NO CAMP SUPPLIES

My last admins were great. Never had to talk to them.

Then the tides changed and the newbie was afraid of me. 

Never greeted me, ever. Always looked in the opposite direction when passing, always.

Oh well, right? All he does is send my salary and print out a statement...

Until it was late. I had to wait two days and he was like "Sorry!" and then continued the above attitude. Oh well, he apologized and it was only once. Who cares, right?

Until he hadn't bought my materials for summer camp and had been told all about it two weeks prior and reminded on 3 occasions that I couldn't get the things in Emart, etc. And believe me I walked to (and bussed out of town) to each store to check. My coT asked him to meet with me the Friday before camp to buy things on Gmarket and he CANCELED. 

At that point, I couldn't take it anymore. You don't acknowledge my presence for five months, then are late on a payment, then refuse to help me buy my winter camp supplies?

I didn't raise my voice but I firmly cornered him in the teacher's office and went all out. I didn't care if he spoke English or not. I spoke slowly and stood in a Korean's version of personal space (meaning I burst that bubble!) and asked him at the end if he'd like to teach my students without materials.

He was then scolded by the VP who witnessed everything. VP invited me to lunch with the group to calm down and then after lunch, I didn't even wait. I brought my excel spreadsheet, logged into my own Gmarket account on his computer and forced the process. I even had the audacity at the end to demand he start greeting me.

We're cool now. We even chat sometimes in English.    7 months later, and counting, and still on good terms.

Middle School Enterance Exam Round 2!!

Hello all!

I apologize for falling off the grid again but I am pleased to announce that I will have completed my first full contract on Feb 15th~~~! Today.... Anywho, I signed up to continue until Feb 16th~~~ of 2014~~!

Now to the reason for the post.

As many of you know, the 6th grade elementary students must take an exam to enter middle school year 1 (or 7th grade in the states). Since I worked more at SPE, I just knew that they'd pass the exam with higher scores than YCE. And pass they did! Albeit with not as high of scores as I'd liked. Too bad this exam comes after a 4wk vacay with an English camp that who knows what happened in. 

*My coT said she'd try to prepare them for middle school and used a few things from that book but, today I found out that that was unnecessary.*

In any event, I looked over the placement exam and noticed something horrible. The average of the SPE, YCE and an unknown school (3 kids) was just 48%.  Forty-eight percent. 

So.

The next horrible thing? These sentences came up all through the exam's questions.

"I like to read a book."

"I want to dance....I want to sing...Ok. Then let's do the musical."

"Amy is good at writing a story."

"You look bad. What's the matter with you?"

  -_-   yep. I think throughout this year, I'll pinpoint a few things that you should prepare fore when deciding to teach here. Apparently this is a countrywide thing. I don't know who makes the tests, but I do know that little to know western input is included in the books.

When I teach students, I have them scratch out or white out bad grammar or rude English that's in their books. When I speak with them I correct those "I like to sing a song", and such, phrases that have prevailed here. So, unfortunately, after seeing the test I can finally understand some of the causes of low scores. We can't make state exams, but I would think it'd be a better idea.

*le sigh* This must be because I live in the countryside right? There's no way the bigger cities have these kinds of scores or mistakes right? Let us know in the comments.

Keep Your Bonus Money

You all know how Tuesdays go at YCE. I was sooooo annoyed today and slightly pleased. School will be finished  so soon! Another semester will start. After all the crappy times at this school, I am ready to tell my main school, "You know what? Money isn't everything. I don't need a bonus check and YCE can do bad all by itself. I don't need to go over ever week. In the meantime, how about I just step it up at your school?"

My wallet would cry and my credit card debt would laugh, but I don't care. Happiness is so much more important than working at a place that makes you crazy. If I have the same co-teacher, I can't do it. However, if the co-teacher changes, I may be willing to test the waters. In that case, it would be the as if I went to a new school altogether.


On a positive note, in Chinese class today we were supposed to present a movie idea. I listened to my peers but honestly, they hadn't done their homework. Not much thought put in and soooo many pauses as they tried to think of stuff to say. Come on Korea! You guys are paying for this class! Anywho, I was sooooo happy for my turn. I explained the concept and everyone kept asking questions I'd yet to think about. I'm gonna take that as a sign that I need to write that book. Although, if it's anything like this blog, don't expect it for a while. :(

By the way, I really really really really (keep it going) want 소지섭 So Jisub to be the main character if the book ever becomes a movie, but that means I need to hurry before he retires. He would definitely be able to make you feel the way I, the writer, want you to feel!!!! And that would involve noooooo marital feelings. That's just for me.(How embarrassing to say that out loud write it on the world wide web but he really makes me happy!)

I am really sorry for not updating in time on time.

Angry Enough To Vomit

I went to the English service at Nambu Church for the 11 am service. I go late most of the time because I prefer my own praise and worship style. I try to focus on the lesson and think about how to apply it to my life. Many people are happy to see me and whisper how much they would love it if I attended every service and on time. After service we eat lunch together and I chat with the different members.

Unfortunately, I'm thinking "I am not really comfortable with you and not sure I enjoy chatting with you each Sunday as if we are friends." My definition of friend isn't so light. I accompany my Chinese teacher that comes to church to practice English, to Gangnam Joongang Church. They don't have any English services, but at 2pm there is an abundance of young Koreans and we try to listen to the sermon as much as we can. We have downloaded bibles to our phones that have dual language capabilities, but as we all know, in church you aren't reading the whole time.

