to get them to sit on chairs properly. I mean they're so young and some have the attention span of a gnat. 'Ooh, shiny object'. I suppose I'm much older and my attention span isn't the best either, hmm, there really is a shiny object over there. Right, so back to it. OMG, one of my kids did his work this afternoon without too much help from me. He is a whiner "Teacher help" is his favorite refrain, but I was teaching the whole class at the time and couldn't stop for just one kid and he did it almost on his own, I think the kid who sits with him help. I was so proud of him. G
I've realized that my my MWF afterclub is definitely my least favorite, I would rather teach either of my TTH afterclubs more often. I guess if yu count each class, I see the MWF 6 times a week and the TTH clubs 2 times each. None of them are particularly well behaved, but the MW are the worst and all but one are troublemakers(only 8 total) versus only 2 or 3 in the other 2 classes. I've taken to making them all sit with one seat between them so they can't talk as easily and we have to stay really on task or they get distracted. I'm going to try some games as bribery next week to keep them focused.
Here are the little darlings.
I was asked to cover IA(International Academy) upstair for almost 2 hours after afterclub. IA are the older students. I don't think PSA has kids in the after clubs over 8 years old and at 9 they transition to IA. I actually really liked it. The older kids clearly understood everything I said and were a bit older and thus seemed more able to sit still. Of course, they were still only 9, but I did notice a difference for both classes. First I oversaw the writing class and that was fun. There weree 9 kids and we got through everything pretty quickly, but they seemed to get it anyway. We ended up with 15 minutes on the end of class and I did some quick thinking and extended the lesson on what makes a quotation. We were talking about the parts of it and we came up with a senario (alien comes to IA) and what the alien should look like and the alien's name. He was hideous and named Jogrulgrub. In the end, we actually ran out of time and the kids were really interested. They were also a bit rambunctious, but I could tell they were getting something out of the lesson. Hopefully.
The second IA class was a science class and while smaller (5 9-year olds) it was a bit more difficult to control. These are the extra-smart kids and were easily bored. We actually ran short on time with them. We were supposed to read and review one chapter, then do a review for the entire unit and we'd only just started the review for the entire unit when class ended. The time went really fast though.
New rules at PSA next week. We get one ream of paper per month and have to justify any more we recieve. Ditto for plastic for the laminating machines. This is going to be weird, but I suppose its understandable since PSA seems to use a lot of paper. No more unlimited supplies.
I found out we had teahcer's books for the student textbooks for afterclub today. I had no idea. we also have the teacher's book for the Harcourt Math book we use for the kids and that's great because there have been a couple of pages where I really wasn't sure what they wanted.
Anything else new? Still watching my money, 9 days until my first paycheck here in Korea and while it will have an additional 3.75 hours overtime, it will lack $200 for the accomodation deposit. We pay $600 in 3 monthly installments that will hopefully we paid back. I haven't heard any problems with the people who just left, so hopefully everything's gone well.
Oh, and I picked up some Pizza School on the way home. I got the combination and while good, I prefer the pepperoni. Here's a pic
Some of the kids
Rachel and Teacher Jinnie
Class Photo
Oh, and on the way back, I noticed this somewhat odd and random seller.
Yep, I've never seen this here before, but they see underclothes near my school. Odd thing is that this is the only seller right there and the only one except the food vendor who is out in the area at this time of day. Later, there are several vendors further up the road.
So I got to meet the parents of my kids on Thursday. They came in to school and met with the principal and vice principal. Basically, me and my coteacher came in to introduce ourselves and say how wonderful the children are. At least, that's what I said. My coteacher talked to them in Korean. It was really interesting to see the moms of the kids and try to see how they can raise the kids they raise. I wish I could speak to them. During our staff meeting this morning (weekly staff meeting) we were told we could and should send messages home with the kids once in awhile. I'm thinking I'll try for Tuesdays. It'll be difficult to do it though because most of them time I would think to do it, my coteacher is writing in them. Of courses, she has to write in them every day, poor thing.
We had some injuries this week too. Those kids have had a lot of energy with the beautiful weather we've been having. We had one girl who fell and broke her front 2 teeth on Thursday and that same day another boy got a scratch under his chin. It's hard to stop them running pell mell into things and people and to get them to sit on chairs properly. I mean they're so young and some have the attention span of a gnat. 'Ooh, shiny object'. I suppose I'm much older and my attention span isn't the best either, hmm, there really is a shiny object over there. Right, so back to it. OMG, one of my kids did his work this afternoon without too much help from me. He is a whiner "Teacher help" is his favorite refrain, but I was teaching the whole class at the time and couldn't stop for just one kid and he did it almost on his own, I think the kid who sits with him help. I was so proud of him. G
I've realized that my my MWF afterclub is definitely my least favorite, I would rather teach either of my TTH afterclubs more often. I guess if yu count each class, I see the MWF 6 times a week and the TTH clubs 2 times each. None of them are particularly well behaved, but the MW are the worst and all but one are troublemakers(only 8 total) versus only 2 or 3 in the other 2 classes. I've taken to making them all sit with one seat between them so they can't talk as easily and we have to stay really on task or they get distracted. I'm going to try some games as bribery next week to keep them focused.
Here are the little darlings.
I was asked to cover IA(International Academy) upstair for almost 2 hours after afterclub. IA are the older students. I don't think PSA has kids in the after clubs over 8 years old and at 9 they transition to IA. I actually really liked it. The older kids clearly understood everything I said and were a bit older and thus seemed more able to sit still. Of course, they were still only 9, but I did notice a difference for both classes. First I oversaw the writing class and that was fun. There weree 9 kids and we got through everything pretty quickly, but they seemed to get it anyway. We ended up with 15 minutes on the end of class and I did some quick thinking and extended the lesson on what makes a quotation. We were talking about the parts of it and we came up with a senario (alien comes to IA) and what the alien should look like and the alien's name. He was hideous and named Jogrulgrub. In the end, we actually ran out of time and the kids were really interested. They were also a bit rambunctious, but I could tell they were getting something out of the lesson. Hopefully.
The second IA class was a science class and while smaller (5 9-year olds) it was a bit more difficult to control. These are the extra-smart kids and were easily bored. We actually ran short on time with them. We were supposed to read and review one chapter, then do a review for the entire unit and we'd only just started the review for the entire unit when class ended. The time went really fast though.
