gyeongju - part two

after spending much of the afternoon in the cold at the amusement park everyone split up to "play games or whatever" with the kids. my group ended up singing some kids songs - the muffin man, humpty dumpty, if you're happy and you know it - i knew all of them from my childhood, and these kids were really great at singing them. they were in four groups and i had to choose the 'winner' (the group that sang the best) of every song - the teams had names: peace, surprise, excalibur, and chicken! i excalibur won this game. (yes, excalibur, they couldn't tell us what it was, but they chose that as their name anyway)

after that we played a "hugging game" where the kids all held hands in a circle and then i yelled out a number - say 13 - and they had to get into groups of that number. whoever was left out at the end was out of the game. the ten students left at the end were the winners. did i mention that if they won we showered them with lollies and chocolate? ya, that's a good idea, sugar 'em up!!!

our last game was a spelling contest where they chose five students to one-by-one run up to me, then i showed them a letter of thee alphabet, then they ran back to their team to come up with a word, ran back to me to say the word and spell it correctly. the team with the most points won...can't remember which one it was. it was fun.

then we all had dinner at the cafeteria. after that there was a show, or as the koreans put it, "recreation time". some of the kids had prepared dances or songs - yes, i spent my friday night at a middle school talent show! hahaha! it was pretty boring, but cute. here are some shots:
some of the kids i spent the afternoon with dressed in their pajamas dancing around the stage...

more of the same... you get the idea...

the coolest part was the professional dancing group. they were up there break dancing for quite a while. i took some video, but with no sound it's pretty boring... plus i never got the really cool bits of dancing, so i'll leave it to your imagination...

after the show we headed back into the sub-zero night for a bonfire. woohoo. can you tell i was excited? it was just so cold out... and a bunch of these kids had no jacket, no scarf, mittens, hats or any kind of warm clothing on. it was ridiculous. and, of course, this being korea, everything has to be all ceremonial, so it took a while for the fire to get lit. they had these people running around the circle with a torch - sort of like the olympics - and then one lady did one final lap to "we are the champions" and finally the stack of wood covered in gasoline was lit.
not like any bonfire i've ever been to before... what's it sitting on? a strange metal tray. i guess it's easier to clean up.

anyway, emma and i decided it was too cold and snuck away back to the log cabin we were staying in. this was the strangest and most surreal part of the whole trip. not only was this an amusement park, but they had all these dorm style houses and little mini houses all over for people to sleep in. apparently we were the lucky ones staying in the main cabin.

this was taken in the morning... doesn't it look like it belongs in canada? (almost anyway)

a shot inside the cabin... loft style and all. there were a bunch of rooms on the second floor - we, the foreign ladies, got one to ourselves:
eileen, me, and emma in our room. there wer eno beds, just mats, pillows, and blankets. it was okay since the floors were heated.

i took this shot of the little sleeping houses the next morning:
they're not much bigger than your average back yard shed in canada, but families sleep in them. it was just so weird that people would go and stay at a place like this. i suppose that it was built with events like ours in mind, but i just couldn't get over how odd it was. like a little village, sort of like a ski resort but not as cool...

all in all though, it was a good time... more to come on the events of the next day (saturday) so stay tuned!

woe... is me

what will it take? i am here working for the ministry of education of south korea... they plan on having a native english speaker in every public school by (i think) 2010... that's in three years... i wish them luck with their deadline. there are so many things wrong with the system and the way they treat foreigners within it... that i can't see that many people wanting to come - especially if they read about experiences like mine... (i do what i can to get the word out).

once again, i have not been paid on time. my contract stipulates that i am to be paid on the 25th of the month. if the 25th falls on a weekend or a holiday i am to be paid on the preceeding friday - this month, that would be today. but of course, the shortfalls of the gimhae office of education have screwed me over, again, - and on christmas weekend. they don't seem to understand that this is unacceptable.