We finish the service and head down to the church cafe like always. We sit in a group consisting of us two, a 2nd Chinese teacher that joins us for this church's service, a Korean guy that apparently loves languages, the pastor's wife and the pastor. The chit chat is fairly minimal but the pastor and his wife express that they'd love to see me at more services. They are very friendly people and I enjoy them being there, but we can't quite communicate, because I don't really have much to say in Korean...to them. I'd prefer to discuss the sermon of the day or life battles and my personal bible study time but that just isn't my level of Korean...speaking anyway.

The pastor then calls some random kid over around my age and tells them to talk to me since their English is good, as they are students that study in Australia, the U.S., etc. We talk a bit about what they're studying and they welcome me and ask about my hometown, etc and then leave.

Today is when I couldn't lie to myself any longer.
1. I do not enjoy chit chatting with people that have no intention of doing so in the first place. If we don't talk outside of church, I don't consider you a friend that I need to commit to a schedule of being available for each service to chat about non-service things.

2. I do not enjoy people seeing me in church for the past couple of months, not greeting me and explaining that they live/study in my home country. I know many will want to bash me for that line but here's the thing. Korea is a "I'm sorry I don't speak English so I won't talk to you" culture. It's also a don't-introduce-yourself-wait-until-you-have-mutual-friends culture. On top of that, it's a don't-acknowledge-that-person's-presence-until-an-introduction culture. (Not as in they are rude to foreigners, as in this is seen as rude and strange in their culture.)

3. I don't have any friends in my city. After my one left to finish her MA, good luck, I have no one. The Koreans I salsa with here seem determined to ignore my interest no matter how much Korean I speak to them. Then again, they are in their 30's and possibly can't be bothered. My Chinese teachers work at night and on Saturdays, so we don't have much time to hang out. They are awesome people and my age, but our schedules don't fit. The foreigners here are so against brown skin that I can't attend all the parties they have and such.

Overall, I'm not liking my thinking about staying on for a second contracted year. Maybe by being honest with myself I can pull through. Afterall, I'm not lying to myself about enjoying my schools 90% of the time. My soon to graduate 9th graders included. ^^ Good luck babies~~!

Golden Bell

Golden Bell is a very popular game here in Korea. It's a big quiz game with the last man standing theme. the students sit in rows with enough space on each side to curb any cheating. They all must listen to questions and quietly write the answers in short answer form. They are written in dry erase marker on mini white boards. So why do they use NETs for this? To test the students listening ability of course...in theory.

First, you are to read the entire riddle clearly.
Then read off the answers A-D.
The students usually will have 30 secs or less to answer.
After you count to three, all students must raise their boards above their heads with the answer facing you.
You (and faculty) must check that they wrote the correct answer including spelling.
Give a few seconds for them to erase the boards and continue.

Any students that write the wrong answer are automatically out. Sometimes if too many students are "out" too fast, there will be a chance round. You do the question process and if the "out" students get it right, they can come back "in".


Hilariously at YCE, the students were basically all out after five or six questions. We did a chance round and most were let back in. Luckily, they did much better after that. In that school, many students were out simply because they chose the wrong answer. I was a bit sad because the questions were all up on a powerpoint behind me. In the end, we were able to choose a top three with one of them being from the fifth grade and the other two from the sixth.

I could see my coteacher was nervous and even scared when all the kids were basically out. The principal had come by to see the show and ended up leaving soon after. I felt bad too because I didn't want our Golden Bell to be a Dusty Cracked Bronze Bell. Nevertheless, if you insist on teaching without speaking English and demanding creativity, this is the result.



At SPE, the game was fairly rigged. Everyone studied the exact questions that I was to read for a full week and a half. It was terribly boring and most kids studied so much that they knew what the answers were by the time I read the second hint. The only reason students got out was because they missed the spelling due to letters like "r" "l" "d" "b", etc. Oh well. In the end they decided to give a first through third prize to both fifth and sixth grade. Tomorrow we'll be doing third and fourth with the same riddles.

When coTs skip Out

At YCM and SPE I never have to worry about my coteachers not coming to class. In fact there was only one time the SPE teacher didn't show up, but she'd warned me the previous week. Once my YCM coT plum forgot what time it was. She was clickin away at the computer after telling me, "We have afternoon class." But engrossed in her work she didn't notice me leaving haha I was ok with it, but she was a bit embarrassed. Anyway they are always there or they give me good notice.

Let's hop over to YCE. -___- If she's late or not going to be doing class, she will let the school know but not me. Or at the beginning of class she'll walk me to the room and say,"Uh today I'm busy, so sorry." -__- This is without ever letting me know what will be covered in class before hand so I'm never prepared. Like I said before, the 3&4th grade are going at an ok-slow pace, but 5&6th have different books from SPE.

Again today she didn't tell me she had to go to a different school far out. So at hot near class time the (good enough to be an English) 4th grade teacher told me that I'd have to teach with the random teachers.

I told him I didn't know what they were supposed to do because Kim never gives me info. He asked the kids of 3rd what they were doing and set up the computer for me, but my rebellious side told him, "It's all in Korean though, so..."

The 3rd teacher left when I stepped in the room. Kids ran wild while I debated being good or putting on a movie...