New rules at PSA next week. We get one ream of paper per month and have to justify any more we recieve. Ditto for plastic for the laminating machines. This is going to be weird, but I suppose its understandable since PSA seems to use a lot of paper. No more unlimited supplies.
I found out we had teahcer's books for the student textbooks for afterclub today. I had no idea. we also have the teacher's book for the Harcourt Math book we use for the kids and that's great because there have been a couple of pages where I really wasn't sure what they wanted.
Anything else new? Still watching my money, 9 days until my first paycheck here in Korea and while it will have an additional 3.75 hours overtime, it will lack $200 for the accomodation deposit. We pay $600 in 3 monthly installments that will hopefully we paid back. I haven't heard any problems with the people who just left, so hopefully everything's gone well.
Oh, and I picked up some Pizza School on the way home. I got the combination and while good, I prefer the pepperoni. Here's a pic
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Miserable Saturday
Yep, I'm not sure what to make of today since I spent it mostly inside. Nothing is even blooming and my hay fever is worse then ever. I ended up spending most of the day inside due to the whole itchy eyes, stuffed up nose, post-nasal sniffling, lack of energy, and feeling of fever. I don't reckon my claritin or Flonase is having any effect. I take them and a nasal decongestant in the morning for the past week and have noticed no improvement. Of course, it could be helping me right after I take it and I could just not be noticing the effect since I tend to take it and go to work. Botheration. Oh well, its all I've got and I'll keep using it. I think I'll try 3 squirts of the Flonase and taking the claritin twice a day rather than once to see if that improves my symptoms.
:tear: Well at least the day hasn't been completely wasted. It seems that a lot of my coworkers also stayed in today since I saw 2 while out walking, another when I was getting lunch, and another when I was taking Luna on another walk. I also discovered some blooper reels on YouTube and got caught up with ANTM and did some laundry and swept up the apt and picked up some groceries (many of which were cookies because hay fever makes me really want sweets). Still, I spent most of the day with Luna.
Anyway, here are some pictures of my afterschool kids. I only bothered with one of the three classes I teach and it happens to be the one that meets in my classroom since I'd left the camera there for the other class.
This is all but one who did not want to participate in picture time.
Oh, and here's a better pic of Dongdaemun Gate for a few weeks ago.
:tear: Well at least the day hasn't been completely wasted. It seems that a lot of my coworkers also stayed in today since I saw 2 while out walking, another when I was getting lunch, and another when I was taking Luna on another walk. I also discovered some blooper reels on YouTube and got caught up with ANTM and did some laundry and swept up the apt and picked up some groceries (many of which were cookies because hay fever makes me really want sweets). Still, I spent most of the day with Luna.
Anyway, here are some pictures of my afterschool kids. I only bothered with one of the three classes I teach and it happens to be the one that meets in my classroom since I'd left the camera there for the other class.
This is all but one who did not want to participate in picture time.
Oh, and here's a better pic of Dongdaemun Gate for a few weeks ago.
Friday, March 21, 2008
3 Birthdays
So we had a birthday party for 3 of the kids on Friday. I guess that since there are 18 kids in class, if we tried to have all the birthdays on the actual days, that would be too many birthdays. This means we celebrated the birthdays of June, Alicia, and Cheny. Cheny and June's moms came and Alicia's dad came. The dad did surprise me since I think its usually the moms who come in. Alicia is a sweet little girl who isn't as needy as some of the kids and not as boisterous either. She's great. June is similar. He will misbehave once in awhile, but usually doesn't and will stop when you notice it. He has a great mom too, very pleasant and smily. I see where he gets it from. Ditto for Cheny, you know, the non-smiler I mentioned. Her mom didn't smile either. Hmmm, parents and kids. It was a nice party and afterward I had enough food for dinner last night and breakfast today and tomorrow. Awesome way to save some money I suppose. Here are some pics of my sweet class.
Here's the birthday girl Cheny, Emily, and Ted. These pics were actually taken the day before and both Cheny and Alicia wore beautiful white dresses.
And this is Sydney, a kidder who now that she's more comfortable around me, loves to jump on my back, randomly.
And this is Alicia (the other birthday girl wearing red), Michelle, and Kate.
Tayon, Tayon, Tayon. I was certainly warned about him and the warning are true.
Our newest little one Eugene.
This is Jun(one of the littler boys) and June (the birthday boy)
This is Alex, who hasn't come to class for the last couple of days. I wonder if it was my fault since I made him sit in a timeout twice last week for hitting other students. Poor thing, he's smart and has a lot of energy and just loves to be noticed.
Rachel(very quiet sort, but she's growing on me and always has a smile except in this picture) and Alicia
Oh, and the terminally late Jamie. He's usually at least 20 minutes late, sometimes 30 and so has the fewest stickers of all the kids.
Jenny trying to pay attention.
The class paying attention to Sylvia.
Love ya'll :)
Here's the birthday girl Cheny, Emily, and Ted. These pics were actually taken the day before and both Cheny and Alicia wore beautiful white dresses.
And this is Sydney, a kidder who now that she's more comfortable around me, loves to jump on my back, randomly.
And this is Alicia (the other birthday girl wearing red), Michelle, and Kate.
Tayon, Tayon, Tayon. I was certainly warned about him and the warning are true.
Our newest little one Eugene.
This is Jun(one of the littler boys) and June (the birthday boy)
This is Alex, who hasn't come to class for the last couple of days. I wonder if it was my fault since I made him sit in a timeout twice last week for hitting other students. Poor thing, he's smart and has a lot of energy and just loves to be noticed.
Rachel(very quiet sort, but she's growing on me and always has a smile except in this picture) and Alicia
Oh, and the terminally late Jamie. He's usually at least 20 minutes late, sometimes 30 and so has the fewest stickers of all the kids.
Jenny trying to pay attention.
The class paying attention to Sylvia.