i went to the bank at 3:30 to take out my money to bring it to a different bank to transfer to my canadian account. i do this every payday. my bank won't do the transfer, so i have to carry over a thousand dollars in my purse two blocks to a bank that will... but when i tried to take it out, it wasn't there.

i called my co-teacher immediately. it took me about half an hour to get hold of him. i told him he had to call the office of education to find out why i wasn't paid yet, he said he'd call me back. when he called back he said that the person in charge of accounting wasn't available, but the other people there said that i would be paid on tuesday!!! i tried to explain to him this was unacceptable - especially this being a long weekend and Christmas, that i had friends coming to visit and my contract says... blah blah blah... that's what i should have said for all the good it did. he gave me the number for the office and told me to call them. well, no one there speaks english, so a load of good that does me.

i just don't know what to do at this point. i mean, i'm okay, money wise, i can always use my canadian accounts - but that's the reason i'm here, to pay off my visa and line of credit - not to use them! i will have to make some kind of official complaint.

so a very merry christmas... hopefully the weekend won't be completely destroyed because of this, it just makes things more difficult... and that is the bigger problem. the people who run this program need to make adjusting to life here as simple and easy as possible, and they don't. point finale.

i also went back to the doctor today because of this cough that won't go away and was told (of all things!!!) that i'm allergic to, get this... the weather. "it's very cold outside" said the doctor. "i'm from CANADA" was my reply... "it's much colder there." but he insisted... and the korean teacher that came with me wasn't able to translate any better than that. so i got another shot and pills for three more days that will hopefully do something... maybe i should go to a traditional doctor for some acupuncture...i'm thinking about it anyway...

so, woe is me... everywhere i go, and everything i do, turns to crap... bad luck? bad karma? maybe that means i have something really great coming my way... trying to stay positive, signing off...

what a waste...of space, time, energy... you name it.

so i know i keep complaining about my dork of a co-teacher, but i just have to... it gets worse every week. let me begin with monday morning.

i arrived at school at ten past eight (ten minutes early, like i do every day). i still didn't have my schedule for the week - i'm the only teacher i know whose schedule changes every week - but waited, as usual, for him to give it to me. i probably should have gone and asked him for it after first period started, but i wanted to see how long it would take him. at 10:04:45 AM he came to and dropped the schedule on my desk. surprise, surprise, i had a class at 10:05.

he didn't even say anything to me and walked away. i said "this is unacceptable" and he turned back. "oh, sorry. it was done on friday i just didn't have time to give it to you." didn't have time? between friday and monday at 10am he didn't have time? had i not been sitting there for almost two hours? had he not been in the room? what does it take to just hit print and leave it on my desk???

"you'd better get to class," he said to me. "excuse me?"
"you heard me, get to class."
"i don't even know what i'm supposed to be teaching these kids, i saw them two days ago. i'm only supposed to see them every two weeks."
"well, just go"

i stayed at my desk trying to figure out what to bring to class and two minutes later he brought me a different schedule and repeated "you'd better get to class." it was already ten minutes into the period, i looked at the schedule, cross-referenced with my excel worksheet of classes and what i've done with them already - thank god i'm so organized... though i have to be with the kind of schedule he gives me all the time... it never makes sense - there are some classes that i haven't seen for weeks and others that i am seeing two times in one week, two weeks in a row... i've offered to make my own schedule but he refuses saying it's his job.... but then when i say it's unacceptable for him to give it to me so late, he says that it's my responsibility to ASK him for it. WTF? i digress.

i asked him if the teacher in this class knows that i'm coming and he says yes. i look on my map of the school to figure out where i'm going (i usually leave with a teacher who takes me - with 38 classes i still haven't figured it out). as i'm walking to class, he comes running down the hall after me - he hasn't given the schedule to the korean english teacher that i'm working with.

as he catches up, i turn around and say "this is unacceptable, you are going to call the office of education right now and get me transferred to a co-teacher who can do his job!" what is his answer? "it doesn't matter, in a month you're going to a different school anyway."