Ok I'm grown so I chose to be good. I didn't use the computer but I taught ch.12 anyway. Surprisingly the kids listened well this time and knew what I wanted! No movie necessary.

The 4th grade teacher returned with his class. Made an action plan upon discovering the tv didn't work and coordinated with me in the 10min break.

Here comes 5th grade. I'm prepared for them to misbehave because they barely understand me but their teacher has them in check and she didn't even stay more than 10minutes. They listened repeated and practiced so we played a game. Amazing class.

6th grade teacher prepared a PPT on a hurry but the no TV thing was slightly hindering. We still played the review games because they were easy to adapt.

I Honestly Love NH Bank

You will hear that you need to get a KEB bank account to have the best your money can get and the ease your mind needs to be happy with your money traveling back and forth between countries. 

BUT!

I am here to tell you (no matter what Carl says) that NH and I have a committed monogamous relationship. I haven't cheated on NH after my 3rd month of being here. They opened my account the first day swiftly with my coTs help. Then I went back to ask them to fix my account to do online banking. Done the same day. They filled out my paper work and told me it would be in my best interest to have my coT help me set it up over the school computer. They were right.

Then I needed to send money to the states and the first time they did it for me. They also told me how much I'd need to send in person for a better rate at the bank. Anywho, when I send money on-line I have the option of Sky Miles or a Gift Card.  Also, in order to use those "Gift Card"s (meaning points) NH has their own online shopping site in which they can be used.

NH Bank offers a bankbook like all other banks. They have a bank debit card like all other banks and they have credit cards...yea. Like all other banks. I got one after 3 months of living here. I decided it was foolish to continually use my U.S. cards and then pay the wire transfer fees to pay them off. The Smarty card from NH is perfect for my young foolish ways. I get discounts on theme parks, coffee shops, movie theaters, online shopping, etc. 

NH has a fully functional English website for online banking and you can always call their customer service number and get an English speaker. My banker set up so much for me and even literally walked me over to the nearest SK shop to have them discount my mobile services. When my security certificate went faulty, my banker set it back up over my USB and set up my mobile phone banking apps. Is this love? You bet it is. NH and I will be together 'till end of contract do us part! *breathing heavily*

Now. How do I get some of that cake Jamasian? I don't share...
Just kidding. You'd better go into your local NH and look at their brochures! They have the lists of cards/services available written in plain Korean~~ hehe Honestly, some tellers will not trust your foreign self to pay on time or stay in the country but some will. So don't be afraid of the little farmer bank. Sometimes it's the little things that count. ;)

Visit The Main Site (Click: Global Banking: English)

Learn to Set It Up Yourself

Learn to Send Money Home Yourself

 

Their English help number is  1588-2100 ext. 730 press 1 for English

Dealing with After School Classes

I run a special English after school class that doesn't have any cool name at all. It's just called English Conversation After school class. These classes are actually clubs and, unfortunately if you work in the countryside, it's highly likely that the kids were placed in your club as a result of not being able to decide what to do.
You will most likely be running the entire 45min/class yourself. (Middle school)

I only had about 12 students this time and 10 for the first semester. I've had 2 students sign up voluntarily each time for this club. One decided my club would be movies and games all the time and signed up before anyone asked what club he'd want to join. Two others were forced coerced in because English is their best subject. One joined because he enjoyed my last winter camp.

That's just random fact, but it give you a bit of background about the students that you may end up with too. I am not the one to be showing movies that I haven't pre-screened and playing a bunch of random games that I don't make a lesson out of. So, there have been quite a few days that I felt like an English club in the countryside just isn't worth it.

"Game game! we want a game!" Well you know what? My kind of games that enrich English learning include, Clue, Guess Who, Where's Waldo, Scattergories, Pictionary, etc. Do you see where I'm going? The crappy part is that most of the students are not good enough at using adjectives, describing situations or vocabulary. 0.0  Yea, I know.

Well, of course many of the students complained about not playing games. We did play but they were just bad in the beginning so I stopped it. We ended up doing a bunch of drills and learning cultural things instead. After they got the hang of making more sentences and describing things we did play games again. We also played Life and Monopoly because I love those games. 

One student, the third grader, that volunteered for my club, tried hard to not pay attention and get the other students to follow in his footsteps. I know about some of his family problems and academic problems so for weeks I tried to reason with him and get him on track and give him extra, then none then some attention, but then I realized something. I am not like the people on those forums complaining that they can't get students in line due to cultural differences. I was raised in a different kind of household. 

The whole 형 system won't be working with me. I am the  and that means my word should be final. From that point on I decided to punish any kid that listened to 형 after my distinct orders. If I said be quiet, sit down and get ready, 형 would tell them to engage in conversation with him and move to sit by him. I made them write lines, etc. Soon, only one boy would listen to 형 and I decided that he could be ignored along with 형(whom I'd just started ignoring). That kid isn't as strong as 형 and ended up begging to be left alone so that he could just follow my rules.

Unfortunately 형 and I could not get on the same page and he had to leave my club for good. Actually, this decision was made by my coT because she felt there were too many misunderstandings. Kids will be kids and interpret what they want if it gives them a certain outcome. I wrote this entry so that people know something. Children must have some sort of order and discipline. This goes across all cultures and languages. Letting them be disrespectful or disruptive with no consequences makes them win each time and soon no student will be on your field.



**************************************************

Will make a relationship blog soon.