Love ya'll :)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The allergies are here again
Yes, so my allergies were still really affecting me today. My voice is harsh and pitchy and it takes a lot of effort to talk loudly enough to get the attention of these young whipper-snappers. I also wore my glasses today and they were fine, except for one girl who told me they were ugly. I sewt her straight that glasses are just another way to accesorize
So I took Luna on her walk this evening and we went a bit longer than normal. We walked along the river, then up to my school, then over to Samsung Plaza. I take the Luna-meister to Samsung Plaza at least 3 times a week to let her meet more people. She loves it and most people are pretty friendly to her. Of course, there are usually a good number of weirdos at Samsung Plaza. Either the people dressed as Batman, a fish, very scantily clad, or the people in long robes, or just those people that walk around calling out something in Korean, the plaza is a happening place. :-P. So Luna is getting a bit skinny, I need to fatten her up a bit. Sort of the opposite of me. I was feeling down today because of my allergies and because I'm running a bit short of dough at the moment and don't get paid until the 7th of April. Long time and I still need to pay my bills which will hopfully be less than 200,ooo won because that's all that's budgeted for it and I have about 100,000 won to eat off of for the next 3 weeks. So what do I do? I eat a Baskin Robbins cheesecake berry ice cream cone. Yum and a small pizza after work that has filled me up. I bought some salad to go with it and had only intended to eat half the pizza, but when it came down to it, I just couldn't eat a salad with such sweet dressing. The pizza was decent and cheap.
So I'd intended to go down to Iaewon this weekend, but with the month Dad and list of everything I needed and have since found out they threw out a lot of my stuff. How sweet. I will tell myself i love my family several times now until I believe it. Hmmm, still not happening. It's probably best that I haven't spoken much to them since I left because I do not want to be held responsible for what I am think by saying it aloud. That would not be a good idea. I just hope that my 'dear', 'sweet' father will be wonderful enough to send me that which I've sent for and it had better be available also another note to my family. Yes, I now know about Kat's wreck in my car and know she's fine. I understand that you've already spent the $2000 you got for my car and rather wish I'd heard about it sooner. You've not paid me any of the promised money in case you are unaware.
Sorry for the lack of photos, I'll try to do better.
So I took Luna on her walk this evening and we went a bit longer than normal. We walked along the river, then up to my school, then over to Samsung Plaza. I take the Luna-meister to Samsung Plaza at least 3 times a week to let her meet more people. She loves it and most people are pretty friendly to her. Of course, there are usually a good number of weirdos at Samsung Plaza. Either the people dressed as Batman, a fish, very scantily clad, or the people in long robes, or just those people that walk around calling out something in Korean, the plaza is a happening place. :-P. So Luna is getting a bit skinny, I need to fatten her up a bit. Sort of the opposite of me. I was feeling down today because of my allergies and because I'm running a bit short of dough at the moment and don't get paid until the 7th of April. Long time and I still need to pay my bills which will hopfully be less than 200,ooo won because that's all that's budgeted for it and I have about 100,000 won to eat off of for the next 3 weeks. So what do I do? I eat a Baskin Robbins cheesecake berry ice cream cone. Yum and a small pizza after work that has filled me up. I bought some salad to go with it and had only intended to eat half the pizza, but when it came down to it, I just couldn't eat a salad with such sweet dressing. The pizza was decent and cheap.
So I'd intended to go down to Iaewon this weekend, but with the month Dad and list of everything I needed and have since found out they threw out a lot of my stuff. How sweet. I will tell myself i love my family several times now until I believe it. Hmmm, still not happening. It's probably best that I haven't spoken much to them since I left because I do not want to be held responsible for what I am think by saying it aloud. That would not be a good idea. I just hope that my 'dear', 'sweet' father will be wonderful enough to send me that which I've sent for and it had better be available also another note to my family. Yes, I now know about Kat's wreck in my car and know she's fine. I understand that you've already spent the $2000 you got for my car and rather wish I'd heard about it sooner. You've not paid me any of the promised money in case you are unaware.
Sorry for the lack of photos, I'll try to do better.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
More from Korea
So I haven't any new pics since I keep forgetting my camera at home. Allergy season is certainly here. I felt sort of off all weekend and ended up staying home from church and not going to Seoul as planned on Saturday because I thought I had a cold that should not be passed on, but today I felt much more distinctly allergistic. Itchy eyes, dry throat, constant mucus, no energy, you know the drill. So I took my meds this morning. They usually take a couple of days to start really working, so wish me luck that they work on Korean pollen, you know how kimchi strengthens everything, maybe it strengthens pollen too. Hmmm.
So because of the allergy issue, i had little energy to deal with my sweet little angels, aka rambunctious little monsters. It was fine until this afternoon after lunch. One girl brought in candy for after lunch and they were all pretty hyper afterward. As in, constantly talking no matter what hyper. No sooner would I get half the class quiet when the other half would start off and I had no energy to make it really interesting for them. Also, I was sort of unprepared for the afternoon because my wonderful coteacher insisted on talking to me about the plans for Mother's Day (very big) and talking about how I should do something different that afternoon. She says this to me while the kids are getting their books out for the afternoon writing time. Arghh. I wasn't at my best so I eventually told her that today we would do what was on the lesson plan and I would prepare something for Thursday. By the time that conversation was over, we had to start the class with the kids who had no desire whatsoever to pay attention, even the normally good ones. I guess chocolate will do that to a kid. So eventually I decided I didn't care and had them close their books and put their heads down on their desk for 2 minutes and any that made noise missed 2 minutes of free time. That got them quiet and I let them put their books up and play. You know, the kids are supposed to get 10 minutes of free time after lunch, but it never happens because they take so long to eat and brush their teeth. Yes, PSA believes in dental hygeine(sp?). :)
My little ones started clubs today. We have 3 in clubs on Monday, 1 on Friday, and 5 on Tuesdays and Thursday. Of the Monday ones, one had real problems. I guess she'd never been in after-school clubs before. This was Cheny (you know, the one who never smiles and looks very solemn and whome I make a point of making smile at least once a day) who started crying the minute I took her to her new club (the teacher wasn't there yet and neither were any of the students, so I waited with her) so I styaed with her and hugged her and told her how much fun the club would be and what sort of things she would make, but she was having nothing of it and kept crying. This is odd because she's not one of the criers in class. I had to leave after the other teacher came in because I had to go to my club upstairs, but I really felt sorry for her and hated to leave her because she was really clinging. I guess this means the kids are more used to me now. It's kinda sweet. During play time today, she crawled on my lap and gave me a hug. Cheny is a sweet kid and settled down after she went to phonics club when she go to be with one of the boys from class, Tayon.
What else is happening?
I actually have a show need. I never thought I would have so few shoes that I would actually need to buy some. My Korean size is 250-260 and the Yatap station actually has so nice looking shoes ranging from $10-$20. My comfy brown ones are dying since at one point they were very went and these small cracks started on the sides and the more I wear them, the larger the crack/tear gets. After them, all I have are my tennis shoes and black ballet flats and plaid ballet flats. Oh, and that pair of sandals.