EXCUSE ME????????? he wouldn't elaborate. of course not, i'm not privy to that kind of information until the last possibe moment. everything must be kept secret from the foreigner. i've asked Jo to ask him and he said he would get more information, i don't believe him.

anyway, monday goes by, i stopped talking to him and haven't even said as much as hello to him since then, nor he to me. but TODAY i had a "business trip". a meeting at the office of education (on the other side of the city - 45 minutes on the bus, there and then back)... well, as it turns out, i wasn't supposed to go to this meeting, it was for the Korean english teachers of the winter camp that i'm working at, and not the foreign teachers.

so i wasted all afternoon to go to a meeting that i didn't even need to be at, all thanks to the dumbass that we all know as my co-teacher. this guy is giving teaching in Korea a bad name. i feel like going home and making it clear that it is ALL because of him. i hope i DO get transferred, it may just be the blessing in disguise that i need. thank god it's mini weekend and i can get out with the ex-pats tonight.

the real beans

so, school has been letting out at 12:30 this week (monday, tuesday, and wednesday) because the grade 1 & 2's are in exams - more on that later. so yesterday i was home by one. i had lunch and then went out to buy a coffee maker - i just can't do it Korean style anymore! i need REAL coffee. i had been to the (bigger, better) homeplus across town on sunday, but they were out of the cheap (read $10) coffee makers. so, yesterday, having all this time in the afternoon, i headed to my local homeplus.

as you can (probably) tell by the pic on the left, i got one! it's a Livest MEC-503 - if that means anything... i can't tell you anymore, since everything is, you got it! in korean!

however, i have yet to try it out, since the homeplus had that coffee maker, but NO COFFEE!!! no filters, nothing to go with it, except the water. i'm still trying to find some and was gonig to go get some today, but was side-tracked by an awesome lunch with a co-worker.

i know they have the coffee at the other store accross the mountain, but it's such a pain to get there... hopefully i will be able to get there tomorrow - since i'm going out in the evening (as i do every wednesday for "mini-weekend"). i'll need the coffee to make it through thursday!

as i was saying, the grade 1 and 2's are taking their end of year exams right now. just another problem with the korean education system... they give the exams BEFORE the end of school. the grade three's had theirs over a month ago and since then it has been impossible to keep their attention in class.

i mean, why should they care about anything, their grades are in, they're off to high school in a few weeks, and anything we teach now is useless, right? i say "wrong" but try getting 500 sixteen-year olds to agree with that. needless to say, it has been a trying month, and isn't getting any better. which is just another reason to be so happy that we have a couple of half-days this week... the only problem is that the only classes i can teach in the mornings are the grade threes.

oh, if only they were all still sweet and innocent like the grade ones who still cheer when i walk in the room... instead they are constantly trying to take over the class. i suppose it is to be expected, especially when anything they do now doesn't ACTUALLY matter.

just another reason i need REAL coffee in the morning.

oh, and in case you're wondering about korean coffee (see right), it's all pre-packaged instant - with powdered milk and sugar already in the mix... you can buy different kinds, but i can't read the box, and now have about 100 'sticks' of the stuff left. anyway, you take a 'stick' and empty it in your cup and add about an inch of hot water - that's right one cup of coffee in korea is really like 3 sips of sugared milk. not nearly enough to get me going in the morning! i'd drink like 8 of them, but they're so sweet and creamy that they'll make me sick if i drink too much...

here's hoping for some caffeine in the next few days!

the short stick...part deux

this morning jo (my amazing korean english teacher) told me that she arranged a sit-down with my co-teacher and me after last period today. she told me that she would attend as well. all day i was worried about it, trying to figure out what i would say and how i would say it. but she had already told him about the letter i wrote - i don't know what else she said about it, but it seemed like he was freaking out a bit that i'd told her about the sauna and his kids etc...

he apologized for everything. i apologized for calling him an asshole (though it felt great at the time, i did feel bad about it).