Test Taking

Koreans have such high test scores and everyone loves to praise how they are doing so great! After getting here, I must say I'm pretty disappointed and skeptical of the results of their exams. Please know that most of this is based on my class (English) but I definitely make it a point to try and see what the kids do in their other subjects as well. I want to discipline or reward in the same manner. I strive to teach with the same amount of expectation and diligence! I want to prep for exams in the same manner...well, kind of.

Here's the thing. Students are in lecture style classes for the majority of the class time all year long. When test time does roll around they are then given around 10 questions that will possibly be on the test. Usually, the easiest of the questions are picked to be on the real final. Students get this paper at least one week in advance of the test. You're thinking this is the same as the review paper in grade school huh? Maybe, but I don't remember the point of the review sheet being to memorize the questions with their correct answers. 

Tests here equal memorization skill, which predictably go no where when you need a job done. I had dreams of writing my own short answer tests and watching kids either pass or fail and then gauging what I should do better on as a teacher for the next go 'round. Not possible when all is allowed to be memorized. 

Oh well. I did have the pleasure of acting as overseer for exams! The students receive the test paper first printed on a newspaper like material. There are 25 questions total. The students can make any markings they want on this paper, and I do mean any. I saw pictures being drawn, scribbles, etc. Anywho, the scantron consists of 50 lines of A,B,C,D bubbles with 10 blanks for "fill in the blank" questions and on the back 8 blanks for sentences or essay styled questions. I'm not supposed to do anything but multiple choice questions. The other styles are prepared by the coTeacher to focus on writing and grammar.

They seemed to have half of the class time for just using the test paper and then were given the scantron for the second half. I have to admit there were some students that were working so hard and I was proud of them. A little hurt since this was the music class exam, but people don't excel at everything right? I also saw a few expected kids just fill in A for each question; never looking back. I was more hurt because the two in question have worked hard in my class this year and yet I could feel that they'd done the same on my exam. If they had to do an interview, they'd pass with a solid C. If they put effort into my exam, they could pull a high B at least. I hope one day they realize their potential...hopefully that day is in their first year of high school a.k.a. next year.

Is it this way because I'm in the countryside? I don't think so. According to a few city folks, things don't get much better except maybe the overall GPA.

我要回中国上北京大学。

Hey!!

I feel terrible as I have not blogged about this place correctly at all. Things are slow now (end of the year) so I will flood this place with information over this month. Don't worry. I made notes on all that I've been through. They just need to make it to the web :)

In the meantime, I realized that I can not do without China. Help me get back there and obtain near native fluency this time around. You'll find out why I feel this way soon enough ;p

http://www.gofundme.com/1elhxs

There is the link and if you have any ability to help I'd greatly appreciate it!

Sincerely,

Jamasian

Summer Vacation~~~

That's right! I went to Japan for 7 whole days. And not a word from you! Seven whole nights-ah. (ok I'm done.)

I have a friend teaching English in Japan so I decided to visit her first, as she is my best friend. Living no where near Osaka; my final destination. We went to a castle and tried to be fierce Japanese empresses in the beautiful Kimono that they dressed us in. We ate at different places at random times of day and even "splurged" on some waffles and such. We did Karaoke even though most places charged a half hourly charge on top of a drink charge. And best of all, we just relaxed. No work and all play. I even brought work...and didn't do it :)  (Believe me, my mom would be proud.)

Then I left the bestie to join a friend that's teaching in Suncheon as well. We were to meet up in Osaka for the weekend. Sadly, the Japanese must not care for free wifi because not only did we both NOT want to pay roaming charges and call each other, we also both COULD NOT use our wi-fi/4g services to contact each other. It was slightly depressing but we did found each other within 3hrs and swiftly headed off for an expensive night of Okonomiyaki, bar hopping and clubbing~~. 

Actually the clubbing was not easy to judge, which made us decide on just bar hopping first. Then a simple wave of the hand brought over 2 guys that should have known better (out of our age range) to "help" us drink more and "help" us find a club. I speak Japanese but I have never had to turn down any from jump. (Love for Japanese men) So eventually, meaning I did try but failed, I just told them they could sit with us. We had a sparse discussion as my friend and I weren't feeling them and she doesn't speak Japanese and they didn't really speak English. Anyone know what to do in that situation? *Looking for hands*

In the end, we met a group of girls at the club that were mad cool. One asked me if we were feeling those guys and I said no. So when we let her know we were leaving, two of them came out with us and told the dudes to just go home. It was a bit meaner than that and possibly embarrassing for them, but hey, I tried to say no from jump!

We spent the night in a gracious capsule hotel in the heart of the busy city. I felt great because as a long term studier of Japanese, it was comforting knowing that I'd finally made it to the country. Even if it was only to vacation. 

****************************************************************************

The next day we ventured hard! Shopping districts galore, finding our hotel,  figuring out the subways and of course being fatty patties. Japanese food is quite delicious and a great change from the blandness of Kfood. I also don't eat a bunch of raw meats/fish but I made out ok in Japan~~

*****************************************************************************

Of course we also toured Osaka castle, the RAMEN MUSEUM!! and more shopping districts. I honestly love the way people dress in casual wear out there. I plan to make a trip back soon 0.0 and return broke as a joke. I also want to mention that going salsa dancing at CELL in Osaka was much needed and appreciated. It was different from Korean style and I learned new things. What? You didn't know I started up salsa again? What have I been blogging about?! T.T until next time.