There's a really nice Korean Italian placec I discovered here in Bundang on Saturday. It's Milli's and is right off the Samsung Plaza area, like across the street and it had a very modern restaurant feel. You know, stainless steel and stone. Now the pizza looks really good. So far, I've had the chicken spagetti alfreda and the spaghetti carbonara. Both were good, but the carbonara was better.
I went to Yatap last week and picked up some chips and queso and they were decent, not good, but edible. I also discovered a thrift store in the basement and a 15,000 won shoe kiosk and movie theater. Btw, I bought the foreign food in Homever whose prices seem comparable to Lottemart even though everyone says Homever is cheaper. Whatever.
Oh, so I've accepted the chance to stay after for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays for some afterclub homework time. Basically, the kids just sit down and do their homework and I go around helping them. For this 2 hours a week, or 8 hours a month, I get $150. Not bad, that's like $18 an hour or something.
Til later. :)
So because of the allergy issue, i had little energy to deal with my sweet little angels, aka rambunctious little monsters. It was fine until this afternoon after lunch. One girl brought in candy for after lunch and they were all pretty hyper afterward. As in, constantly talking no matter what hyper. No sooner would I get half the class quiet when the other half would start off and I had no energy to make it really interesting for them. Also, I was sort of unprepared for the afternoon because my wonderful coteacher insisted on talking to me about the plans for Mother's Day (very big) and talking about how I should do something different that afternoon. She says this to me while the kids are getting their books out for the afternoon writing time. Arghh. I wasn't at my best so I eventually told her that today we would do what was on the lesson plan and I would prepare something for Thursday. By the time that conversation was over, we had to start the class with the kids who had no desire whatsoever to pay attention, even the normally good ones. I guess chocolate will do that to a kid. So eventually I decided I didn't care and had them close their books and put their heads down on their desk for 2 minutes and any that made noise missed 2 minutes of free time. That got them quiet and I let them put their books up and play. You know, the kids are supposed to get 10 minutes of free time after lunch, but it never happens because they take so long to eat and brush their teeth. Yes, PSA believes in dental hygeine(sp?). :)
My little ones started clubs today. We have 3 in clubs on Monday, 1 on Friday, and 5 on Tuesdays and Thursday. Of the Monday ones, one had real problems. I guess she'd never been in after-school clubs before. This was Cheny (you know, the one who never smiles and looks very solemn and whome I make a point of making smile at least once a day) who started crying the minute I took her to her new club (the teacher wasn't there yet and neither were any of the students, so I waited with her) so I styaed with her and hugged her and told her how much fun the club would be and what sort of things she would make, but she was having nothing of it and kept crying. This is odd because she's not one of the criers in class. I had to leave after the other teacher came in because I had to go to my club upstairs, but I really felt sorry for her and hated to leave her because she was really clinging. I guess this means the kids are more used to me now. It's kinda sweet. During play time today, she crawled on my lap and gave me a hug. Cheny is a sweet kid and settled down after she went to phonics club when she go to be with one of the boys from class, Tayon.
What else is happening?
I actually have a show need. I never thought I would have so few shoes that I would actually need to buy some. My Korean size is 250-260 and the Yatap station actually has so nice looking shoes ranging from $10-$20. My comfy brown ones are dying since at one point they were very went and these small cracks started on the sides and the more I wear them, the larger the crack/tear gets. After them, all I have are my tennis shoes and black ballet flats and plaid ballet flats. Oh, and that pair of sandals.
There's a really nice Korean Italian placec I discovered here in Bundang on Saturday. It's Milli's and is right off the Samsung Plaza area, like across the street and it had a very modern restaurant feel. You know, stainless steel and stone. Now the pizza looks really good. So far, I've had the chicken spagetti alfreda and the spaghetti carbonara. Both were good, but the carbonara was better.
I went to Yatap last week and picked up some chips and queso and they were decent, not good, but edible. I also discovered a thrift store in the basement and a 15,000 won shoe kiosk and movie theater. Btw, I bought the foreign food in Homever whose prices seem comparable to Lottemart even though everyone says Homever is cheaper. Whatever.
Oh, so I've accepted the chance to stay after for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays for some afterclub homework time. Basically, the kids just sit down and do their homework and I go around helping them. For this 2 hours a week, or 8 hours a month, I get $150. Not bad, that's like $18 an hour or something.
Til later. :)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
More about Teaching Preschoolers...
Sometimes it feels like I'm banging my head against a brick wall with the kinder. It's easier during the day with the younger ones because they mostly want to do what the teacher says, but the school aged kids in the afternoon have already put in a full day of school and do not want to bw at school and do the work. Poor mites.
One thing I am surprised by is that I can remember moth of the names. There are 17 in my preschool class and usually only 5-9 in he afternoon clubs. Now, the clubs are just as hard as the preschoolers with half the students because they just want to play after school and have to stay at PSA for an additional hour. Poor mites again.
Aw, my preschoolers are so cute. As they get used to me, they seem to feel more comfortable coming to me for hugs and hitting me on the behind. None of them have tried to poke me anywhere yet (I've been warned about that), but you can tell they are becoming more comfortable with me and teacher Sylvia. It's gotten to the point where I don't think too much about the criers. I've distracted some from crying and so has Sylvia. You know, its weird, but I tnd to think of my coteacher as Teacher Sylvia and even call myself Teacher S#### in my head sometimes. Don't laugh.
I think Sylvia and I are working out a schedule and way of doing things now. I will say this for teachers preschoolers and after school kids. There's no time to think, at all. You go from one activity to another and have no time to worry about other matters because you have to remain focused on the kids. One moment of distraction and suddenly boys are chasing each other around the classroom and girls are in a corner talking loudy to each other.
Weird phenomenon #whatever. I don't know if I mentioned this from the graduation, but these kids sign in a very high-pitched and nasaly manner. I guess they sing like they yell. I noticed it in the cafeteria today when a neighboring class was singing their song. I still don't have teacher Sylvia's song down, but hope to learn it within a couple of weeks. She's already teaching the kids some songs and making them move. I make them move with 'Teacher Sallie Says" You know, i reckon I should start giving out a sticker to the winner when they do especially well. Hopefully all this will help us when it gets to be time to prepare for any of the performances. Our next one is Mother's Day in May and I know its a big deal for PSA since if the parent isn't happy, there are plenty of other hagwons who would be happy to get more kids. I think my kids are starting to like me more. We did have one who wanted to go home after lunch. He's sort of at the bottom of the class, English-wise. Now the crier Emily did not cry either today or yesterday and she seems to be having fun in class and even huged me after I asked for one before she left. It's such a balancing act, education and fun. These are young kids and they need to have fun, but the parents are spending a lot of money so they can learn too.