we agreed to start at zero; to try and communicate better (i've heard that one before); that he would tell me when he doesn't understand me - turns out half the time he has no idea what i'm saying; that if i need anything i will ask jo and if she doesn't know she'll ask him if need be; and finally that we would be amicable to each other no matter what.

hopefully the situation is resolved - i certainly feel a lot better for having had the chance to tell him that he made me doubt my decision in coming here and that i wanted to go home after the way he treated me last week. i'm feeling good about it all now, and hopefully things will stay this way. jo was worried about me and how i seemed so unhappy for the last few days, which i was, but i think that it'll all be okay...

even though i originally got the short stick, i think i just picked a new one and it's a lot bigger than the last. :)

ebb and flow

today was a pretty good day. i felt like i could just shake it all off... one of my team teachers told me that she would talk to my co-teacher with me and help me find a solution to my problem with him - but i think it's more than that. i just felt able to deal with all the shit - ebb and flow - dealing with culture shock is all about recognizing it, and then being as positive about it all as you can... maybe i've been repressing a lot of my feelings of culture shock and that's why it hit me all at once... i think i can do it now...

school was pretty good. i did some good lessons on pronunciation of tee aitch (TH)... since the most used word in the english language is 'the' i thought it would be good for them to be able to say it, instead of 'duh' it also helps them distinguish between "s" words. it was all right. in my other classes we played broken telephone - always a hit since it's a game. little do they know they're practising their english at the same time... it's perfect - listening and speaking... they understand how important it is when the message gets messed up in the middle and they don't get the answer right. i get to play it in almost every class for the rest of the week... good times!

things are looking up, and hopefully they'll stay that way. at least i'm prepared for the tide now...

the short stick

When it comes to co-teachers, I got the short stick. It’s taken me two and a half months to admit this, even to myself, but after much consideration, I have to say that I’d be better off without him a lot of the time.

I work in only one middle school, my co-teacher (the one “in charge” of me) is in his late thirties/early forties, and thinks that he’s gods gift to English education. I think he’s an asshole – excuse my language, hope it doesn’t offend anyone, but he is. He likes to put on these airs of being so great because he spent a month or two in the US on some exchange program, but really he’s the worst teacher at the school. His students have the worst grades of any of my six other team-teachers.

That however, is not my main issue with him. Since the day I have arrived he’s tried to pretend to be nice and to “take care” of me, until I really need something then he has no idea what is going on and tries to just tell me to accept things. “This is the way it is in Korea,” or “you must do this,” or “you must listen to me,” more recently I have been having trouble with him regarding my pay and clarifications on the deductions that are being taken.

In September I got paid one amount and in October I got paid less. When I tried to find out why, he told me “this is just how much you will get paid now.” Sorry, but that is an unacceptable answer in my books. When I pushed him to get me a pay slip he tried to convince me that I don’t need one. Then he told me all of the amounts deducted were normal, which they are not. I don’t know a single other ESL teacher in Korea who has to pay unemployment insurance, do you? He tried to tell me that when the year is over I can claim it, which is a load of crap, I am not allowed to claim Korean unemployment, I’m here on a contract, and when that contract is up, my visa expires and I have to leave the country.

It has been over a week since I asked for a pay slip and I still don’t have one. I finally had to get the supervisor of my province’s English teachers program on the phone. He has assured me that I would have a pay slip in a few days and if not to call him back.

This is not the only reason I call him an asshole.

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling terrible. I didn’t sleep all night because my throat was so sore that I kept waking up, I also had a fever and the sickest headache I’ve ever had. So, I went to school because I didn't know how to call in sick, and I knew I needed to go to the doctor - thus I was in need of a Korean. Too bad for me that the one I have to go to is my co-teacher.

When he finally got in (he's always late) he told me to go rest in the ladies room (we have a room for female teachers to sleep in when needed) and after something - pictures? I’m not sure what he was talking about, I was pretty out of it – he would take me to the doctor. Well, he forgot about me and left me there for two hours. At least I was able to get a little sleep, though it's hard with screaming kids running around outside.