[P.S. Most contracts at Korean public schools give you about a week of summer vacation (7dys). I took mine all at once but realized a mistake I made. This year we have a few Red Days that I could have planned next to my vacay days, thus extending my paid vacation. Alas, my dear mind was full of GTFO of Korea and GTFI to Japan and reignite that Japanese learning passion! I did. Now I'm passing the time with lesson planning and Expo hopping.]



Most of you know this post was way late. I didn't realize I never pushed publish...sorry.

What I NEED Korea to STOP Doing to Me in Particular

Crystal Kay

Amerie

Insooni

#1 thing to shock me and cause me to pray: walking into my elem 1 school on the first day. Staff turns and says"...umm are you looking for your child?"

Wow madam. No blasians are running around this school right?

#2 thing that made me feel like the wind: old lady comes up and says "oh woooow are you a woman? *gropes me then says* "Oh you are a womaaan~~ you're so pretty and black!" *while petting me*

#3 thing to appall me: the same woman says "Do you have a man? *making a sign for male in Korean* "No? You need one to have babies!" 

0.0 (Let it be known that she asked the pharmacist for medicine to help me...concieve T.T I'm guessing that, but she asked for something "good for women". It's possible that I watch too many dramas.)

#4 thing to just make life awkward: co-teacher finds that I have no boyfriend in 7months yet. "Why not? I asked all the students for their brothers too! No good men in Suncheon? How old are you? Yea~~ you need to start looking~~!"

#5 thing to sadden me to no remedy: old man comes to sit at my lonely table in the middle of a half packed food court. "You live in Korea now? That's great! Did you marry a Korean?" T.T (Why is this sad? Because I wanted to say "If you're willing to let me marry {insert male celebrity} then by all means I will!!"

Junki Lee

Jisub So

Yuchun Park

Open Classssss!! #1

So some of you have heard of the infamous Open Class in Korea. This is when a few teachers, possibly parents and the vice principal or big (wo)man themselves come in and watch you teach. (With a video camera.)

It was teacher parent conference week at my middle school and i was told that every teacher must do an open class for parents at least once a year. Then they do one catered to other teachers twice a year. (This may be a new rule.)

I had to do one at one of my elems. (The good one.) My co-teacher was convinced that our 4th grade class of only 9 students would be the best to show off so I just went with it. We'd already argued so I didn't want another one.

I have been told repeatedly since the beginning of the school year that the VP hates NSETs and he wishes Korea would get rid of all of them. I've also heard plenty on the NSET that ran before me.

He came into my open class looking utterly distasteful. He sat at the back and began to read his pamphlet. I decided not to change anything that I normally do, but my co-teacher had already warned the kids. When I asked how they were (4th grade) they didn't do the normal "I'm hungry! I'm angry! Because English!!" but they did answer so that was good.

During the chant I didn't use the CD and just made up actions for them to do and they did it, slightly less enthusiastically, but they laughed.

Then I showed the crappy Story Time once and asked, "What happened? What did you hear?" The VP gave his disapproving look because he's told me before that the kids are low level and need to stick to the book. (He should have watched that class before that lecture. ugh) Anywho, to his surprise, all but one hand went up desperately wanting me to call them. They explained what they saw and heard beautifully. They also knew the moral of the story. He smiled in my class and was impressed by my students.

Then I teamed them up and had them present it. They were a little more comfy and acted with enthusiasm. Even my girl without her friend.

I apparently changed the mind of this school's VP. I tell you this because I just got a text saying he thinks I'm the best NSET ever~~!

I like kids. I feel like I have more energy than them, so that's probably why. MY kids are NOT low level. They are learning.

Make It Stop. Please. Seriously.

This morning:

 My non-English speaking co-T said, "Jam Asian. Talk about me." I didn't correct her, just smiled and followed. In my mind I was thinking, 'Do you want me to leave the school? Am I fired? Please be fired.'

WHAT? How can I think that, you ask? Simple.

That lady has such a low English level that all four classes at that school are suffering and really becoming a pain to teach. At the end of the 5th month of the year I just want them to shut the door and nicely or rudely ask me not to return.

Anywho, we went into the teacher's office and sat down. She started off with, "Jam Asian..... you class....  uhhhh one two three four, class English. You game......me...... So you 10 minute...... oh......never mind. Ok. Class 40 minutes, you 10 minutes, me 30 minutes. You ....... ok? Oh....key points! Yes. 10 minutes key points."

Did you get that? Let me break it down.

"Jam Asian..... you class....  uhhhh one two three four, class English."

--Teacher, you only teach 3rd through 4th grade here. You teach on Tuesdays.

"You game......me...... So you 10 minute...... oh......never mind."

--You always plan a game, so I have to re-do the pages you miss in the book. Therefore you should just do a review of the key points in the class for the last 10min. What's 'key points' again? oh fricken.(She didn't cuss.) I don't do English. Never mind.

 "Ok. Class 40 minutes, you 10 minutes, me 30 minutes. You ....... ok? Oh....key points! Yes. 10 minutes key points."

--Ok. The class is only 40minutes and I want you to teach for 10 and I'll do 30. You can just play your games or whatever and do phonics and speaking, ok? Oh, Phonics, speaking and it's called key points! Yes. Go over the key points for the last 10minutes.

To which I replied, "Oh ok. You want to teach for 30min and you want me to do 10 right? Ok. Everyday?"