I put out the students' work today. It was really hard to find something for every student. I'm not sure I did find anything for Jun (the one who wanted to go home early). I found something with his name on it, but it was a drawing of class and could have been from any student. Poor Jun doesn't like to complete his work. He's one who knows a lot, but you have to stand over him telling him everything to write down.
Now, who are my clingers, I would say Ted and Jenny and both clingers, thankfully not at the same time though. I could imagine them ripping me apart. Now Ted is so cute and smart that you want to spend time with him and Jenny is so smart, but easily distracted and doesn't want to do the work. She's bored a bit in class sometimes i think.
Btw, these names I'm using for the kids are not their official names. They select them only for English class and like to change them. I would not use the kid's real names in a public blog (just in case anyone was wondering about privacy issues).
Okay, my nails are growing pretty fast here in Korea, must be the kimshi. I know I am eating pretty healthily, no fast food for the most part. I did have KFC to try it and it was okay, but more expensive and heavier then I needed so it'll be a special treat place. I discovered 2 other special treaat places, an Indian place and an omelet fusion place with reasonable prices (not cheap, but reasonable). I've just heard of a Brazillian restaurant in the area so that's going on my list too. I'm trying to go to one restaurant per week. I don't worry about B-fast or Lunch because of work (pick up a pastry for breakfast and eat at the school). Dinner has so far been a cheap sandwich place downstairs. You get a good-sized sub for less than $3 and there's a convenience store across the hall that has chips of many Korean types and sodas. In all dinner costs less than $5. That makes my total food outlay for the day $6. I reckon this means I can afford to spend $20 for one meal on the weekend if the rest of the meals are in the $5 range.
Oh, and Derrick continues to be pretty awesome. He gave me some pots and pans he'd gotten from teachers who were leaving and tipped me off to a free couch in the stairwell that is a really nice size for a studio apartment. It's sort of beige and wide, but its really a 2 seater that maybe could fit a skinny third person on it as well. Maybe It came with 3 pillows whose cover I plan to sew squares of blue and white flowered fabric onto. This is great because I bout 4 yard of the stuff and I can use it for small things as well. Anyway, Derrick is also the guy who found me a converter and before ya'll ask, not its not like THAT, his girlfriend should be here in a couple of weeks and he's just really friendly to the newbies. I think I just ask him about more stuff so he gives it to me. That's certainly why I got the converter and pans and I also metioned I was looking for seating and he told me about this chair/sofa. Now the only bad thing about it is that the seat cusion is really dirty, but I've just plopped all the cushion covers into the washing machine and will use baby wipes to clean the non-washable upholstry.
Anyway, this is enough for now. Sorry about the pic-less post, but the next one should certainly have some pics.
One thing I am surprised by is that I can remember moth of the names. There are 17 in my preschool class and usually only 5-9 in he afternoon clubs. Now, the clubs are just as hard as the preschoolers with half the students because they just want to play after school and have to stay at PSA for an additional hour. Poor mites again.
Aw, my preschoolers are so cute. As they get used to me, they seem to feel more comfortable coming to me for hugs and hitting me on the behind. None of them have tried to poke me anywhere yet (I've been warned about that), but you can tell they are becoming more comfortable with me and teacher Sylvia. It's gotten to the point where I don't think too much about the criers. I've distracted some from crying and so has Sylvia. You know, its weird, but I tnd to think of my coteacher as Teacher Sylvia and even call myself Teacher S#### in my head sometimes. Don't laugh.
I think Sylvia and I are working out a schedule and way of doing things now. I will say this for teachers preschoolers and after school kids. There's no time to think, at all. You go from one activity to another and have no time to worry about other matters because you have to remain focused on the kids. One moment of distraction and suddenly boys are chasing each other around the classroom and girls are in a corner talking loudy to each other.
Weird phenomenon #whatever. I don't know if I mentioned this from the graduation, but these kids sign in a very high-pitched and nasaly manner. I guess they sing like they yell. I noticed it in the cafeteria today when a neighboring class was singing their song. I still don't have teacher Sylvia's song down, but hope to learn it within a couple of weeks. She's already teaching the kids some songs and making them move. I make them move with 'Teacher Sallie Says" You know, i reckon I should start giving out a sticker to the winner when they do especially well. Hopefully all this will help us when it gets to be time to prepare for any of the performances. Our next one is Mother's Day in May and I know its a big deal for PSA since if the parent isn't happy, there are plenty of other hagwons who would be happy to get more kids. I think my kids are starting to like me more. We did have one who wanted to go home after lunch. He's sort of at the bottom of the class, English-wise. Now the crier Emily did not cry either today or yesterday and she seems to be having fun in class and even huged me after I asked for one before she left. It's such a balancing act, education and fun. These are young kids and they need to have fun, but the parents are spending a lot of money so they can learn too.
I put out the students' work today. It was really hard to find something for every student. I'm not sure I did find anything for Jun (the one who wanted to go home early). I found something with his name on it, but it was a drawing of class and could have been from any student. Poor Jun doesn't like to complete his work. He's one who knows a lot, but you have to stand over him telling him everything to write down.
Now, who are my clingers, I would say Ted and Jenny and both clingers, thankfully not at the same time though. I could imagine them ripping me apart. Now Ted is so cute and smart that you want to spend time with him and Jenny is so smart, but easily distracted and doesn't want to do the work. She's bored a bit in class sometimes i think.
Btw, these names I'm using for the kids are not their official names. They select them only for English class and like to change them. I would not use the kid's real names in a public blog (just in case anyone was wondering about privacy issues).
Okay, my nails are growing pretty fast here in Korea, must be the kimshi. I know I am eating pretty healthily, no fast food for the most part. I did have KFC to try it and it was okay, but more expensive and heavier then I needed so it'll be a special treat place. I discovered 2 other special treaat places, an Indian place and an omelet fusion place with reasonable prices (not cheap, but reasonable). I've just heard of a Brazillian restaurant in the area so that's going on my list too. I'm trying to go to one restaurant per week. I don't worry about B-fast or Lunch because of work (pick up a pastry for breakfast and eat at the school). Dinner has so far been a cheap sandwich place downstairs. You get a good-sized sub for less than $3 and there's a convenience store across the hall that has chips of many Korean types and sodas. In all dinner costs less than $5. That makes my total food outlay for the day $6. I reckon this means I can afford to spend $20 for one meal on the weekend if the rest of the meals are in the $5 range.