So, I finally went and told him I needed to go to the doctor. He said he would take me, though he acted as though he were my savior and as if he were going out of his way. The doctor told me that I have tonsillitis, and that I should rest for a few days. He gave me a prescription to fill, and the mandatory “shot” that you get at the doctors. We were on our way; he would take me to the pharmacy and drive me home.

Of course, being Korean, he illegally parked while we were at the doctor's - it's not my place to tell him not to, last time I did that he told me that it was ok...and to never mind. Well, this time he got a ticket.

He couldn't wrap his head around it, a ticket? A ticket? “What do you think about this ticket?” he actually asked me that. I said, "Are you kidding? I can barely speak and you're asking me what I think of this ticket? It’s a ticket." Then he said, "Well I think you should pay for half of it." To which I replied, "this isn't the time, are you serious?" The doctor just told him that I needed to get home and get to bed and stay there, no stress, no work... and he's asking me about a parking ticket? WTF? Then he says, “Well, if you don't want to pay for it, then I’m just going to go back to school now and you can walk home.” At which point he pointed at the door as if to say ‘get out of my car.’ So I called him an asshole and walked home.

Am I over-reacting here? This is not the first time that he has done something like this to me, but I would have to write a short novella if I wanted to tell you everything… the first time he brought me to sauna and napped in the same cubby hole as me, the time he asked me how many men I’ve slept with, the two times he sent me to immigration by myself, the times that he’s tried to make me feel like I was indebted to him for him doing his job… I can keep going here.

I am friends’ with several other Korean co-teachers in my city and friends of mine have told their co-teachers about mine, and they all seem appalled by his complete indifference and lack of ability. I don’t want to make it seem like all co-teachers are like this, I don’t think that they are, like I said, I just got the short stick.

english activity contest.

this weekend was a short one for me - i worked on saturday... something i swear to never do again. a day or two after the call from GIMFL (the boarding school) i got another call from the board of education. "can you work on november fourth? we need someone to judge the english speaking contest," said the lady. "november fourth... november fourth...?? what day of the week is that?" i replied. "it's saturday morning." my immediate reply was "i don't work on saturdays" then she more or less begged me, as if my saying no would jeopardize the entire affair, and there wouldn't be a contest! so i asked how much it paid. $30. how long would it take? 2-3 hours. where was it? Seomyeon elementary school. "well, i guess a couple of hours won't kill me, okay, i'll do it." BIG mistake. i should've said no. no way. or as they say in korea ANIO.

a day and a half before the "english activity contest" i got an official document at my school (from the board of education) outlining the details of who, what, where...etc... as it turned out, the even was taking place in Jangyu... the same city as the boarding school i had been to. as far as i knew transportation was NOT included and since it cost me like 13,000 won there and another 13,000 back the last time i went, well, let's just say i was not interested in paying that myself (the boarding school paid for it). especially if the job was only paying me 30,000 all tolled.

after hours of trying to explain that i wouldn't do it unless they paid for my transportation - they agreed to pay me an extra 15,000 for a taxi home and that jay would drive me there in the morning. this was all right with me... i was just disappointed that this woman had lied to me about the location - telling me it was in gimhae when it wasn't... i'm slowly learning that koreans like to pretend that they have a culture built on mutual respect but they'll do or say anything to a foreigner just to get them to agree. needless to say if this woman ever asks me for anything again i am going to say no. i don't appreciate being lied to.

anyway, the competition itself also lasted longer than the 2-3 hours she told me, i was there from 9 am to 1:30 pm and last time i checked that's four and a half hours - on a saturday!!! argh. i was also told they would provide lunch, and there was nothing... more lies... anyway, there were a bunch of other foreign teachers there, so i saw some of my friends, and actually ended up getting a lift back to gimhae with scott - the other canadian epik teacher here in gimhae. so i didn't have to pay for the taxi after all....