Blank stare...."what?"

"Every class?" Blank stare. "10 minutes every Tuesday?" 

chuckle, "It's ok." Goes back to the computer.

I was happy inside. Yes, I pretended not to understand her because she only speaks Korean to me. You may think this is rude, but to work here we are not required and NOT encouraged to learn Korean.They expect us to expose as much English as possible. So I just agreed and went on with life...for the next 3min anyway.

Turning point

It was at that point that she told the secretary in the room. "I just don't get English I don't know why I need a foreigner in my class." To which the sec responded with, "Yea, you just gotta tell her. That's your class." Then another teacher walks in with slightly better English skills and is introduced to the situation to which she inputs, "Tell her you're the main teacher! She's not the teacher. I know they are supposed to run the middle school classes, but this is elementary. No, I'll tell her."

At this point my co-teacher jumps up saying, "It's ok, I talked to her." but the other lady persisted and said (in English), "Katie right? (to my co-t even though that's not my name) Katie she is main teacher. You middle school is main teacher. Here is main teacher she. Ok? At (my other elementary) school, who main teacher?"

I told her I am...because I am. My other co-teacher speaks great English and we are able to balance out that she does review and we use the book's videos to preview and then I teach a lesson. We even tag team so that we don't have set times to be the focus of the class.

She says (in Korean) " well we are not those schools." then in English, "She is main teacher."

After again confirming that I would only teach for 10min of classes I was mad. How dare these people say and firmly believe that I'm not a teacher? Their kids are of the lower level out of the two elems and it's greatly due to her that the kids are depreciating. That's right I said depreciating.

The last co-teacher was so amazing that I wanted to only input once in a while, because I needed to learn from her tactics. She moved to another job trying to fulfill her dream of teaching high school students and getting them to learn so much that it moves her to tears. I believe she can do it.

The New Style of Class

I decided to just sit in the back of the room and do some lesson planning from their books. It's possible that I could change schools next year and get a new school that uses that book. Well 3rd grade took it pretty well. They thought it was funny that I was sitting there, but didn't say question her. The class was all in Korean except the repeating of the dialogues. The 4th grade looked back and a few students gasped and made remarks under their breath about it. She told them they could have time with me at the end of class. Some kids said it was boring and she just replied that they needed to stick to the book and play later. 5th grade expressed complete discontent to the point that she got upset and told them that since they only play games with me life was hard for her. (I'm trying to be as close to her words as possible and she did say, 힘드로.) I found it funny that she had the nerve to yell. Then she put a smile back on her face as she had them repeat the dialogue a few times. 6th grade doodled in their books and looked back at me. They tried to talk to me while she looked for the next step of her lesson.

That really moved me. I'm so glad to know that they do like me. Although (6th grade especially) they don't understand everything they like to have my class. I will stay this way until next semester for sure because I really need the extra time for my other two schools. They appreciate my classes, talk with me often and 95% of the time in English. My students are building their amounts of English every week. I feel that the other elem is at 60% and the middle is at 75%. The only problem I have with them is they try to jump the gun and use unknown words :/

It HAS been Forever and I'm Sorry!

Life is so full of everything that I haven't had the time or endurance to write. The semester will be ending July 6th for me so this is the time to pick the ball back up. I have a LOT of stories and pictures to come. Please be patient! :)

 Today was a great day! 

 Middle School 3rd

 It started with my 9th graders' classes being switched up this morning. I had them during second and third period. First up was my dejected, quite, outrageously lower level. Three apples had been losing to mold from late March to last week. Low and behold this morning student X had done 2pgs of homework and showed them to me as well as my co-teacher's stamp of approval even before the bell rang to start class. [Hmmm could it be because of his previous punishments? As I said before, I don't remember him being a "bad" person.] Then he sat at my desk from the beginning of class. I use this as a form of punishment because I stand all of class anyway, and feel that they have less abilities to horse around. He also participated in class despite being a tad lost in the beginning. I'm still curious as to how he transformed into the worst kid over the course of 2wks back in March.

Student Y did the activities with minimal horseplay. He didn't come in and start making faces or moaning around due to nothing. He quietly handed his homework to the co-teach and sat down. He talked a bit in Korean to his neighbor but didn't say much non-class related. [Feels good to at least understand some Korean.] He is the 2nd worst attitude.

Student Z must have been bored but he re-did the whole activity when asked. He still stared at me in the beginning of class. [I tell ya it's annoying trying to find out what he's thinking.] He let other kids answer questions. Yes, LET. He got out of his seat and mingled, as the activity required, when I told him to redo it and proceeded in loud English and said, "SEE! English!" after each step *rolling eyes* I let it go since it's not really wrong. His attitude took the shortest amount of time to crack down on.

Then after a 10min passing period my part B class came in. This is actually my worst behaved class. I always have to punish someone, but not today. I was quite shocked actually. Student X was hyper as usual but I'd used my weekend plans to capture his attention and then quickly moved on to the next activities.[My co-teach hates his attitude because he's hardest to control, but I don't really mind him. Still he is top priority when it comes to "worst kids list".] He only had to be told to calm down once. I am constantly learning how to control him, but I'd say I was successful from the last week of April. Student Y received my attention from the beginning of class and I called on him repeatedly so he didn't cause any distracting trouble. I couldn't figure him out until...end of April too I think. Student Z  has noticed that he's not really liked by his peers. He started off like usual trying to sleep with his head up, but he "woke up" quickly. He answered all my questions with me sitting beside him. Then he did the activity correctly so that I wouldn't sit beside him anymore.