Oh, and Derrick continues to be pretty awesome. He gave me some pots and pans he'd gotten from teachers who were leaving and tipped me off to a free couch in the stairwell that is a really nice size for a studio apartment. It's sort of beige and wide, but its really a 2 seater that maybe could fit a skinny third person on it as well. Maybe It came with 3 pillows whose cover I plan to sew squares of blue and white flowered fabric onto. This is great because I bout 4 yard of the stuff and I can use it for small things as well. Anyway, Derrick is also the guy who found me a converter and before ya'll ask, not its not like THAT, his girlfriend should be here in a couple of weeks and he's just really friendly to the newbies. I think I just ask him about more stuff so he gives it to me. That's certainly why I got the converter and pans and I also metioned I was looking for seating and he told me about this chair/sofa. Now the only bad thing about it is that the seat cusion is really dirty, but I've just plopped all the cushion covers into the washing machine and will use baby wipes to clean the non-washable upholstry.
Anyway, this is enough for now. Sorry about the pic-less post, but the next one should certainly have some pics.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Luna-Meister in Korea
Aw, my poor sweet Luna has been asked after. That's so sweet. Well Luna seems to be doing okay here. She touches noses with at least 1 dog every morning and another in the evening when we go on out walks. Luna is usually much bigger than the other dogs, but we have run across a couple of other labs. They do like em small here. Luna has lost some weight, darn it. We've been walking more and I didn't think to increase her caloric intake since she seemed to be the perfect weight for her build before.
So Korea is pretty cool with dogs. There's a vet right across the street with someone there who understands English. I still haven't found a groomer, but have faith one will turn up or I can do it myself and risk clogging the drains.
There have been a couple of girls who screamed at the sight of Luna and ran away, but many more people come up and pet her and think she's so cute. There are still a lot of people who walk to the other side of the sidewalk when we aproach and there have been several who pick up their wee little dogs when they see me and Luna coming. I suppose its okay since those tiny dogs tend to be mean biters. Seriously, we had one who didn't want to leave Luna alone.
I think Luna does miss home and the back yard and Mom and Dad and meine sisters and her alcove beneath the bed, she just doesn't have that cave right now. Maybe when I cover the crate with a dark tablecloth she will use it as her own personal sanctuary.
We've been eating Alpo and I think she really likes it, I think she may also be hungrier here in Korea, I hope she doesn't have a tapeworm or something. jk, sort of, she hasn't lost that much weight. Really only I would notice, but I am feeding her a bit more and giving her more snacks. I try to play apartment fetch and practice sit down stay and come and watch me for 5 minutes every day. I've found some treats other than peanut butter that she likes well enough to behave for. I am thinking of getting one of those bark collars in Seoul next weekend though since she does bark, although not too much and she usually does stop when I say quiet. She woke me several times last night to quiet her, so I reckon it might be better to try the collar. I don't know.
So Luna seems happy enough, yay, except for missing everyone, just like me. :)
So Korea is pretty cool with dogs. There's a vet right across the street with someone there who understands English. I still haven't found a groomer, but have faith one will turn up or I can do it myself and risk clogging the drains.
There have been a couple of girls who screamed at the sight of Luna and ran away, but many more people come up and pet her and think she's so cute. There are still a lot of people who walk to the other side of the sidewalk when we aproach and there have been several who pick up their wee little dogs when they see me and Luna coming. I suppose its okay since those tiny dogs tend to be mean biters. Seriously, we had one who didn't want to leave Luna alone.
I think Luna does miss home and the back yard and Mom and Dad and meine sisters and her alcove beneath the bed, she just doesn't have that cave right now. Maybe when I cover the crate with a dark tablecloth she will use it as her own personal sanctuary.
We've been eating Alpo and I think she really likes it, I think she may also be hungrier here in Korea, I hope she doesn't have a tapeworm or something. jk, sort of, she hasn't lost that much weight. Really only I would notice, but I am feeding her a bit more and giving her more snacks. I try to play apartment fetch and practice sit down stay and come and watch me for 5 minutes every day. I've found some treats other than peanut butter that she likes well enough to behave for. I am thinking of getting one of those bark collars in Seoul next weekend though since she does bark, although not too much and she usually does stop when I say quiet. She woke me several times last night to quiet her, so I reckon it might be better to try the collar. I don't know.
So Luna seems happy enough, yay, except for missing everyone, just like me. :)
Saturday, March 8, 2008
I Found My People...
So how long did ya'll think it would take me to find the sewing paraphrenalia area? I did spend about $30 on fabric, but I got some good ones. Here they are waiting for their chance in the washing machine.
So what else did I do today on this my second Saturday in Korea? Well, Luna got her morning walk, then I read up on good places to eat and stuff to see in Seoul and wrote down the routes for the subway, I so need a subway map, seriously.
Then came the shopping in Dongdaemun. Weird thing about the sewing fair was that there were as many men as women and more men than women selling the fabric. The cheapest fabric was 1000 won per yard and the most expensive I asked about was 5000 won per yard. Nice and reasonably priced. On the first floor are buttons, zippers, thread, scissors, seam rippers, etc (you get the idea. There are also some store toward the end that actually sew as well as sell fabric. Also there were a lot of what I can only assume are design students, you women mostly carrying around notebooks with fashions drawn inside and colored. It's kinda cool to see. I wonder if there are any other areas where I can see a lot of sewing stuff and I doubt it. From what I can tell, Koreans like to go to specific areas to shop. For example, the book sellers area or jewelry area. Yes you can find the items elsewhere, but they are more expensive and a lot less variety. One this I can certainly say is that this market was packed with people and fabric. It's like a maze and I did get lost a few times, not lost as in, how do I get out of here, but lost like, I just saw some really nice jersey or a nice cotton print and want to go back to it, but can't remember where it is. bummer.
Okay, so after spending hours at the Dongdaemon shopping center, I took the subway to Sinchon and got some tex, On the Border style. Yep, you heard me right.