i was judging the grade four students on their spoken english. they would come into the room and sit at a desk about two feet in front of me. there were two korean teachers who were also judging - one on my left and one on my right. the one on the left would start with 'beginner' questions "how are you? what is your name?" then the one on the left would ask 'intermediate' questions, "tell me about your family" and then i would ask the 'advanced' questions, "what do you do after school? tell me about your hobbies, and would you like to travel? where? why?". then the kids would have to choose one of three pictures and talk about it.

we did this with over forty kids. the winner was miles ahead of the rest and actually got 100/100 from the other two teachers. she got the highest grade i gave 93/100. her english was better than any of my middle school students and she's three years younger than them!

anyway, lessons learned - 1. do not work on saturday (unless they're paying too much to say no) 2. don't trust mrs park at the board of education. 3. beware the korean who is too eager to please you.

school 'festival'

monday was the opening day of our "school festival" i'm not sure why they call it a "festival" it's more like an art show - as far as i can see... but maybe they all did something while i was away. in fact, i was surprised by how good some of the art was, the students have been working hard on their projects... here are a few of my favourites:

this is a shot of the whole room - the school gymnasium... i'd never even seen it before the show opened!

this is like sand art... the design is outlined in gold string and coloured in with sand.

these are regular plastic bottles covered in twine and then painted. the gold string designs are added after.

this is one of my favourites.this looks like a painting, but is actually made with material... the texture is incredible.

clay. the students all went to some museum where they made all these clay things, this was one of the best out of about 300.this is traditional korean paper art. all these things, including the lamps and lanterns, are made with paper. i've got a couple of kits on order with the teacher who organized this part of the show... i'm going to try my hand at it! it looked like so much fun, and the results are really nice. when/if i ever do one, i'll post the process here for you.

so that was the school festival - some art, though i'm sure they did something while i was away at gimfl... but no one can give me any details... don't know how much i'm going to post this weekend, kat is coming down saturday and i have plans to go to the movies on sunday, but i'll be posting soon! in the meantime, have a good one!

Gimhae Foreign Language High School

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!

Teach English In Asia

i've been meaning to write this for a few days... so here it is. i'm marginally involved in this new web site called (you guessed it!) Teach English In Asia and i've been posting some of my blog posts and photos and other stuff to it. i figure i can put it on my CV as an online writer... i'm the new food critic! just wanted to promote it a little bit and let you all know about my new endeavour...

team teaching demo class

sorry, my attempt at cooking korean will have to wait! i had a great day (the best so far) at school today... and i thought it would be the worst! today Jay and i had our team teaching demo. basically this means that we had an "open" class where a bunch of teachers from other schools (as well as our own) come and watch our class. we've been working on it for a few weeks. i may have mentioned it before... i'm not sure. it was all about Halloween, which is one of my favourite holidays. anyway, it was a hit, the kids were on their best behaviour, and all the teachers told us they had a great time... here's a rundown.

Jay and i went over our halloween vocabulary: Halloween, trick or treat, ghost, jack-o-lantern, werewolf, vampire, mummy, witch, skeleton, haunted. the kids repeated it after me and jay held up pictures. later in the class they had to fill in a halloween word scramble of the days' vocabulary... the first three to finish got chocolate!

the poster board was a bit small... as were the pictures, but at least it's something to look at... as were the devil horns i was wearing. the homeroom teacher of this class surprised me and jay by decorating the class and getting the students to wear "costumes" so i took a set of horns to wear!

then we went over the history of Halloween (a handout i found online) with the students reading along with me.

after reading it over, i asked them a few questions like "when is halloween?" and "where does Halloween come from?" whoever answered got candy and the usual sticker. (i give out stickers for participation - after five they get a prize.)

then we showed them the jack-o-lantern and how to make one. we made one the other day as an example.


we even made baked pumpkin seeds to share with the class and our guests. the kids really liked them! they're one of my favourite parts of jack-o-lantern making.