Middle School 2nd

8th grade. These are my angel-like kids. They all come in on-time and they open their books (to whatever page they feel but whatevs). Class flowed with them too this time and they did what I asked. Only punished a few for too much Korean. After that I had games planned that should have been done Monday but.....

Lunch

Lunch was good. After I got a nasty coffee like always and then decided to sit outside with the kiddies. The weather is nice and I prefer to enjoy it. 2nd grade apparently had rights to the field today and played soccer so I watched...kind of. The girls had decided to stay inside and talked to me a bit from the window. Ironically the 9th grade boys including one student X and one Y came out and sat by me. Not just sat, but also tried some general conversation. I was sending them away at first saying, "Go play! It's lunchtime." but they all declined and kept talking. I was actually happy about this because if you can get to know your students, you can smooth over the whole lowly foreigner, evil English teacher stigma. I'm such a mean person too. So if you're nice and your kids don't talk to you, they probably still have that stigma.

And now, I'm waiting for 4:55pm to come. School will be done. I will probably still be here doing computer work till 6 or 7, but then I will be in full preparation of tomorrow's Seoul Jazz Festival 2012~~~~!

Serious Gap From Elementary to Middle School

I came into this job working only at the middle school for one month straight. I had sensed that my 3rd graders (9th grade) were ok, but should have been better. 2nd graders (8th grade) were totally slackin' but possibly just shy. My 1st graders (7th grade) were on the ball. Not necessarily in knowing more vocab, but definitely in listening and trying to formulate sentences.

Fast forward. I finally have started my real schedule of going to the 2 elementary schools in the week. These kids are pretty much rockin' it. They have more enthusiasm too. They stick to simple sentences, but they are making sure to get them down packed! 

Of course since it's technically the new school year now, everyone's moved up a grade. I'll never see those wavering 9th graders again, but the 8th graders still suck and have kids in the class that totally disrupt anyone trying to learn. I will be making a seating chart for use starting next class. The 7th graders are just improving their butts off! lol We even joke in their class. Not all are good enough to understand the jokes, but I can feel it coming in due time.

So why did I make this post?

Because it seems to me like (at least in this area) Korea has lost a generation. Why are their 8th and 9th graders even moving up in the world? How? They don't know any of their subject well!! This was confirmed by my co-teacher today when I told her I was worried for the kids' futures. She just reluctantly replied that all of the teachers are! They have been doing poorly in ALL SUBJECTS! I don't understand.


Apparently no one showed those kids how hard life will be without wisdom and knowledge. No one has mentioned the differences between them and their juniors. The juniors will definitely be the ones to carry Korea on in the future, but first Korea will suffer the consequences of the mistakes made by the current 15-18yr olds. Now luckily for us in America seniority is not everything. Age is but a number in the case of choosing the better person for the job. Hence I feel like our students at least try their best and don't completely hold back other students from doing well. They accept that the better people will end up as their bosses.


Korea on the other hand seems to accept the even if the older person is wrong, they are still older and should have first pick. 0.0 I'm hoping I'm wrong, but this is what I've learned from word of mouth and books. Of course since times change, it's possible that they are working on a plan right now to try and circumvent that Confucian philosophy.

NETs of the Past

What is an NET? Native English Teacher. When you sign up to be one and you set your sites on a country, what are you really signing up for? 

• A way to make bank!
• An easier place to live that allows for great travel and stories!!
• Just a good kick back so I don't have to pay rent.
• A chance to marry a submissive Asian wife.
• A chance to marry a way more family oriented and caring Asian husband.
• I don't know yet...

Ummm wrong! You are signing up to be a TEACHER you punk! That means helping in some way to brighten the long hallway leading to many children's future. Do you disagree? Then you suck. Seriously. I love all of the benefits that come with being an overseas teacher. Those should be a plus for a job that you know you can do. If you were money hungry or lost in life and just up and decided to come to these countries to "figure out who you are", then don't bother.

1. I came to Korea because the benefit package matched just what I needed. BUT! 
2. I knew that I like working around children. Preferably ages 3-14. 
3. I knew that I like helping others. I've tutored in school since middle school. I used to play "School" as a game when I was babysitting my younger siblings and other rugrats. 
4. I knew that I prefer to control what I'm doing in MY job. I liked working in the service industry but if I'm not a manager then I'm left thinking of what I would have invoked, done differently or what is better for the company as a whole. So being an underling just doesn't fit with me.

Okay... -_- Why did you write about this?


Well, my co-teacher at elem2 and I were talking and she had told the students that we would be giving out a lot of homework. Korean students do NOT get homework (most commonly). When it is assigned they DON'T do it (commonly) and the baffled Korean teacher accepts that...(commonly). I tell you public school is very peculiar. Anywho the kids were like 0.0 "We don't get homework!" to which she responded "You do now. No crying about it either." I stifled a laugh each period.