It was nice if a bit expensive. On the bright side, I don't mind spending $20 for a meal I would pay $12 for back in the states since I'm not paying for breakfast or lunch during the week and have mostly spend less than $10 a day for food. Nice. One other nice thing about the area is the Burger King and McDonalds that are right beside the subway exit, if I hadn't been able to find OTB, I'd still been set for western style food. Oh and OTB had a pretty large collection of westerners. I think I saw 7 other ones in the restaurant. I also saw some at Dongdaemon and got some help on the subway from a pleasant Aussie chick who had a map. Why do the Seoul subway people not put maps on the walls of the routes. Seriously, they usually seem to post a map of the area around the subway stop, but no maps of the subway route. Hurumph. But back to Sinchon, they also have a rather large Skin Food, as in almost twice as big as the one here in Bundang and that explains how I spent my $100 budgeted for today. One of the benefits of not using cards is definitely that I have to think of what I can afford to spend and bring only that. So $50 went to lunch and the fabric store and the other $50 went to Skin Food, Etude House, and Face Shop. Of the 3 (which are essentially the same sorts of shops), I prefer Skin Food. Etude House seems to be reaching for the teenager clinetelle, but they do have some nice products and Face shop is more expensive. They all give out free samples, but Skin Food gave more out then the other 2.
So this is my haul
Nice, oh and this is a cute dog clothes stand I saw on my way home.
Aww, so cute and only 5000 won a pop. I think I'll buy Luna a tshirt next time we go out in the evenings since that may make people a little less scared of her. Some people do not react when to dogs begger than a few pounds, but I've heard frilly stuff works like a charm. There also seems to be a bit of racism going on since Luna's black :-P
Hmm, so after Sinchon I was tired and out of money so I came home and did laundry and took the trash out and took Luna for a walk and read a book and sorted through my DvDs. Yep, I'm going to tell you all the details of my day because I just know ya'll are totally interested.
Oh and btw, this is Dondaemon gate, for some reason Seoul put roads around all it's gates, i guess it makes sense since that was the point of the gates, traffic, but it still seems strange to me.
Friday, March 7, 2008
They still cry, but I'm not as overwhelmed...
Ooh, here are some pics of my kids that I took today, I was going to try to get a class photo, but we didn't have time, I'll ask my coteacher if we can schedule something. These are pics of all the kids, just the ones I got around to taking pictures of, and there's more pics in my photobucket if anyone is interested. Btw, many are wearing the yellow jumpsuits because its Friday, the teachers got to wear jeans to, so we were all pretty casual. :)
This is Joy and Cheny, both are really quiet, but I think Joy has a secret mean streak. I can seriously see him in middle-management.
Adorable little Michelle, smart, but not the smartest and she doesn't seem to act out much, so she's probably getting enough attention at home. Either that or she just isn't the acting out type.
Jenny, Chenny, and Emily actually working. Hmmm.
The Korean assistant teacher who does a lot of work. Wow, she's also good with the kids, but doesn't get many chances with them since she does a lot of background things.
This is Katie and Rachel. Katie's Mom works at the school, so she's always there before me. Hurmuph, I tend to leave her alone in the class since I have other things to do. I sometimes confuse Rachel and Michelle with each other because they are sitting in the same area in different circles and have similar personalities.
Jenny, Jenny, Jenny. This girl is almost as bad as the boys sometimes. She has a lot of energy and needs to expend it.
Alicia is so cute. She is smart, does what she's told, and seems to be a bit of a follower. Very sweet.
This is Kate, who is usually smiling much more than this. She's really good friends with Jenny and basically does what Jenny tells her to do.
Oh Emily, this is the crier for the past 2 days. Both times she started crying for her Mom about 10 minutes before it was time to go, poor mite. Her Mom doesn't seem overly concerned though. I do feel a little better about it today because I was able to get her to stop crying until right before her Mom came. I told her about Luna and it seems she has a dog named Sally :-P
These are the kids on the carpet at the end of class. Sorry for the fuzziness.
Pepero, I'm seriously sending you a box Susie so you can compare it to pocky.
In case ya'll can't tell, I do love pictures.
This is Joy and Cheny, both are really quiet, but I think Joy has a secret mean streak. I can seriously see him in middle-management.
Adorable little Michelle, smart, but not the smartest and she doesn't seem to act out much, so she's probably getting enough attention at home. Either that or she just isn't the acting out type.
Jenny, Chenny, and Emily actually working. Hmmm.
The Korean assistant teacher who does a lot of work. Wow, she's also good with the kids, but doesn't get many chances with them since she does a lot of background things.
This is Katie and Rachel. Katie's Mom works at the school, so she's always there before me. Hurmuph, I tend to leave her alone in the class since I have other things to do. I sometimes confuse Rachel and Michelle with each other because they are sitting in the same area in different circles and have similar personalities.
Jenny, Jenny, Jenny. This girl is almost as bad as the boys sometimes. She has a lot of energy and needs to expend it.
Alicia is so cute. She is smart, does what she's told, and seems to be a bit of a follower. Very sweet.
This is Kate, who is usually smiling much more than this. She's really good friends with Jenny and basically does what Jenny tells her to do.
Oh Emily, this is the crier for the past 2 days. Both times she started crying for her Mom about 10 minutes before it was time to go, poor mite. Her Mom doesn't seem overly concerned though. I do feel a little better about it today because I was able to get her to stop crying until right before her Mom came. I told her about Luna and it seems she has a dog named Sally :-P
These are the kids on the carpet at the end of class. Sorry for the fuzziness.
Pepero, I'm seriously sending you a box Susie so you can compare it to pocky.
In case ya'll can't tell, I do love pictures.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Crying Kinder
We had 4 crying incidents today. Two little girls cried for their Moms, a boy cried for being left by him Mom and another girl cried because I told her she had to put her book into her cubby. Hurumph, yes that last one was my fault, but darn it, she was told to put it up and needed to do so so we could move onto the next activity. The last girl who cried for her Mom was still crying when her Mom picked her up. The mom didn't seem to upset by it but that could be a front and my coteacher may be hearing something.
So if anyone has any ideas of keeping 4-6 year olds happy or distracting them from their tears. I tried to distract them, but am really not good at it. the last girl I asked if she had any pets at home. Hmm, I'm going to find some better questions for those kinder.
Also I'm doing much better with the kid's names and putting a face with a name. I get some of them confused, like Ted and Alex who look a lot like eat other and Rachel and Michelle don't look anything like each other, but I get them confused too sometimes.