Then we played the "trick or treat game". we had a box (see the orange thing on the desk) with "tricks" in it. students came up to the front, and said "trick or treat", then they picked a trick from the box (read the vocabulary list, read from the history of halloween, do the chicken dance...etc) and after performing the trick they received a treat - a mini snikers bar, a peice of 'ghana' chocolate (korean), a peice of candy, and a sticker... the stakes were big enough to get enough of them up and actually do the trick. in our practice classes this was really hard - buut we didn't have candy then!

this is another student doing the trick - he had to sing a song to the class. they all joined in with him and clapped along - it was great!

here are the "big wigs" assessing our every move... we got pretty good grades as far as i could tell... the sheet was all in korean... so i won't find out until jay tallies them up.
all in all, it was a great class. all of the teachers at my school who came to watch told me they loved it, and it seemed like the students had a great time too. jay and i worked really well together and it all worked out. i don't know what i was so worried about ... cause i was really worried about it for some silly reason... it's a massive weight off my shoulders... yay!

coming up... liz cooking korean and gayaland! (the amusement park up the street - tomorrow is picnic day!) so keep reading!

korean text book dialogue.

this is why i'm here... these are just two examples of the dialogues that students practice in class. i am forced by my co-teacher to use these in a few of my classes. they're just so un-natural, don't you think? worth a good chuckle at the least.

A: Hello, can I talk to Mr. Brown?
B: You’ve got the wrong number.
A: I’m sure this is the correct number. Mr. Charlie Brown doesn’t live there?
B: Oh, you mean Charlie Brown?
A: Yes. May I speak to him?
B: This is he. Who’s this?
A: This is Marcie.
B: Oh, come on, Marcie. What’s up?
A: Did you do your homework?
B: I’m doing it now. It’s very easy.
A: It can’t be. It’s difficult even for me!


A: Excuse me, do you know how to use this machine?
B: Sure. First you should put your card here.
A: All right. And then what do I do?
B: Then you enter your pin number and the amount you want. It’s easy isn’t it?
A: Yes. This is the first time I’ve used it.
B: How do you like the machine?
A: I like it a lot! Thank you for teaching me.
B: You’re very welcome.

Tous Les Jours

who thought i'd come to Korea and be at an advantage knowing French?!? well, i guess it isn't really an advantage, it's only one store - but i found bagels and philly cream cheese there... and not too expensive either! yay! i'll have a bagel for breakfast tomorrow... they aren't anything compared to Montreal bagels - those are my favourite - but they're sort of like New York Bagels, really like a cross between the two. anyhow, today must have been the day for french, because one of my students walked up to me and started speaking it to me! and it was very good - better than her english! (which isn't hard in these parts) she lived in France for one year and picked it up while she was there - good for her - if only she would do so well with her english...

i guess i haven't really written all that much about the teaching itself, have i? it's a lot harder than i thought it would be and also a lot easier than i thought it would be. many students just don't care - but that's like middle school anywhere i suppose. i mean, how interested was i in my french class in high school? not very. but i already had a very good base in it by then - these kids don't. they've never had a native english speaking teacher before so they're scared to talk to me. i'm sure they have a decent vocabulary and a basic understanding of the language but they just don't use it like they should. that's what i'm here for - getting them used to speaking english and making them want to speak it... easier said than done.

a bunch of my "team-teachers" (not sure why they're called that since they don't do anything in class) want me to follow the "middle school english" text book. which would be fine if it was a) accurate and b) interesting (to me and the students) which it isn't. it's full of errors "the fishes live in the ocean" and such. the worst part is that in every chapter there is a "talk and talk" section (my section) that has small dialogues for the kids to read, and half the time they aren't logical... i'll post an example tomorrow since i don't bring the text home with me. it really is boring too, and that's exactly what i don't need...

i need to get these kids interested and revved up to learn, and the book just doesn't cut it... they might as well have a korean teacher doing those lessons, especially since they have a CD with foreigners speaking that they can listen to... i'm trying to create more fun lessons, but it's an uphill battle with the other teachers who insist on using the book... i'll turn them around eventually - i hope.