Now about the accusations. As she was telling me the above she mentioned how great she thought I was. I was confused (momentarily) because I'm just doing what teachers do. Lesson planning, assignment making, home work/ project brainstorming, etc. I know of some slackish NETs and I wish they'd get replaced already. I told her that and she said, "Yeah, it's too bad. The principal, vice principal and a few teachers here hate NETs. The guy before you just left after 9mos. Disappeared. They called his home country one day and he answered the phone saying yes he was home."
The former Korean co-teacher that I met also had stories on him. "He came in and would sit down at the desk for each class...for the whole class. He didn't do any planning really. He usually didn't want to talk. He didn't even want to give out candy. I made him repeat after the recordings a lot because of that."


Moving on to a different teacher from the year before, my co-teacher says,"The principal had to ask him countless times not to smoke in the classroom! He looooved smoking so much and just smoked anywhere."


Another guy from a previous year, "He didn't want to eat anything at lunch. He just came in and had a coke...he was fat too." -__-


I don't think the fat part bothered them so much as the NOT socializing at all part. Possibly the not eating and yet staying fat part too.

Schedules

So Monday we got a temporary schedule for the week. I had 2 periods of 8th grade in the morning and 2 of 3rd that afternoon. It's a busy time since I have to remember where each class leaves off. I realized I have to keep track of what they do when I'm not there too!

I'll be working at three different schools every week all year long~~~~. Thus, there will be many days that students will be without my help. I've started to carry around a little book that I just diary all of the days activities in. Otherwise I wouldn't know what to do in any of the classes. Some work faster than others, some just so happen to be lazy one day and not finish what I'd planned, etc.

There's also a few students that don't know the alphabet and other basics. -__- I don't mind but it's more work trying to remember who they are and adjusting their homework accordingly. So for those of you wondering I will be working like a banshee until the end of April most likely. Carefully planning out each individual class based on their abilities, amount of time I have with them, the ability of my co-teacher that will be there when I'm not and the overall attitudes of those students.

A teacher's life...or at least what I think is acceptable of a teacher's life :)

Brown Meetings

Unlike China where my contact with black people were few and far between, here I am able to meet up whenever with them! Of course we have an excellent array of facebook groups for us brown people in different regions of what we call SoKo :)

So this weekend we met up in beautiful Busan! Well, I'm not sure how beautiful it was because it was a cloudy rainy day, but with all that went on it seemed clear and sunny. We met up at the 신세계 Shinsegae department store and chatted in the food court over lunch and then split into groups that went ice skating, to Spa Land and other places. Of course I chose to kick it with the spa group. We stayed in there for our whole 4hr limit. It was only 14,000won.

It was kind of funny to go as a small group of brownies in the mist of milky Koreans, but like always, it was comfortable and we were able to use the bath house, saunas, hot and cold rooms and such without the stares and pointing that people are afraid of. I don't mind being alone in the foreigner sense for the week. It's just nice to see my people on the weekends or on a random Wednesday.

First Day of School~~~!

That's right! It's Friday!!!! lol and the first day of school. Today I arrived at school early I think. It's been so long of a break, I forgot what time is good to get there! I knew classes could start at 9am so I figured 8:30 was good enough...I ended up at school around 8:15 with only a few other teachers already there. Great!


I felt good today. Excited like I've always been for school to start. A lifetime nerd I am. So I jumped on the computer and prettied up my class rules. I also had a my success contract and survey ready. About an hour before class I printed out the copies and showed my co-teacher. She was kind of busy though so she didn't really read it. That's ok though. I briefly chatted with her about some class changes (like my homework counting towards their grades) and she agreed and helped me sort out a few things last week.


...Oh. Before that we had an assembly so that all of the new 7th graders (first grade of middle school) could be welcomed. It was kind of funny watching everyone squirm around because their legs hurt from standing the whole time. I believe a few parents were in the back too. The new students were all in street clothes and had on their sneakers. I asked my co-teacher about it and she said that they would have their uniforms by summer. That works out for me because I had a few things planned for the newbies, but it required their ability to show some personality.


So anyhow this is where the printing out happens and then finally, my first class of the new year! It was 8th grade class A (higher level). I greeted them first and asked about their vacation only to find that noone went anywhere really -_- LAME! haha I then had them read the rules together one by one with me rewording them to see if it'd help the weaker students. I had asked my co-teacher to ask them what they thought of my new reward system. A few of them said it was good when I asked, but I wasn't so sure. Of course she must have mistaken my intentions and instead reexplained all the rules again haha They were so bored. There were only 10 but still.


After I had them do my little survey. Unbeknownst to them, this is how I'll remember birthdays and award with more sought after prizes at the end of each semester. Of course, that depends on their performance.


The bell rang and we had a 10min break. I went back to the teacher's room and ... dilly dallied lol  The bell rang for class time and we went to whip the class B students into shape! Well, kind of. This time I had them read the sentences and I only reworded the harder ones (-_- ones with longer sentences). They caught onto them better but I could see a few lost faces. I passed out survey for them and went around to help and check just like the last class.


Oh. Please. No~~! There are quite a few students that can't spell. They haven't learned to connect words they're trying to express. Worse than that I asked them to make a goal for my class for the year and one for the month. One kid puts "get a 55%" another "25%" !!! 0.0 


"Not in MY class!" I told them. "What? Do you want to scrub floors as a career?" We all laughed and they agreed that that was not their intention. I made them change it to at least 70%. They agreed to try and I told them to think of what they want to be when they grow up. Heck they may not need English then, but they still should do their best for the sake of that GPA.


Welp! I'm gonna get ready for the weekend~~~! Going to Busan to meet up with some other darkies hahaha