I did my super elite club today and it was fine. I guess I've figured out what I need to do. Tell them the assignment for the day, then do it with them and have them finish up in the last few minutes. The second session this afternoon was actually finished with 5 minutes to spare. Oh, and one of my favorite kids from the graduation ceremony is in it. I hope I keep it because her name is Dorothy and she's great. I could be saying that because she reminds me of me. I don't know, like the moment I saw herr I thought she looked like a great kid. Of course a few minutes later her nose somehow started bleeding, probably the stress and dryness of the air. So she got some on her dress and I helped her wipe it off. So she's a sweet kid and I think so even now that I've taught her a bit. I think the spelling, phonics, and grammer is easier then the science I also did this afternoon. This is fine because I'll probably be switching from it. :shrugs: I do as I'm told.
Boys are horrible, argh, why can't they sit still for a few minutes at a time. Okay, I lie, they can sit still for short periods, but any longer and they freak out. This is consistent for all my classes so far. There are some girls who are the same, but it seems boys are the main culprit for classroom disruption.
Okay, so once everything is settled, we are so doing class pics because I want ya'll to see all my cute kids. Yes, I still thgink they are cute despite their energy.
What's sad is how much work these kids have to do. We haven't sent the kids home with any homework yet and I'm not sure if we are going to send them home with any, but they do plenty of work and some kids are so advanced and others are so behind that its hard to know what to do. Some kids'll finish their work in 5 minutes and others struggle though and will only do it when you stand over them telling them what to do for each one. I really don't know how much these kids are learning. I need to get some more interesting games, but they still need to do the pages to show the parents what they are learning and games would take away from time they should spent of worksheets. Today gave me a new appreciation of how good my coteacher is with the kids. She does a great story and song and keeps it really interesting for the kids. It's wonderful and intimidating, but I guess she doesn't expect too much from the foreign teacher. I know that several times over the past couple of days I've told the kids what the answer is so they can just write it down and get it done so we can move on. Also I've let slide some misshappen letters and errors. It's hard to know how harshly to grade at this age and English level.
So, more musings on teaching in Korea, hmmm. So some of the kids understand what I say and others stare at me and nod. We did a couple more sessions of teacher Sallie says today and I think I'm going to find some other games that are quick and can work reasonably well. There's the one kid, Cheny, who rarely smiles. She's a very serious looking child, even in the gym. The only time I saw her smile wass during the story and the moment she saw me looking, she stopped smiling, hmmm. What's up with that? I'm not commanding enough with the kids either and knew i'd have trouble with that from the getgo because I know kids need firm direction and structure, but I tend to bend easily, so if a kid suggests we do something else, I don't mind changing my plans even though I know I shouldn't. This hasn't happened yet, but I'll try to prepare for it.
Sayonara :) oops wrong language. btw, aching feet are mine.
So if anyone has any ideas of keeping 4-6 year olds happy or distracting them from their tears. I tried to distract them, but am really not good at it. the last girl I asked if she had any pets at home. Hmm, I'm going to find some better questions for those kinder.
Also I'm doing much better with the kid's names and putting a face with a name. I get some of them confused, like Ted and Alex who look a lot like eat other and Rachel and Michelle don't look anything like each other, but I get them confused too sometimes.
I did my super elite club today and it was fine. I guess I've figured out what I need to do. Tell them the assignment for the day, then do it with them and have them finish up in the last few minutes. The second session this afternoon was actually finished with 5 minutes to spare. Oh, and one of my favorite kids from the graduation ceremony is in it. I hope I keep it because her name is Dorothy and she's great. I could be saying that because she reminds me of me. I don't know, like the moment I saw herr I thought she looked like a great kid. Of course a few minutes later her nose somehow started bleeding, probably the stress and dryness of the air. So she got some on her dress and I helped her wipe it off. So she's a sweet kid and I think so even now that I've taught her a bit. I think the spelling, phonics, and grammer is easier then the science I also did this afternoon. This is fine because I'll probably be switching from it. :shrugs: I do as I'm told.
Boys are horrible, argh, why can't they sit still for a few minutes at a time. Okay, I lie, they can sit still for short periods, but any longer and they freak out. This is consistent for all my classes so far. There are some girls who are the same, but it seems boys are the main culprit for classroom disruption.
Okay, so once everything is settled, we are so doing class pics because I want ya'll to see all my cute kids. Yes, I still thgink they are cute despite their energy.
What's sad is how much work these kids have to do. We haven't sent the kids home with any homework yet and I'm not sure if we are going to send them home with any, but they do plenty of work and some kids are so advanced and others are so behind that its hard to know what to do. Some kids'll finish their work in 5 minutes and others struggle though and will only do it when you stand over them telling them what to do for each one. I really don't know how much these kids are learning. I need to get some more interesting games, but they still need to do the pages to show the parents what they are learning and games would take away from time they should spent of worksheets. Today gave me a new appreciation of how good my coteacher is with the kids. She does a great story and song and keeps it really interesting for the kids. It's wonderful and intimidating, but I guess she doesn't expect too much from the foreign teacher. I know that several times over the past couple of days I've told the kids what the answer is so they can just write it down and get it done so we can move on. Also I've let slide some misshappen letters and errors. It's hard to know how harshly to grade at this age and English level.
So, more musings on teaching in Korea, hmmm. So some of the kids understand what I say and others stare at me and nod. We did a couple more sessions of teacher Sallie says today and I think I'm going to find some other games that are quick and can work reasonably well. There's the one kid, Cheny, who rarely smiles. She's a very serious looking child, even in the gym. The only time I saw her smile wass during the story and the moment she saw me looking, she stopped smiling, hmmm. What's up with that? I'm not commanding enough with the kids either and knew i'd have trouble with that from the getgo because I know kids need firm direction and structure, but I tend to bend easily, so if a kid suggests we do something else, I don't mind changing my plans even though I know I shouldn't. This hasn't happened yet, but I'll try to prepare for it.
Sayonara :) oops wrong language. btw, aching feet are mine.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
My Building
For those wondering, this is kinda how I go about my building.
I usually walk through the parking area.
Here's one of the food court areas.
The center of the building from the inside and outside.
Sometimes I check my mail.
I go into the building and catch and elevator.
Koreans really like mirrors, they are everywhere, even the inside of the elevators are highly reflective.
Walk down a corridor.
I lost my key on the first day and must enter a code.
I usually walk through the parking area.
Here's one of the food court areas.
The center of the building from the inside and outside.
Sometimes I check my mail.
I go into the building and catch and elevator.
Koreans really like mirrors, they are everywhere, even the inside of the elevators are highly reflective.
Walk down a corridor.
I lost my key on the first day and must enter a code.
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