a demain!

here i am!

well, i'm finally getting settled in my new home. i have been placed in Young-Eun Middle School in Gimhae, which is near Busan in the southern province of Gyeongsangnam-do. i have been set up in a newly renovated studio apartment - new fridge, gas range, wsahing machine, microwave, toaster, rice cooker, electric tea kettle, wardrobe, bed, tv, table and chairs... well, you get the idea. everything is new. there are no bugs, and it's clean. what more could one ask for? i was missing gas and, therefore, hot water for a few days, but everything has been sorted out, and it's starting to feel more homey.

today i'm off to Busan to apply for my alien registration card - that will allow me to get a telephone and the internet (at home) which i am looking forward to, since this PC at school just doesn't cut it for this Mac user! besides which, this version of windows is in Korean. for some reason blogger is also all in Korean, so it'll be nice to be able to use my own computer and really understand what i'm doing.

so i teach four classes a day - except tuesday and thursday when i also teach the teachers (five classes). so far it's gone quite well, i think. i'm not really sure, since i don't get any kind of feedback from anyone. the vice-principle comes to a few of my classes a day and stands at the back watching me, i'm not sure why since he doesn't understand English at all... maybe just to get a feel of my classroom technique? which, of course, is nil. lol... i'm hoping that some of my "team-teachers" will be open to new teaching methods - i would like to make class fun and interesting for my students... i think some of them will be into it, and others not so much.

anyway, this is not a very interesting post - no pictures - but i just wanted to put something out there, let everyone know that i am alive and well, and will post something more interesting soon.

keep watching for my post on the "Korean Village" - a working traditional village that i visited last week...

R2D2 or the amazing trash can?

these things are EVERYWHERE!!! they work double duty as trash cans and ashtrays... but they resemble R2D2 from Star Wars more than anything... don't you think? it's funny how you notice the little things (well, i do anyway). like this sign for a roundabout that looks like we're supposed to be entering some kind of recycling facility or something...


i don't know if they have signs like this in other places where there are roundabouts (since we don't really have them in Canada) but i can't stop thinking "recycling". Koreans (at least here at the uni) are very into recycling - more so than NA, and we even have to separate the trash in our rooms into "garbage" and "recycling".

so, today we had a full day of lectures. first in the morning we had a course on Korean culture where they taught us about intercultural miscommunication - this is apparently the most important part of our integration since many things that Koreans do would be completely rude in our country. here are a few examples that are in our book:

1. Koreans ask very personal questions when they have just met you. example: how old are you? how much is your apartment? are you married? if no, why? if yes, how many children do you have?
2. Some Koreans assume that all westerners are American and will yell it at you as you pass them by.
3. Koreans do not greet strangers when walking down the street (or anywhere).
4. Koreans will not make eye contact with you during a conversation.
5. Many Koreans shake hands for too long.

just a few examples there, some of the ones we talked about in class aren't in the book and those were some of the best ones. like hawking a loogie and spitting it anywhere... very acceptable behaviour, but kind of gross for us.

Our second lecture was about teaching English conversation in the classroom. we got a lot of helpful ideas and tips on making lesson plans and organizing the classroom for efficient learning - very good - these are the kinds of things i need to learn the most. we were given tons of resources on the net and in books to help us along the way.

after lunch we had our first lesson in "Hangeul" (Korean language) i pick up languages relatively easily so i'm not having too much trouble... i'm supposed to be studying my alphabet right now... but i'm already way ahead of much of the class, so i'm not worried.

our last class of the day was a "question and answer" sort of deal with a teacher who has been working with EPIK for four years... everyone just asked all of the questions that we wanted to. my question was whether or not most apartments in Korea have western toilets or the "squat" kind (similar to turkish toilets)... apparently we shouldn't worry - 100% of apartments have "real" toilets.

well, i guess that's it for today, i'm going to get back to my studying... i will speak Korean by the end of this year... guaranteed!