i got a call about a week and half ago from Seong-Hee at GIMFL to ask me if i would be willing to help them out with their entrance exams. the high school, located just outside of gimhae in Jangyu, is a public boarding school for super smart kids. they focus on foreign language learning and have not only native english speakers, but also chinese and japanese.
it's a new school that opened this year and has only 150 students right now. their entrance exams for next years grade 1 class were today. there were about 600 applicants for 150 positions and those 600 were narrowed down to 400 before today. the exam consists of a reading section and a listening section.
i was asked to record the listening part of the exam. since the school doesn't have any female native speakers, they needed to borrow me, and mrs. kim at the board of education recommended me. thanks! they said they would pay me 100,000 won for my voice and 30,000 for having to stay over night. over night? ya that's right...
apparently a few years ago one of the professors who was writing the SAT exam for korea managed to smuggle the answers to the parents of a student who would have otherwise failed... well, when he got a near perfect score, the board got suspicious... so now schools like this one take extra precaution. the korean tachers had been in isolation on the top floor of the dormitory since sunday morning (i arrived on tuesday morning).
i had to be there at 9 am and since it's about a half hour by car i left the house at ten past eight to find a cab - not an easy feat. the first one assumed i was going to busan (because i was wearing a suit?!?) and wouldn't pick me up even when i told him where i was going... a few others turned me down as well. finally i found a cab and was on my way. i got there with 5 minutes to spare - not that it ended up mattering in the long run... i could have been an hour late - like the other foreign teacher (who lives on campus... so i don't know why he was late).
anyway, then i was told i would have to proof read the reading exam and then the listening part to make sure that it made sense. that took most of the day - but as it turns out, i got paid and extra 45,000 for doing it! the exam was ok, but there were still a lot of little mistakes that needed to be fixed.
we finally got to the broadcasting room to begin recording at 7 pm. i've been listening to my own voice and working with mics and recording etc... for a long time, darren (my new american friend) has not. but we managed to finish up in about an hour and a half. oddly enough i was the one who made more mistakes... it was kind of funny.... but we only had to stop a few times, and mostly because there was background noise. i only screwed up my lines once. considering the script wasn't written out like copy and it didn't really have a very natural flow, we did really well.
we had to go back and record one of the questions at like 11 pm but other than that, it was perfect - or so we thought. this morning we had to "go live" with question 7 after the exam was over because somehow it disappeared. it just wasn't on the tape. very very strange. but we did it and it was great. i was 'released' from custody at 11:30 and have the rest of the day to do what i want... laze about mostly...
so in all i made an extra 175$ (a little more really with the exchange rate) to hang out at another school for a day. sweet. here are some pics that i managed to take this morning before i left - they took my camera and cell phone when i arrived yesterday and i got them back this morning.
the view from the top floor of the dorm. the green thing is the roof of the cafeteria and looks like a little stage area.
darren - my new american friend. he lives on campus, but hopefully he'll get out to meet the gang at the B&G soon.
the room we were in yesterday - editing, proof reading, and re-writing.
the main building on campus, it's brand spanking new... and beautiful... so clean.
the view from my room... yes, they were this anal about it. all the windows on the floor were covered over - no smoke messages to the parents!!! haha! did i mention that we even had a "body guard" watching us to make sure that we didn't get out, he followed us everywhere!
it was a good time, and they kept trying to get me to come work for them, so i've got a job lined up for next year - if i want it!
it's a new school that opened this year and has only 150 students right now. their entrance exams for next years grade 1 class were today. there were about 600 applicants for 150 positions and those 600 were narrowed down to 400 before today. the exam consists of a reading section and a listening section.
i was asked to record the listening part of the exam. since the school doesn't have any female native speakers, they needed to borrow me, and mrs. kim at the board of education recommended me. thanks! they said they would pay me 100,000 won for my voice and 30,000 for having to stay over night. over night? ya that's right...
apparently a few years ago one of the professors who was writing the SAT exam for korea managed to smuggle the answers to the parents of a student who would have otherwise failed... well, when he got a near perfect score, the board got suspicious... so now schools like this one take extra precaution. the korean tachers had been in isolation on the top floor of the dormitory since sunday morning (i arrived on tuesday morning).
i had to be there at 9 am and since it's about a half hour by car i left the house at ten past eight to find a cab - not an easy feat. the first one assumed i was going to busan (because i was wearing a suit?!?) and wouldn't pick me up even when i told him where i was going... a few others turned me down as well. finally i found a cab and was on my way. i got there with 5 minutes to spare - not that it ended up mattering in the long run... i could have been an hour late - like the other foreign teacher (who lives on campus... so i don't know why he was late).
anyway, then i was told i would have to proof read the reading exam and then the listening part to make sure that it made sense. that took most of the day - but as it turns out, i got paid and extra 45,000 for doing it! the exam was ok, but there were still a lot of little mistakes that needed to be fixed.
we finally got to the broadcasting room to begin recording at 7 pm. i've been listening to my own voice and working with mics and recording etc... for a long time, darren (my new american friend) has not. but we managed to finish up in about an hour and a half. oddly enough i was the one who made more mistakes... it was kind of funny.... but we only had to stop a few times, and mostly because there was background noise. i only screwed up my lines once. considering the script wasn't written out like copy and it didn't really have a very natural flow, we did really well.
we had to go back and record one of the questions at like 11 pm but other than that, it was perfect - or so we thought. this morning we had to "go live" with question 7 after the exam was over because somehow it disappeared. it just wasn't on the tape. very very strange. but we did it and it was great. i was 'released' from custody at 11:30 and have the rest of the day to do what i want... laze about mostly...
so in all i made an extra 175$ (a little more really with the exchange rate) to hang out at another school for a day. sweet. here are some pics that i managed to take this morning before i left - they took my camera and cell phone when i arrived yesterday and i got them back this morning.
the view from the top floor of the dorm. the green thing is the roof of the cafeteria and looks like a little stage area.
darren - my new american friend. he lives on campus, but hopefully he'll get out to meet the gang at the B&G soon.
the room we were in yesterday - editing, proof reading, and re-writing.
the main building on campus, it's brand spanking new... and beautiful... so clean.
the view from my room... yes, they were this anal about it. all the windows on the floor were covered over - no smoke messages to the parents!!! haha! did i mention that we even had a "body guard" watching us to make sure that we didn't get out, he followed us everywhere!it was a good time, and they kept trying to get me to come work for them, so i've got a job lined up for next year - if i want it!
2 comments:
You had a bodyguard...now that's just ridiculous...and this is for kids to get into a secondary school...?
If I can find any of those ingredients you mentioned, I might try your recipe as part of my teach-myself-to-cook program :) wish me luck!
Korea certainly makes you feel like a movie star...first with all the stares and now this! a bodyguard! Next thing you'll be asking to bathe in Evian water...;)
Post a Comment